Yet, Jessica had offered to get Zachary a gaming console. She was probably hoping he would get addicted to gaming so that he would look bad in front of Steven, who would then stop loving him! Zachary was about to speak his mind when he saw the expectant gleam in Steven's eyes. He changed his mind and nodded. "She did well."

"Really?" Steven caressed Zachary's face affectionately. "Since you like Mommy Jessie, the four of us will live together as a happy Jamily from now on."

Jessica might be able to keep up the kind-and-affectionate stepmother act in front of Steven now, but what about in the long run? Zachary was afraid that she would pick on him in the future. As such, he kept quiet and did not give Steven a response,

Upon getting home, Willow set her backpack down and bounded up to me. She recounted excitedly while gesturing, "Zachary apologized to me in front of the class today!" Ifeigned surprise. "Really?"

She nodded solemnly. "Yes! I'm really happy about it."Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

She then burrowed into my embrace and clutched my arm, adding cheerily, "I went through the same thing back when I wasn't talking to Daddy, but I never told him.

"I tried not to show that I was upset when he picked me up from school, so he never found out about it, either."

Her childlike voice was high and clear. "I kept it to myself most of the time."

Igently stroked Willow's hair. "It must have been hard for you, Willow."

One minute, she was happily sharing her triumph for the day, and the next, teardrops gathered in her large eyes when she heard my words. She quickly wiped her tears away and said, "Yes."

Icupped her chubby face and kissed her cheek. "But everything's better now. You won't have to worry about getting picked on by the other children in class anymore now that your dad's spoken up for you. You won't have to endure in silence anymore." Willow's tears did not stop falling, but she broke into a fit of giggles. "Yeah,"

"But this solution isn't permanent, Willow." I placed my hands on her little shoulders. "Do you want to how you can make them so scared of you that they'd back off for good?"

w's eyes lit up as she looked at me hopefully. "I can do that?

Willow's

I laughed. "Of course! We'll sign you up for martial arts classes

Her jaw dropped in surprise, but I continued slowly, "That way, the next time someone says mean things to you and you can't use your words to get through them, just throw them a few punches until they learn to shut up." Blinking, Willow asked, "Is that a good idea?"

I answered confidently, "You'll be fine as long as you aren't the one who stirs up trouble and picks on others."

She seemed to consider my suggestion and saw the sense in it. Leaping off the couch, she took my hand and led me upstairs.

Zane was working when Willow knocked on the study door. "Daddy"

He rose to open the door and bent to pick Willow up. He asked indulgently, "What is it?"

She eyed him seriously and said, I've decided to take up martial arts!"

"Why?" Zane asked, giving her an odd look.

Willow leaned against his shoulder and said softly, "Because today I realized... I like it when people apologize for picking on me. If they pick on me and 1 beat them up for it, I won't have to keep quiet anymore." Zane stared at her and noted her grave expression.

She might have seen the sense in my suggestion at first, but now, she had concluded that learning martial arts would be good for her. When Zane did not answer her immediately, Willow was crestfallen. "Don't you want me to learn martial arts, Daddy?"