"Harper…please understand, I never wanted to leave you! It simply wasn't a good time for me to pick you up!"
"Wasn't a good time?" I repeated with a scoff of disbelief. "Mother, you were missing for years. I thought you were dead when I turned four. Guess how old I am now? Eighteen! You've been gone for a whole fucking fourteen years!" I bellowed with sheer hurt.
Fourteen years of her absence. When I said it out loud, it fully dawned on me how much time I spent without her, believing she was dead for good. Fourteen years of summers and winters, all spent without my mother by my side.