Chapter 409: Future (3)
"You are too good to be true. I hope you are not just willing to adopt her because I have shown interest in her. If you liked the time we spent with Lydia, why didn’t you say something?" Annalise asked.
Annalise recalled how Rafael was with Lydia. He was gentle with her then and Lydia had looked intrigued by Rafael when they were by the tree and then loved him when there was candy to be shared.
Although Rafael said taking care of Lydia wouldn’t bother him because Nicolas had taken in River as his son, Annalise needed to hear more than once that Rafael was doing this for himself too.
"At that time I was trying to get you to be more open about your feelings for me. There was no time to think of adopting a child," Rafael answered. He was not doing this only for Annalise. Rafael did like Lydia, but adopting a child wasn’t something he could do when they had been at the orphanage.
He couldn’t think of adopting a child because it would only be him taking care of it then. It had crossed his mind in the past to be like Nicolas with his father and take in a child to raise, but he had to think about his time away from the manor.
Rafael didn’t want to leave the child in the manor to be raised by someone else or have to get his parents to help him. Now with Annalise, he could make something work. Annalise wouldn’t be doing a lot of travelling since her place was at the border leading her people. He wouldn’t have to worry about the child feeling alone and not loved enough.
Travis was also no longer an issue so one less person Rafael had to worry about harming a loved one was gone.
"We should make a trip back to the orphanage as soon as possible to see her and spend more time with her to see if she would want to come with us. I don’t see why not when you and I are wonderful. Our lives are exciting, but then again, what if she were to be afraid of someone from the border?" Annalise questioned, realising she would have to share this about herself.
Annalise didn’t know what the children in the orphanage might have heard about the border. Were they also told scary stories to make the border sound like it was full of monsters? Would Lydia not care about it because she was going to have a new home with parents to look after her?