Side Chick Era... Over

Loving Mom 385

Chapter 385

“When Mom passed so suddenly, and the Kalen family kicked me out, if it hadn’t been for you, I would’ve ended up on the streets. I probably wouldn’t have even made it to see her one last time,” Sharon said.

But John wasn’t comforted by her words. “I still feel useless… I couldn’t protect you then… I couldn’t even protect Teacher Shayla. I didn’t even know she was terminally ill.”

Sharon shook her head. “John, this wasn’t your fault. None of it. You shouldn’t blame yourself.”

Her mother had hidden her illness from everyone. She’d even sent Sharon to live with the Kalen family to keep her from noticing anything.

Despite raising Sharon alone, Shayla’s life had never resembled some tragic melodrama. They weren’t poor. In fact, they lived comfortably-upper middle class by most standards.

If not, how could her mother have afforded to help John financially back then?

When her mother left the Kalen family, she’d taken a sizable sum with her. On top of that, she was an accomplished violinist. Whether performing or teaching, she earned well.

So Sharon never went without. Never.

Her mother always gave her the best she could afford-clothes, food, education. Everything.

As Sharon grew older, she’d once told her mother she didn’t need everything to be the best. That she could live more simply.

said, “I give you the best so you won’t be dazzled by scraps some man offers you one day. So you won’t ever mistake small kindness for something bigger

concerts, art exhibitions, and fashion shows. They traveled often and saw the

for all the generosity,

wasn’t an excuse to neglect her studies. From the time she could

she was always at the top of her

top of that, her mother enrolled her in everything-painting, calligraphy,

to the

was no space for silly things like

hadn’t had the

didn’t understand why her mother was so harsh with

returned to the Kalen

her. She’d raised her to be a

Sharon’s world so Sharon would never be intimidated

had believed-honestly believed-her life was already a good

back in the Kalen household, she finally understood what real

alone was larger than the entire home she’d grown

a casually placed porcelain

Chapter 385

Not even a mansion. It was an estate. A