The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 469: Fit to be a mother (2)

"We bought gifts for the children, but they are mixed with some of our belongings. I will bring them back when we return later. You’ll be better at sharing them out than we would be," said Rafael.

Last time they were here it was fifteen boys and nine girls so he brought that with a few extra in case there were new children during the time he was away.

"Thank you. They’ll be happy to see that there are gifts for them. We recently received a big donation of clothes and shoes. Some needed to be mended, but it is better than nothing. Do you know how to mend Annalise?" Thelma asked as they could use an extra hand.

"I am not good at it. My parents would be the ones to do the mending. Mostly after I have started," Annalise replied. It was never something that came easy for her.

Annalise failed to mend clothes as neatly as her mother did making it hard to spot that a hole was patched up.

"I could have used the help but it sounds like you would give us twice the work to do. I guess when your children’s clothes become in need of repairs, you two could just buy more. It is sometimes a waste of money to me, but that is because I don’t have money like you two," Thelma concluded.

Having to take care of the orphanage and make the most of what they have, Thlema was always looking for ways to save money. She wouldn’t expect the young couple before her to be the same way.

"Lydia might be inside trying to find her shoes so she can come out to play. I let the children come outside not long before you arrived so a few are inside. If you don’t mind, I would like to speak with you in private Rafael," Thelma requested. freewebnσvel.cøm

It had nothing to do with their adoption of Lydia but with wanting to show him what they had done with the money the Callahans gave when they were here and what else needed to be fixed.

"I will go inside to find her," Annalise said, gladly leaving Rafael’s side to find Lydia.

She did not want to go to the house without seeing Lydia now that they were here. Annalise had some candy wrapped up for Lydia to try a piece in secret.

Annalise walked around Thelma to go inside of the orphanage. She knew her way around thanks to the tour she had the last time they were here.

"Hello," Annalise greeted the other caretakers who were standing by the gates.

They too were excited to see Rafael and came out to see him.

As Annalise passed by the gate, she looked for the sign and found it just as she left it. This time, she knew why it was there and it made her smile as she thought about it.

She was still curious if any of the children brought here also belonged to the border. Their parents believed it was better for them to be here because there was some kind of danger lurking around them.

Annalise had not made it far into the orphanage when she spotted the little one who had brought her back here.

Lydia had not noticed Annalise because she was sitting on a step trying to push her foot into her shoe.

Annalise quietly approached Lydia and bent down to help her. "I can help you," she said, picking up the shoe that fell because of Lydia moving around her foot. "You need to carefully pull up the back or you’ll be struggling to put it on."

Annalise was looking down at the shoe so she missed how stunned Lydia was to see her.

The lady who knew how to climb trees and gave her treats was back.

"No," Lydia said, pointing to the tip of the shoe.

"What is it? Does it hurt your toes?" Annalise asked, looking up to be face-to-face with Lydia.

Lydia nodded her head. She was trying to rush to go outside to play so she grabbed the first pair of shoes that her hands came across. It turned out to be a pair that was a bit uncomfortable for her to wear.

"Then you should get another more comfortable pair. I will go inside with you," Annalise offered. "You have a pretty yellow ribbon today."

Annalise liked the yellow ribbon that was tied around each of the two braids Lydia wore. It would go well with a dress Annalise couldn’t help but buy on her way here. She didn’t know if the dress would fit Lydia but it was the thought that counted if it didn’t.

Lydia touched her hair as if now remembering that someone had tied ribbons into her hair. She stood up and held Annalise’s hand to lead her inside to find her bed.

Annalise allowed Lydia to direct her to where her room was. There was no one inside other than Lydia as all the children were now outside and it seemed that all the caretakers were too.

They entered a room with many beds side by side and a box in front of each bed.

Lydia stopped at a box with the image of birds carved into it and her name written with something that reminded Annalsie of charcoal.

Lydia tried opening the box with one hand so she wouldn’t need to let go of Annalise’s hand.

Annalise smiled, stooping down once more so she could help Lydia. Together, they were able to open the box.

Lydia looked into the box where everything was neatly organised and picked out a black pair of shoes recently given to her. She had received them at the same time as everyone got new clothes.

Lydia placed the shoes on the floor and sat down so she could take off the other pair that was barely holding onto her feet because she had not put them on properly.

Annalise made herself comfortable by sitting down. "Let me put them on for you. You’ll need to let go of my hand so I can help you."

Lydia reluctantly let off Annalise’s hand. "Will you be here long?"

Annalise couldn’t resist smiling even more as Lydia was talking more this time around. "I don’t know how many days but I won’t be leaving soon. I bought you a piece of candy, but you have to keep this a secret between us, alright? No telling the big scary knight."

Lydia nodded her head and covered her mouth with her right hand to hide her laugh. She would not share their secrets with anyone especially when she was getting candy.

Annalise put a hold on helping with the shoe to find the piece of candy she had wrapped up and hid in her dress so Rafael wouldn’t see. "I like this one a lot. It is not too sweet and tastes like apples. You can bite it," she said, handing the slightly pick-coloured candy over to Lydia.

Lydia accepted the candy and bit into it as Annalise told her to. It did remind her of a sweet apple.

"Lovely, isn’t it?" Annalise asked, picking back up the shoe to put it on for Lydia.

Lydia nodded her head. "Do you have one?"

"I already ate a few. You can have the others later," Annalise replied.