Chapter 2I Sued To Legally Disown My Perfect Daughter

"H-How is that possible? Mom, are you doing this on purpose? Are you trying to lie just so you can sever our ties?"

Daisy furiously shook the wheels of her chair, turning to the Panel.

"Mrs. Peterson, Mr. Harrison, you've been our neighbors for twenty years. You know what happened."

"They certainly do," I cut in, my voice calm. "But Daisy, do you remember what happened in our home just before I first struck you?"

Her eyes were glossy with unshed tears, and she spoke tentatively.

"Dad was critically injured and in the hospital."

"That evening, I was mugged on my way home from evening study. When Dad found out, he confronted the guys, and they retaliated. They beat him into the ICU. It was my fault. I ruined him. After he was hospitalized, I didn’t want to live. I took an overdose of sleeping pills that night, and to be sure, I cut my wrists."

She pulled up her sleeve, exposing a web of hideous, jagged scars on her inner wrist. The tears finally spilled over.

The low murmur of the Panel stopped, replaced by a heavy, profound wave of sympathy.

I could feel my fingers starting to shake at the memory. I squeezed them into my palms, digging in my nails.

Daisy’s voice was a plea.

"Mom, you never left my side. You stayed up all night to watch me. You dragged me to every therapist and specialist in the city because you were terrified I'd hurt myself again. You told me you would sell the house, sell your blood, do anything, just to make me well."

"You loved me so much then… Why… why have you brought us here today?"

Before she finished speaking, sniffles and muted sobs rose from the Panel. Everyone was moved by the tragic history of my daughter. All of the agony my husband and I endured for her was seen as a simple parental obligation.

I remembered the day Rob was moved from the Critical Care Unit to a regular room. He squeezed my hand and begged me to take care of our girl. He made me promise so many things.

I did every one of them.

"So, Mom, after all that, what is your answer?" Daisy prompted, pulling me back to the present.

"You were dating." My answer was blunt.

Daisy stared, speechless.

Her high school guidance counselor laughed with disbelief.

"Joanne Miller, you are an outrageous liar! Daisy was my student! Ours was an all-girls' academy, you forget? For a mother to invent a sexual smear against her own daughter in a court of law… that is pure malice! Are you even her mother?"

Everyone in the room fixed me with hateful, murderous stares.

"Are you finished?" My voice was level. I turned my head slightly, catching Daisy’s face. "You tell them."

"Was it random thugs who put your father in the ICU, or was it your boyfriend, Mitch Sullivan?"