Chapter 250

A woman's voice floated out from behind the tree, instantly cutting through all the tense energy in the air. Everyone's head turned instinctively in that direction. Especially Nelson—he whipped his head around the second he heard that familiar tone, eyes scanning the thick shade for a glimpse of the face that haunted his dreams. He wasn't the only one. Hannah had been curious about this niece she hadn't yet met, and she craned her neck without even glancing at Nelson's barely-contained urgency. Nora, on the other hand, barely reacted. In fact, she looked vaguely annoyed. Just some random girl picked up from who-knows-where—what's there to be so excited about? Raised elsewhere for over twenty years, surely she wasn't really "family." Why on earth were her aunt and cousin treating her like she was some treasure? Nora stared, unwilling but still itching to see what this girl even looked like. Under all those stares, Claire stepped out from behind the tree. No fancy outfit, no shiny jewelr