Master of his heart (Brielle and Max)

Emma's tears flowed even more freely, but Peyton had no clue why she was crying so hard.

"Emma, what's with the tears? You've got the money now, don't you? You see, I was always going to give it to you. The Odeberg family mess is over. As long as we steer clear of them, they'll leave us alone. We can go back to our lives, just the two of us. And about the baby..." Peyton paused, then continued, "We still have two thousand left. Maybe it's best to go ahead with the abortion."

Emma's mind buzzed. It was her mother's decision to hide the money that had kept her from going to college.

She had a chance to get out, a chance to...

"The most painful words in the world are 'could have been."

Emma felt completely drained, too exhausted to even feel hungry.

Peyton brought her a plate of food, thinking her silence was because she was starving, and quickly placed a fork in front of her.

"Come on, eat something. Don't be mad at me for hesitating; it was twenty thousand dollars, and the Odeberg family set us up. If they'd asked for less, I would've given you the rest. I did it for both of us. Making money gets harder every year, and with you being pregnant, do you really want to go back to foraging in the hills?"

Emma's body felt like jelly. The smell of the food didn't make her hungry; she just cried, numb.

She never thought things would turn out like this.

So hopeless.

And Peyton kept on talking.

"Keeping that money wasn't about greed. Everyone's right; what's a girl like you need so much education for? Look at the college grads from the next town; none of them want to come back. Too much learning, and you get too independent. Emma, you're my only daughter. I don't have a son to rely on. If not for you, who do I have? If you leave me, I might as well be dead."

Peyton started crying too, as if in a contest to see who could cry louder.This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .

But Emma's quiet tears were the true sign of despair.

With a sudden burst of strength, Emma pushed the plate away.

The plate crashed to the floor, scattering food and breaking into pieces.

Peyton, furious, raised her hand to strike but, seeing her daughter's frailty, started crying even louder.

"Are you blaming me? What else

man

could I have done? We have no man in the house, no one to lean on You think I'm selfish, but who else do I

have besides you?"

Emma bit her lip, staying silent, wishing she could just starve to death.

She wished she hadn't found the money under the floorboard, hadn't seen her mother's selfish side.

It all seemed so absurd now.

She wanted to scream, to cry, but found she couldn't shed another tear.

She just bit her lip harder, staring blankly into space.

There's no greater sorrow than a broken heart.

After a while, Peyton stopped crying

and didn

say another word. She went to get another plate of

and set it in front of Emma

belongs to en.kikisto com

"Get your strength back first. Once you're better, we'll deal with the baby. We can't stay in this village any longer, with everyone

whispering about us. Once you'ronet

well, we'll move to town. I'll find work as a housekeeper, and you can find ajob too. We won't starve. You may have no shame, but I still do."

The final remark was about Emma's pregnancy, a stigma in their community for being unmarried and pregnant.