Veronica cracked a smile, nodding as she lowered her head. She thought more than that, but what would take considerably more coaxing.

In a way, awful as it maybe was to think, he'd been lucky. Absent mothers were easier to lose, or so she expected. "My mother was always around," she said, careful, clearly picking her words. "Until she wasn't anymore. She left when I was sixteen." Hurriedly, she added, "It was for the best." It just hadn't seemed like it back then.