I froze.

I hadn't spoken to her since that day at the airport. Of all the people who'd hurt me, she'd cut the deepest. A mother is supposed to love and cherish her child, but I got nothing from mine. To her, I might as well have been a ghost.

Now that I have my own kid, I just can't wrap my head around how she could've done that to me. I could never imagine turning my back on Oliver.

"Sophie, how are you doing?" my mother asked softly; her voice was ...