"You think I wanted your name?" I shot back. "Taking the Sawyer name has been nothing but a curse."
"Go ask your precious son if he'd be willing to trade places with me—to live the life I've lived!"
My parents had fought about my last name more times than I could count. Dad had seen how scrawny and small I was, and more than once he'd told Mom that if I switched back to Gilbert, he'd raise me the same way he raised Zachery Gilbert.
Mom refused. Grandpa and Grandma refused too.
"We agreed the second child would carry the Sawyer name. If you won't raise her, we will!"
Looking at it objectively, Dad was the one who broke the agreement. So naturally, I sided with Mom.
But Dad got angry too. He said fine—then they'd split everything down the middle.
After that, even meals were divided. Two tables in one house. Me and Mom at one. Dad and Zachery at the other.
To lighten Mom's burden, I took over every chore in the house. Even when we only had meat once every two weeks, even when I only got new clothes once a year during the holidays, I never once complained about Mom.
I gave her everything I had. I loved her with my whole heart.
And all I got in return was half of hers.