She was afraid that it would be blood. She still had to take care of her mother. She had to stay alive. If she died, what would happen to her mother?The fifteen to sixteen-year-old child forced herself to swallow the mouthful of blood back down her throat. She bit her lip and said weakly, “My mother… My mother is dying. Before she dies, she wants to meet…Mrs. Shaw. My mother said…it’s about your daughter who passed away as a baby. She would like to see you.”Mrs. Shaw was stunned when she heard Gloria’s words. “What…what did you say?”“My mother would like to see you.” With that, Gloria sped away. If not, she would start coughing blood. She did not want to cough up blood in front of the Shaw family. She was afraid they would make fun of her and further take advantage of her weakness. That night, she did not return home because she did not want her mother to see her in this state, beaten up like this.That night, Gloria was in pain and freezing. Her chest was burning, as if it
When Goldie saw her daughter, she struggled to sit up. “Quick! Go to the Shaw family. They believed me. They believed me because I’m dying. Gloria, you have to remember, when you’re in the Shaw family residence, find a way to secretly get some of your brother’s hair, or even Mrs. Shaw’s hair.”Gloria sobbed as she asked her mother, “Why would I need their hair?”“In case they want to conduct a paternity test. You’re your father’s daughter, but you’re not Mrs. Shaw’s daughter. You can only join the Shaw family if you’re Mrs. Shaw’s daughter. Otherwise, they won’t acknowledge you.”“Mommy, I don’t want to join the Shaw family…”“Be a good girl, Gloria. Now, they won’t hate you anymore. They think you’re their dead daughter, so Mrs. Shaw won’t hate you anymore either.”Gloria cried and said to her mother, “Mommy, they won’t acknowledge us. We can never join the Shaw family because the man whom you call my father, all he did was provide you with one of his sperm! To them, we’ll always
Now that they had a foster child, the couple thought they could finally have someone to support them in the golden years of their lives, but unfortunately, the long arm of the law eventually caught up to them.After the couple was arrested by the police, Gloria turned into an orphan, in all senses of the word. She had no choice but to leave her job at the factory to avoid the Shaw family who were still searching for her. She was homeless. She did not dare to stay in a hotel, nor did she dare to rent a room. When she was at her poorest, she even slept under an overhead bridge. She met Lincoln Lynn when she was fighting off some bad guys. Back then, Lincoln was a white-collar worker at the small factory where Amelia used to work. At one glance, he immediately recognized her, saved her, and brought her home. Then, he even gave her a job. Just like this, another year passed. Naturally, Amelia and Lincoln started dating. Two years later, when she became 21 years old, Amelia marri
Gloria wandered the streets aimlessly, lost and with nowhere to go.Waves of pain emanated from her belly. She was in despair and she did not know whether she would survive, or whether her baby would arrive on this Earth safely.At that moment, Gloria suddenly understood why her mother went to all that trouble before she passed away. Once her mother passed away, she was left all alone in this world, and it was too difficult for her. She also understood why her mother wanted to give birth to her. No longer blaming her mother for her actions, Gloria went to her mother’s grave and sobbed for a whole afternoon. When evening drew near, she felt a sudden, terrible ache in her belly. The pain was so bad she could barely walk out of the graveyard. She crawled on the ground on all fours, calling out weakly, “Help, help…”The man who came to help her was limping. The lame man exerted much strength before he successfully helped her onto a tricycle and pulled her all the way to the hospital
The little house was never sold. With a tug, the gate opened and Gloria walked inside. The house was filled with the smell of mold. The house was old and in disrepair. Puddles of water had formed everywhere from the leaking pipes, and still, it was barely habitable.After deciding to live here, she took a few of her mother’s paintings out of the wooden crates and sold them to an art gallery. She only earned a small amount of money, but it was still enough for the two of them to live off of for a few months. But their happy days were numbered. One afternoon, on the way home from the market, Gloria wheeled her daughter in her stroller but stopped when she saw visitors in the little courtyard outside. They were from the Shaw family. They changed the locks and locked up the house. Then, they threw away some of the daily necessities in the house. Before they left, they even said, “Nowadays, the world is filled with all sorts of people! Even a tiny, rundown house like this where s
Gloria was completely helpless now. At her wits’ end, she really wanted to leave all her worldly troubles behind her but, before she died, she had to clear her debt, especially since her debtor was someone who was as honest and upright as he was poor. “Lincoln Lynn, no matter what, we were husband and wife. Give me three thousand dollars. I need to return two thousand dollars to Mr. Scott. The remaining thousand, just think of it as compensation for all the years I spent with you.”Lincoln sneered, “What a perfect plan you have there! It’s not that I can’t afford three thousand dollars, but if you are lying to me…”“I am in this situation now, so why would I lie to you?” Gloria laughed pitifully.“I’ll go with you! If you’re not lying to me, then I will give you the three thousand dollars you asked for!” Lincoln said viciously.He was willing to go to a remote little village thousands of miles away with her, not because he was worried that Gloria would lie to him, but because an
But her mother was a high-school graduate. Throughout elementary school, Sabrina’s mother tutored her. That was why her results were considered excellent in the little farming village. Besides, Sabrina’s grandmother, the late Goldie Ziegler, was actually a very cultured woman. At a young age, she went abroad to study and she had dreams and goals of her own. She could paint and could compose music; she was a woman of many talents. A woman like her could not be too bad; that was why her daughter Gloria, also inherited many of her mother’s habits.For example, Gloria liked to pluck the wildflowers in the mountains and arrange them in the empty wine bottles in her home. Even if Lame Scott’s little hut was old and rundown, Gloria could still decorate the place and turn it into a classy little house. Lame Scott felt as if he had married a fairy. While Gloria, on the other hand, was happy that she no longer had to live like a nomad, with no set place to call home, nor did she have to
Gloria said calmly, “Pay me the child support you owe me for the past twelve years, then give her citizenship in South City, and then arrange for her to attend school here in South City! I want all of these conditions to be met, and not a single one less!” Lincoln said, “Dream on!”Gloria sneered again, “Lincoln Lynn, I, Amelia Yale, have lived for more than thirty years. There’s nothing I don’t dare to do! I don’t care how my life turns out to be! I don’t have any other request, and all I want is for you to be nicer to your daughter! She’s your biological daughter!”Lincoln did not say anything. “…”“She’s already twelve. She had been living in a farming village all her life, without even a piece of new clothing on her body. Lincoln Lynn, doesn’t your cold heart ache to see her like this? Don’t you want to take a look at your own daughter?” Gloria asked coldly. At that moment, when Gloria was questioning Lincoln, she was reminded of her mother. Gloria wanted her daughter to mee