Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

"Liz, you've always been the tougher one!"

Was she really heartless?

Maybe, in a way, she had always been the kind to hold grudges, ever since she was a child.

Sensitive and fragile, hurt easily and, knowing pain all too well, she feared it and remembered it. Forgiving him time after time was her choice.

Because he never crossed her line, but losing their child, a child who could have lived and grown up... How could she face him or herself?

Often, she wondered, if she hadn't followed Remington back to the States, if they hadn't tried to start over.

Maybe Mr. and Mrs. West wouldn't have gone to such extremes, maybe her Daisy could have grown up well.

"Say what you will. You're not Daisy. How do you know she wouldn't want us as her parents or wish to return in another way?" It was all self-deception.

Liz's lips curled in a self-mocking smile as she took a step back.

Turning around, she didn't expect Remington to remain seated, his deep gaze fixed on her retreating figure, his voice heavy. "You're not Daisy either. How can you be sure she wouldn't?"

His stubbornness and insistence exhausted Liz.

She spun around, glaring at him.

"Remington, can you just stop it!"

Remington's handsome face paled further, a flash of memory striking him. He had said something similar to Liz before. Was it when he wouldn't come home after their wedding, and she would call, cooing and checking on him repeatedly?

Or when he had brought pregnant Evelina back and she wanted a divorce, yet he begged her not to make a fuss?

To realize there's no way out, to have given your all, only to be told you're making a fuss-it felt like offering up all your dignity for trampling, the cold seeping into every bone.

Yet, Remington clenched his fists, veins popping on his neck and hands from the effort to hold back.

He didn't stand up, his voice deep.

"Fine, neither of us has the right. Let's let Daisy tell us!"

Liz frowned, not understanding Remington's point.

But the man slightly shifted his knees, facing the tombstone, gazing up at the darkening sky.

"The weather forecast predicts rain. tonight. I'll stay here. If it rains,

means Daisy can't forgive monet

I'll have nothing to say.

But if tomorrow is clear, and the rain doesn't come, then Daisy doesn't blame us. Come back! Give me another chance!"

He turned his determined eyes

locking with Liz's incredulous wide ones. "Are you crazy? The rain's about to start, how can you be so childish! How old are you to believe in this? Get up!"

Liz rushed forward, trying to pull him up forcefully.

Ignoring the fact that she didn't believe it herself, she had checked the weather forecast.

A storm was coming tonight. The wind howled, the sky was devoid of stars, a storm was brewing.

Was he blind to it, or was this all just an act?

Failing to lift him, Liz let go in frustration.This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

"Remington, don't think a cold from the rain will soften me. It won't happen!"

Her voice was almost a scream, trembling with emotion.

But the man simply looked at her calmly.

"It doesn't concern you. I said, this is between Daisy and me, her father. Maybe the rain won't come. Maybe Daisy can't bear to let it."