The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 480: Stay with you (3)

"Is there anyone you want to say goodbye to before we leave, Lydia? We are not in a rush so you can go to them now," said Annalise.

Lydia let go of Annalie’s hand to go to the girls with beds beside her own to tell them that she was getting to go play so they shouldn’t worry when she wouldn’t be around for bedtime.

"This is the most energetic I have seen that child. I fear she might not want to return tomorrow," Thelma said, slightly worried about Lydia’s return to the orphanage. She would make her decision when they returned so Lydia could go with them if she wanted.

"I hope you have a safe travel back to your home and again, you can come to us at any time should you need help," Thelma offered once more.

"Thank you and we will," Annalise replied, but she was certain they would be fine.

Lydia was not a child who was difficult to deal with. Their greatest challenge might be getting her to go to sleep.

Annalise wasn’t exactly the easiest child to get to go to sleep sometimes in her youth when all she wanted to do was stay up to be with her father who wasn’t home most of the day.

Annalise looked ahead at Rafael telling the driver to prepare the carriage since they were heading home.

"Congratulations on your engagement. It had slipped my mind that you are now engaged," Thelma said, looking down at the ring. "Do you have a day in mind for when you will do the wedding or do you intend to wait for Rafael to live closer to you?"

"We have not decided on the day. We’ve been enjoying the engagement for now and focusing on Lydia. When we know the day, we will send an invitation to the orphanage for you and all the children to attend," Annalise said as it only seemed fitting that they came.

Thelma loved the invitation, but she was going to save Annalise. "Thank you for thinking of us, but I will save you the trouble of having so many little ones running around. You should get to enjoy the day with people you are close to."

"Then I will try to visit as much as I can so we become closer. I will bring more stories from my grandmother about Iris and what she heard about Nicolas. Lydia is returning so I will leave now. I will see you tomorrow," Annalise said, holding out her hand for Lydia to hold again.

Lydia waved goodbye to Thelma and then looked out the gate at Rafael standing beside a carriage. She walked with Annalise to the carriage that would take her to where she was sleeping tonight.

"Let me help her up," Rafael said as the first step might be a little too high for Lydia to get up onto.

This wasn’t like most carriages he bought so the step were placed as he would like. They looked as if the right step had broken and someone without skill put on a new step a little higher than it should be.

Rafael hoisted Lydia up so she wouldn’t need to use the steps and then offered his hand for Annalise to go up. Rafael was the last to enter and sat opposite Annalise and Lydia to hold onto the small bag belonging to Lydia.

Lydia touched the side of the carriage and looked outside to watch how far away they would get from the orphanage.

Annalise placed her hand in front of Lydia so she wouldn’t fall when the carriage moved or if it were to suddenly stop.

"How far do we need to go?" Lydia asked.

"Not far away. It will be a quick ride there. Are you missing the orphanage already? We can always take you back at any time so don’t be afraid to tell us when you want to go back," Annalise said, but still, she hoped Lydia wasn’t feeling homesick just yet.

"No," Lydia shook her head. She did not want to go back yet when they had not played. How was Annalise and Rafael to keep her if they didn’t play? "I want to stay," she said, turning to sit perfectly on the seat.

Lydia looked at her feet which were far from reaching the floor like Annalise and Rafael did. She was too small and couldn’t wait to get bigger. "I want to be tall," she said. "To be a big person."

Annalise smiled at Lydia’s innocence. One day Lydia would want to go back to this time because there weren’t many responsibilities she had to think about. You got to be carefree and run around as much as you liked.

"Then you must eat all of your dinner. That is how I grew to be tall," Rafael said.

"Really? I thought it was more of a family curse since your father is tall. We should expect tall children because my father is also a giant. Lucky for me, I heard from Beatrice that you were tiny as a baby and then sprouted up one day. I cannot birth a giant child," Annalise said, hoping that she didn’t need to.

Lydia tried to make sense of what Annalise was saying about a baby. She wasn’t a baby so was there another child around? Since Rafael ate food to become so tall, if she ate her share of food and asked kindly for another, she might be able to grow twice as fast.

She was willing to eat all the vegetables she disliked if it meant she would be like Rafael soon.

Rafael noticed how Lydia stared at him in wonder. She had to be still focused on his height. It might be a family curse like Annalise said since he had followed his father in being tall, but he would use her interest to get her to eat.

Lydia’s gaze on Rafael did not last long as she went back to looking out the window to see where they were going.

Annalise looked out the window with Lydia as she liked looking around the town. "We need to send a letter to your parents, Rafael. To let them know what we have done since we came here," she said.

Annalise was waiting to get a response from Beatrice or River about what had happened with Travis’s death and Beatrice’s parents potentially going to see her. It was easier to receive letters from the two of them here than at the border.

If it were possible, Annalise would have liked to make a quick stop to see Beatrice, but she couldn’t leave her parents to wait for her to return to do her duties.

"They should have received the letters we sent with Logan so we only need to wait a day or two for their letters to come to us. Do not be surprised if my parents were to show up before us," Rafael replied as his mother would easily convince his father to pack up and head here or pack to go to the border.

"I wouldn’t mind if your parents were to join us now," Annalise said because she greatly missed Beatrice and watching how River was so smitten by his wife. There was much to share with the two and some of it, Annalise wanted to share in person. "I will write a new letter tonight so we can send it out in the morning when we go looking for paint."