Chapter 1233: Chapter 1233: Never Apart
"Mummy."
After hanging up the phone, Grace Thompson hopped off the chair and pursed her lips.
"What’s wrong? Why the sudden unhappiness?"
At first, Charlotte Thompson thought that Grace was tired, but seeing her look, it was clear that she felt more disappointed than sleepy.
So Charlotte squatted down to be at eye level with Grace.
"I really miss Annie!" Grace enunciated each word with seriousness.
"But aren’t we going to see Annie and Aunt Annie in a few days?" Charlotte, while straightening Grace’s nightgown, spoke in a very gentle voice.
"But..."
Grace grabbed Charlotte’s hand, "Will Annie come back with us?"
The question made Charlotte pause for a moment, and after some consideration, she said softly, "If Annie wants to come back with us, she will definitely say so."
What Charlotte didn’t expect was for Grace to shake her head and whisper, "Annie won’t do that, she will choose to stay with Aunt Annie."
Finally understanding what Grace meant, Charlotte chuckled and said, "Is Grace afraid that Annie will leave us?"
Although Grace didn’t answer directly, her expression revealed her inner thoughts.
She shyly lifted her eyes, filled with a touch of hope and longing.
"Silly girl." Charlotte lightly scratched Grace’s nose, "Why would you think that Annie will leave us?"
"Because Annie no longer lives with us." Grace said softly, looking down and fidgeting with the hem of her dress.
"Just because we don’t live together doesn’t mean we will be apart forever; we all live in the same city. If Annie stays with Aunt Annie, we can visit Annie and Aunt Annie any time we want. It’s not like we won’t see each other again, why is Grace starting to worry about this?"
"It’s just..." Grace seemed to want to say more but ended up hesitating.
Her bright eyes fixed on Charlotte, shining like a dazzling sea of stars in the nighttime sky.
"Then do Jack and Chad have to eventually go back to the Ross Family?"
Reminded by Grace, Charlotte remembered that tomorrow, she was supposed to take Jack and Chad back to the Ross Family.
"Jack and Chad are the Ross Family’s children, it’s only natural for them to return to their family heritage."
"I know, but after that, they won’t have the Thompson surname like we do, the same goes for Annie, I feel... as if they’ve changed their names, it’s like they’re getting farther away from us."
Grace seemed unclear about how to express her feelings, so her words came out a bit disjointed, perhaps even with a sense of urgency as she even began to gesture with her hands.
Charlotte, smiling, caught Grace’s little hand and held it in her palm.
"So Grace has been thinking about so many things!"
Charlotte hadn’t expected the usually lively Grace to have such moments of reflection.
"Whether it’s Jack, Chad, or Annie, their relationship with Grace hasn’t changed at all, there’s no growing distance. Grace cares about them and similarly, Mummy believes that you hold the same place in their hearts."
While saying this, Charlotte wrapped Grace in her arms, gently patting her back.
"Hasn’t Mummy always told you? Our family will never be apart."