Lily stared at her twin with a look of horror. “Are you sure you want to give up your baby for someone else to raise?”
Noona gave her a challenging look from underneath thick black mascara. "I can't raise the baby. Besides, I never really wanted it in the first place."
“But Ann is only 4 months old!” Lily protested. “You will owe her the memory of having a mother, as for Garfirld, he...”
"I don't owe Garfirld anything!" Noona argued. “You seem to have forgotten that it was he who refused to accept Ann as his child. He didn't even agree to a DNA test, no doubt he didn't want to bother his cow fiancée," she paced the room, “You know who he was, an unreliable perso! The men of the Mackenzie family are known for their genuine playboy lifestyle! You just have to look at yesterday's article and it's clear."
Lily looks at a photograph of Chance Mackenzie, Garfield's brother, in the Sydney weekend newspaper. It's rare if a week goes by without some mention of the changing lifestyle of this billionaire guy. His handsome features were the first thing she noticed when she opened the newspaper.
“Does Chance Mackenzie know that you plan to give his niece to someone else to raise?”
Noona turned to face her. “A few weeks ago I sent a letter to Italy to his father, but he flatly refused to accept Ann as his granddaughter. So this time I sent him a picture of her. It would shock him when he saw how much she resembled Garfield. I felt the need to stab him with a knife. Why not? My Life was ruined because of his precious son!”
“But definitely...”
Noona gave her an angry look. “I’ve already given them a chance to acknowledge Ann but they threw it away. I’m fed up with it. I'm leaving now to proceed with plan B."
"Leave?" Lily looked at her sister in horror. "Where are you going?"
"America".
"But what about Ann?" She gasped, her heart ringing an alarm bell. “I certainly don't think…” She couldn't finish the sentence. Noona shrugged scornfully. “I could take care of her for a month or two – I did a great job anyway. Besides, you obviously love her more than I do, so I see no reason not to leave her in your care temporarily. I can take care of her until someone adopts her.”
Lily's stomach twisted painfully. She could hardly imagine her sister not caring at all about the baby sleeping in the pram near the window. How could she be so heartless to throw away her own child?
“Look at me…” She tried to convince her sister again. “I know you're upset, but Garfield has only been gone… a few months.”
Noona looked at her angrily. “You don't need to use a metaphor like that. To put it bluntly, he's not going anywhere - he's already dead."
Lily swallowed. "I... I know".
"I'm glad he brought his fiancée with him," Lily added, her tone irritated.
"You sure don't mean that, do you?"
Noona's features twisted cynically. “Of course that is what I mean. I hate the Mackenzies and anyone associated with them." She tossed her blond mane over her shoulder and looked at her sister. “I have a chance to make a new life with Bryce Falkirk in America. He loved me and promised to give me a role in his movies. This is my chance to step onto the big screen. I would be a fool if I let it get out of hand.”
"Did you tell him about Ann?"
Noona rolled her eyes. “Are you crazy? Of course I didn't tell him. He thinks Ann is your daughter."
Lily stared at her sister in horror. “How can you consider marrying a man without telling him about your past?”
Noona looked at her sharply. “Bryce wouldn't want to get involved with me if I told him things like that. He thinks my "baby innocence" eyes are shining like the sun."
"But if he really loves you..."
“Come on Lily, I don't want to live a life like our mother, hanging out with one bad guy after another, and then throwing my kids in foster homes.It is terrible. I want money and a stable life. You can't have those things with a baby clinging to your waist."
“But you can...”
"No!" Noona interrupted her impatiently. “Don't you understand? I don't want that child; I never wanted it." She tossed Ann's bag of clothes beside the pram, the soft thud as it hit the floor dealing a blow to Lily's chest. "You're the one who told me not to get rid of that pregnancy, so I think it's only fair that you take care of her until I find a suitable candidate at a private adoption center."
“Private adoption center?” Lily immediately raised her voice.
Noona gave her an elegant look. “There are people out there who are willing to pay a large sum of money for a cute baby like this. I want to make sure to get the best deal possible. With my relationship with Bryce, I might even find a Hollywood actor who wants Ann. Think about how much they'll pay us."
Lily's eyes flashed with shock and her heart began to pound wildly in her chest. “How can you do that to your own baby?”
“It’s none of your business,” Noona said. "She's my baby, not yours."
“Let me adopt her.” With anger, Lily heard herself say. “Don’t sell your daughter to others.”
“You?” Noona shook her head. "No. I will take advantage of this opportunity.” Her eyes sparkled with obvious greed. “It was like a fortune falling from the sky. It's my chance to free myself from Garfield's child and bring in a ton of money."
"You're selfish!"
"I'm not self-interested - I'm practical," Noona insisted. “We may be identical twins, but I'm not like you, Lily. And you have to accept that. I want to travel and I want to enjoy the riches around me. You can spend many boring hours in that old library – I want a different life.”
Lily straightened her shoulders, lifting her chin proudly. “I love that job.”
“Ah yes, as for me, I like to shop, go out to dinner and go to parties. And I'll do a lot of that when I get to Bryce's mansion in Los Angeles. I can't wait until then."
“I can't believe you can simply throw away your responsibilities like that. Ann is not a toy that you can put aside. It's a baby, for God's sake. Don't you understand at all?"
“No.” Noona's cold gray eyes met hers. “It is absolutely nothing to me. I told you - I don't want it." She picked up the bag, rummaged through it, and handed her sister a stack of documents. "Here is her birth certificate and passport, please keep them safe until she is adopted." She slung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the door.
“Noona, wait!” Lily cried, glancing at the pram in desperation. "Aren't you even going to say goodbye to her?"
Noona opened the door, with one last determined look, closed it without hesitation.
Lily knew there was no hope even if she chased after Noona and begged her to come back. For nearly 24 years she had begged Noona to stop and think about her actions, but it didn't work. Her wayward and recalcitrant twin sister encounters one disaster after another, causing unforeseeable damage. But by far this is the worst.
A small sob came from inside the pram and spread across the small room, and she reached inside to lift a tiny pink bundle.
“Now, my dear baby,” she said as she held the baby close to her chest, marveling again at her beautiful features. "Are you hungry, baby?"
She began to snuggle up against her and Lily felt an overwhelming wave of love sweep through her body. She couldn't bear the thought of leaving her beloved niece in the care of someone else. What if it wasn't like that and Ann's childhood would end up just like hers and Noona's? How could she stand aside and let something like that happen to Ann?
Lily realized that Ann's clothes were wet so she took her to her room, laid her on the bed and gently undressed her as she had done countless times. She took off the last layer, her yellow short-sleeved jacket curled up in a corner. She slipped it out of her head, whispering to it until the meaningless words caught in her throat when she saw what was hidden beneath her coat. Her eyes widened in horror at the bruised lines along her rib cage. From the length and magnitude of the bruises she knew it was Noona's use of her fingers.
“Oh Noona, how could you?” She choked back her words, holding back her tears.
How could she prevent the pain that happened to her granddaughter again, the pain she and her sister went through when they were children?
Right now she was determined that she would do anything to keep Ann with her. There must be a way to convince Noona to hand Ann over to her.
She must find it!
If other single mothers can cope, she will too.
She nibbled her nails as she weighed her options. It wasn't easy for her – she could hardly afford to raise a child with her current librarian salary.
She looked down at the sleeping baby, her chest constricting painfully at the thought that she would never see her niece again.
No. She wouldn't easily allow her sister to go through with this.
She wouldn't let Ann's mother or anyone else do that bad thing.
No one can take the baby away from her.
Nobody.
