Tom's expression immediately changed. He helped River and shielded her behind him. "Amber, are you out of your mind!?"
My eyes were bloodshot. "River, I don't care how you slander me, but you will not slander my daughter!"
River looked innocent. "Did I say something wrong? If you hadn't used the child to force Tom into marriage and taught her to fake being sick to restrict Tom's freedom, how could he have ever been with you?"
I looked at Tom coldly. "Is this what you've always thought?"
He didn't say yes, but he didn't deny it either.
Back then, if he hadn't agreed, no one could have forced him.
Our daughter, who was frail and sickly, was so afraid that her father would dislike her that she always felt deeply guilty after getting sick.
I could give her all the motherly love, but I couldn't give her the fatherly love she longed for. I begged Tom, even to the point of bowing, just to get him to look at her a bit more.
And yet, he thought our daughter was pretending, that I had taught her to do it.
Ha.
How ridiculous.