"Let it out, Anne. Yer safe." her words were soft over the sounds of tears. She could feel the dampness of her own smock, and the dampness of Anne's own hair, but it mattered not. Just sweet words, soft gestures "That's all right. Yer one of me own, it'll be alright." In the moment of raw emotion, Lottie's own true feelings and wants leaked out too. She wanted this girl as part of her own family, to repay a debt and have a larger legacy.

Lottie had failed this girl once and It would be a cold day in hell that she'd let her down again. Anne might not have realized it yet, but as far as Lottie was concerned she was no longer a Ward, she was a Blacke.