The Divorced Military Queen Awakens (by Sadie Baxter) novel Chapter 651

Chapter 651 A Chance Reunion

Chapter 651 A Chance Reunion

Next time? Would there really be a next time?

He doubted their paths would cross again.

Fate disagreed. Only a handful of days passed before Bowen saw the girl again.

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This time, she looked nothing like the chirpy savior who had tugged him through alley shadows. Her already dirty face was now bruised purple and blue; one eye had swollen shut, turning her features into a mask of pain.

Bowen’s eyes widened, the evening light throwing nervous shadows across his face. “You got into a fight?” he asked, the question tumbling out before he could stop it.

“There was a bakery giving away free loaves today. I went for one. Somebody tried snatching mine, but I’m tougher than I look, so I kept both safe.”

She flashed a triumphant grin. The gesture tugged at the cut on her cheek, warping her smile into something crooked yet fiercely proud.

“It’s only bread,” Bowen began, voice soft with worry. “Aren’t you living at the orphanage? Even without bread, they should feed-”

The thought died on his lips. He remembered rumors drifting from adult conversations: ever since the director fell ill, chaos ruled the orphanage. Meals were scarce. Hunger drove the children into the streets to beg, steal, or even fight.

Is that why she had stood in line for the free loaves–because there is nothing else to eat?

Right then, Bowen’s stomach betrayed him with a loud, awkward growl that echoed down the alley.

She fixed him with a sharp, knowing look. “You’re hungry?”

“Not really,” he muttered, heat climbing his ears. The denial barely left his mouth when his stomach rumbled again, louder than before.

Reluctance clouded her eyes as she studied the two precious loaves. Then, with sudden resolve, she tore one in half and pressed the larger piece into Bowen’s hand. “We split it. Half each–no one goes hungry.”

Bowen stared at the warm crust resting in his palm, stunned into speechlessness. “You-”

But she had already turned, limping toward the orphanage’s direction. “I have to get back. Mom’s waiting

for me.”

“What’s your name?” Bowen called after her, unable to hold the question back.

For the first time in his life, he felt an urgent need to know someone’s name.

She whirled around, sunlight catching on her teeth as she grinned. “Dawn Whitethorn. Call me Dawn!”

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10:07 Mon, Dec 29

Chapter 651 A Chance Reunion

Dawn Whitethorn. Megan had chosen that name for her.

Megan once told her a story she could never forget. She was not born in a bi hospital morgue, a room meant for the newly silent.

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clivery ward but in the

While her mother fought to push life into that icy air, she kept gasping one word-“Whitethorn.” Megan seized upon it and made Whitethorn her surname.

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The clock read three o’clock in the morning when she was born. Even so, the infant glowed like sunrise breaking through frost. Hence, Megan called the child “Dawn.”

Megan treated them well. Thanks to Megan’s donations, the orphanage took them in and paid for her mother’s treatment. Lately, with Rupert bedridden, the place had grown meaner, corners cut wherever no one was watching. The nurses were rough. They yanked at her mother’s limbs and skipped the massages that kept blood flowing. Dawn rushed homeward, determined to take care of her mother herself.

Her small legs pumped like pistons, shoes slapping the pavement. She wanted nothing more than to reach her mother sooner.

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