“That was the lowest moment of my life,” her mother said. “When my daughter most needed me, I was with a man I didn’t even care about. “By the time I reached the hospital, they had already started operating. I had to ask what they were doing. Me. Your mother. Asking like an outsider. I cried so hard. Not just for your pain, Annie, but for my own humiliation. “All those rules? All the limits and curfews I would put on you? It was all because of that day. I never wanted to make another mistake.” “It just made me hate you,” Annie said, softly. “No more than I hated myself. I didn’t protect you. I
...more
