“Mommy, please don’t cry. You like the sea, so Daisy will go with you post-hospital, you have my words mommy.”

Daisy, looking helpless, tried hard to comfort me.

I touched my face, feeling the cold dampness on my fingertips.

I forced a smile, hoping this would pass.

On the day I was discharged, I took Daisy to finalize the adoption paperwork and then returned to the old house.

The old house was eerily quiet, devoid of life.

Since Alexander’s mother, who later became my mother-in-law, passed away two years ago, the housekeeper and Aunt Katherine had retired and returned to their hometown.

We had hired several nannies since, but they...