A Ruling Passion – Chapter 1491

Smore stood at the base of the stairs, glum. He had wanted to present a picture he drew to Mark, only to have his father ignore him.

His distress made Ariane’s heart ache. She hated it when unhappy feelings between parents were taken out on innocent bystanders, especially when Smore was one of them.

She approached the hurt child and held him in her arms. “Daddy’s not in a good mood,” she cooed. “He didn’t mean to neglect you. I know, how about you show me what you made?”

A smile broke out of Smore, who solemnly — as though it was a treasure — presented his art to his mother. Arianne examined it closely before praising with a smile. “This is amazing, sweetie! You’re really good at drawing! Alright, would you like to play with Granny for a bit? Mommy needs to coddle your Daddy now because he’s in a bad mood. He needs someone to be nice to him, like what I do with you when you’re upset, okay? It’s very sad, too, if everyone ignores Daddy, right?”

Smore nodded in understanding and ran away to Mary.