"Pearl!" Mr. Donovan shouted, his face contorted with anger. "Lily is our child! Why do you treat her like this? And Ian—he's your son, but have you acted like a mother to him for even a second? Are you trying to drive them to their deaths? Will that finally make you happy?"
"You ignored her for twenty-three years, and now that our daughter is finally back, you still say such things. You're truly cruel."
"My daughter is Leah Donovan, not this... *Lily*! I don't acknowledge her!" Mrs. Donovan snapped, turning her head away to avoid looking at Lily Donovan.
Lily Donovan's expression dimmed.
Her eyes stung. Growing up, she never understood why everyone else had a mother and father, but she didn't.
Her mother would never even look at her. Her father only managed to find time to visit once or twice a year, patting her head and telling her not to blame her mother, that she was sick.
'What kind of sickness makes a mother not love her own child?'
