"So you're saying I'm in the Ashen Period?"
"Is there even a need to say it?" Mrs. Ellsworth grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds, cracking them as she spoke. "I'm starting to think, that girl Jean, I really don't know who she takes after. She's as stubborn as a bull, and she has no brains. What's more, to put it bluntly, she even aborted her own child when it was a few months along. If that's not heartless, what is? Women all make mistakes in judgment sometimes, but what does that have to do with the child? I'm not that old-fashioned. I don't care that she's divorced, and I wouldn't care if she'd had the baby. But what I do care about is whether or not she's truly in love with my son. That's the most important thing."
Ethan Ellsworth furrowed his brow. "You don't think her feelings are genuine?"
"You've suspected it for a while, haven't you? Why are you asking me?"
A silence fell between mother and son.
