Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

Fiona sighed deeply; her voice was tinged with a melancholic nostalgia as she clasped Lizetta's hand.

"Ah, it's all ancient history now. You see, back in the day, Hanna was expecting twins, a boy and a girl, and everything seemed perfect. But then, around the sixth month, the unthinkable happened: the pregnancy stopped. That girl would have been Remington's twin sister. The doctors said the twins were sharing one placenta and the blood supply was uneven. One twin was too strong, and the other, well, Hanna couldn't come to terms with it and blamed Remington."

Lizetta, with her eyes widened, protested, "But how could she blame her own son? Losing one baby should have made the other more precious, right? Besides, the loss could have been due to many reasons. Maybe Hanna didn't rest enough, or perhaps the girl had some genetic issues. It's unfair to blame the other twin."

"Exactly, we all tried to tell her that, but sometimes grief makes people think irrationally. The procedure was done without pain, but Hanna was awake for the whole thing. Seeing the baby must have traumatized her, leading her to develop these extreme thoughts."

Lizetta's hand instinctively went to her belly, and her heart was squeezing in empathy.

She could somewhat understand Hanna's pain; the thought of a fully-formed baby being taken out of the body is just too cruel.

"What a tragedy. On top of that, Hanna had a rough postpartum period. Your father-in-law was caught cheating, which plunged her into postpartum depression. When Remington was two months old, he had a fever in the middle of the night. If it weren't for the nanny noticing in time, Hanna might have accidentally smothered him. That's when your grandfather and I decided to take Remington under our wing." Lizetta had always wondered why Hanna, who didn't work, wasn't raising Remington herself. Fiona didn't seem the type to snatch her grandson away.

all made

was actually Stella West who began to turn things around for her." "Stella?" Lizetta

Hanna, in her state of transference, started treating Stella like a daughter,

mentioned that Stella looked after him like a big

that was all there

blame Remington again? Is that why their

nodded, her eyes reflecting a

finally came back, he was a wreck, both physically and mentally, refusing to eat or drink, but she was too focused on

ironic really. One night, she went to get some water and saw Remington on the balcony. He was so emaciated that she didn't recognize him, and she even fell down the stairs out of scare,

apple of her eye. Now with Joseph's illness, she's

made the old lady feel like she had failed in raising her son. Hanna's series of