Chapter 485 Comfort from Her Mother


    Sydney had no idea what was on the CD because there were no images orbels.


    However, she did not give up. She brought the CD into the study and inserted it into the disc drive of


    herptop.


    There was only one folder in it when she opened it.


    When she clicked on it, she saw a video file.


    She clicked the mouse again to y the video. Then, she saw a young but pale and morbid face on


    theputer screen.


    Sydney was stunned when she saw that face. Then she covered her mouth with her hands as tears


    streamed down her cheek. She said in a trembling voice. "Mom..." It was Harry''s wife, Leanna


    Foster, who appeared on the screen.


    Sydney was only five years old when her mother died of cancer.


    Sydney reached out her trembling hand and touched her mother''s face on the screen.


    She wouldn''t pull her hand back, even though she knew it wasn''t real. Her gaze never shifted as


    she tried to touch Leanna''s face.


    Leanna was sitting in a ward. She was dressed in a standard blue-and-white striped patient gown


    with no hair on her head.


    Sydney knew that when she was five years old, her mother was diagnosed with cancer and was


    hospitalized.


    Looking at her mother on the screen, Sydney cried again.Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    It had been twenty-one years since she hadst seen her mother.


    Moreover, her mother was still alive in the video.


    "Mom, I miss you." Sydney''s hand holding the mouse was shaking, and her voice choked.


    Leanna smiled softly as she faced the screen. It seemed as if she sensed that Sydney was missing


    her. "Syd, I may be long gone by the time you see this video, but I want to tell you that I will always,


    always keep an eye on you from the skies above."


    "Mom..." Sydney finally couldn''t take it any longer and leaned over the table, crying her heart out.


    The video went on. Leanna coughed a few times. Her face turned even paler, and her voice


    sounded weaker. "I''d like to apologize to you, Syd. I apologize for keeping the truth from you. Your


    father and I never revealed your true identity to you. We hope you can forgive us."


    Sydney cried and bit her lower lip in silence as she looked up.


    Leanna coughed again, but this time, Sydney noticed a hand reach out and hand a ss of water to


    Leanna.


    She noticed that it was a man''s hand at once, and there was a ck mole on the thumb.


    She realized that it was her father''s hand!


    It turned out that her father was also in the video.


    Sydney looked more excited.


    She wondered if she could see her fatherter.


    While thinking, Sydney heard a gentle but sorrowful male voice in the video. "Have some water,


    honey."


    He was really my father!


    Sydney began to tremble with joy.


    Leanna smiled as she turned her head to the side. "Thank you, honey."


    After Leanna took a sip from the ss of water, her coughing subsided slightly. She then set her


    ss down and turned to face the camera. "Syd, I''m sure you''re upset now that you know you''re not


    our daughter. It will be hard for you to ept it. And you may believe you are merely a substitute for


    our deceased daughter. Am I correct? "


    Sydney clenched her fists.


    Sydney thought, "As expected, my parents were the ones who knew me the best."


    Leanna put on a weak smile. "Please don''t ever think you’re a substitute, Syd. We adopted you after


    our daughter died, but you were never meant to be her recement. We love you just as who you


    are. We didn''t transfer our love for our own daughter to you. And you didn''t even get her name. We


    gave you the name after flipping through the whole Dictionary of First Names.”


    Sydney thought, "Did they reallye up with that name just for me?"


    Sydney sat up straighter, and her eyes gradually lit up.


    Sydney thought, "So, I''m not a stand-in, am I?"


    Sydney didn’t care if the Raines were her biological parents because they treated her as their own.


    It made no difference that she wasn''t their child.


    What mattered was whether she was treated as a recement by the Raines.


    She wondered whether her parents treated her as their own because they considered her a


    substitute for their dead daughter.


    She was, after all, brought to the Raine family not long after their daughter died.


    Her parents were still grieving at the time, so she may have received all the love they never got to


    give to their deceased daughter. Her mother, on the other hand, assured her that this was not the


    case.


    She was no substitute, and they adored her just because she deserved to be loved. Her name was


    also not passed down from their deceased daughter. They gave her a new name.


    It seemed as if Leanna knew what Sydney was thinking. Leanna continued, "Syd, our daughter was


    named Norma while your name was Sydney. You are our second daughter. And you are never her


    substitute. We didn’t tell you because we thought you were too young to understand. When you see


    this, we believe that you have grown up. And you will understand us."


    "Yes." Sydney’s voice cracked as she nodded.


    Leanna continued, "Syd, please don''t dwell on this matter for too long. We wish you the best of luck


    ining to terms with yourself. Although we are not rted, we love you from the bottom of our


    hearts. You will always be our daughter." "You''re right!” Harry, who had not appeared in the video,


    finally appeared.


    He looked so much younger than he did six years ago, and seeing him made her cry all over again.


    She had just stopped crying a moment ago, but the tears had started again. "Dad..."


    "Syd, we love you, so don''t dwell on if you''re our bloodlines. In our hearts, we love you as much as


    we love Norma. I have to apologize as well. Please ept my apologies, but I have never regretted


    my decision. Maybe one day you''ll realize that staying in their family would have led you down the


    wrong path," Harry said, suddenly looking down.


    Sydney squinted slightly, and there was a suspicious look in her eyes.


    Sydney thought, "What exactly does my father mean? What does he mean by staying with their


    family would have led me down the wrong path? Who are they, exactly?"


    Harry and Leanna waved at the screen before she could figure out what was going on.


    "All right. Syd, I''m going to take your mother for a physical examination. The video hase to an


    end. Goodbye."


    "Goodbye, Syd. I love you." The video ended with Leanna giving Sydney a flying kiss. She was then


    redirected to the main page.


    Sydney''s tears would not stop streaming down her cheeks. She choked as she said," Goodbye,


    Mom. Goodbye, Dad. I love you, too. " She knew her parents were trying to tell her that they loved


    her unconditionally and that she should ept the truth as it was, but the video was also her


    mother''s final farewell video for her.