Clover stayed with her mom till she was eight years old. Until one day, her mom told her she was taking young Clover to go meet her father. Clover at that time was thrilled, she imagined that from there on out they would live better lives because life with her mom wasn't easy; they were constantly struggling to reach ends meet and she could see her mom was getting tired of everything. She was stressed, she had anxiety, probably depression also. Clover at that time could sense something wasn't right but she was too young to understand and her mom had chose to leave her in the dark.
She didn't know what happened between her mom and dad, whether they were even married or she was an illegitimate child, nothing made sense to her and she was trying to understand her mom but was constantly being left in the dark. When her mom took her to meet her father, she finally saw a ray of hope amidst all that darkness. She thought it would be better but then... The next day after her mom took her to see her dad she vanished forever.
She thought her father had something to do with her mom's disappearance, she cried, wailed, threw tantrums, even calling the cops on her dad saying he was a murderer, but after a while she was finally made to understand.
Her mother had left, without saying a word, without saying goodbye, she didn't even call to check on her, whether she was alive and well, none of that mattered to her. She simply ran off with a rich man to live the best life. She couldn't believe it when her dad told her, she spat on him and called him a liar but as the years passed she realized it was the truth. She seriously couldn't believe it, she thought mothers loved their children and did everything in their power to take care of them. She told herself that her mom would be back to take her away from this vile man but as each year passed the bitter truth and the harsh reality made her realize that even if she had parents, she was still as good as alone in this world. She was still left in the dark about her parents relationship but she didn't have time to bother about it as she was constantly abused by the man that called himself her father.
She was simply used as a tool to relieve his anger, lust and displeasures. She couldn't complain, because the world out there was way more worse, so she had to endure it all.
Until... The evidence of his constant abuse bore fruit to the child growing in her womb. Seeing that, he threw her out, wanting nothing to do with her anymore. She had been wandering aimlessly on the street for a week, slept in a shed and was raped twice. At least they didn't kill her, but death seemed to be better than the life that she was currently living. She had been eating from the garbage or from the floor. Every night she cried herself to sleep, she felt like ending it all but there was something holding her back from ending it herself. Deep down she held on to a hope that it wouldn't end like this. Now fate had brought her here, to this family.
.
.
"You're pregnant." Becca said, surprised. From the girl's physical appearance they could tell she was a teenager. Even Levi looked older than her.
"I'm hungry." Was the only thing Clover said.
"Take a seat." Levi drew a chair for her to sit down. She moved feebly and finally took a sit at the table. Levi noticed she was shaking and got up to get a coat for her while Becca served her food.
"Sorry, we don't have much. We didn't really expect to have a guest." Becca's tone had softened.
"Thank you." Clover said and rushed to gobble up all the food that was places in front of her.
"It's really nice." She said after a few gulps.
"Thank you." Becca smiled. Levi had returned with the jacket and he handed it to her to wear.
After that, they all sat down to eat in silence while the Gardner children exchanged looks.