7
The table crashed. Dishes scattered
everywhere. Susan stared at me in shock.
Gary looked surprised.
く
They probably didn’t expect me to react like
this. They expected me to be meek,
subservient, to be a fool they could
manipulate. And I was, in the last life. They
bullied me, and I waited for Gary’s promises,
until Lily died, until he wanted a divorce. I
finally saw it all.
This time, I wouldn’t be weak. I would do it for
Lily.
Gary didn’t yell at me for flipping the table.
His voice softened.
He explained, “Molly, I should have thought
this through. I shouldn’t have just blamed
Chloe. Both children were wrong. I shouldn’t
have favored one over the other…”
“Both wrong?” I stared at him coldly. “They’re
living off you, wearing your clothes, living in
your house, and she insults your daughter.
Are you saying my daughter was wrong too?
Are you serious?”
Gary frowned. “Molly, I admit I was biased.
But Susan and Chloe are alone. If I didn’t take
care of them, they’d be defenseless…”
That sent me over the edge. Susan is alone?
What about Lily and me? What about us
toiling away in the fields, mocked by the
whole village? He had no such sympathy for
us!
I pointed at Susan. “Susan’s living the high
life in the city, and that’s pitiful?”
“And Lily and I, working our fingers to the
bone in the country, are not? Gary, what are
you thinking?”
Gary froze, speechless. Susan, without a
word, gathered Chloe and headed for their
room. Gary called after her, “Susan.”
11
She didn’t turn around. “Take care of your
own problems before calling me.”
