Miranda's eyes closed and vibrant images of the past invaded her dreams.

"Why can't you understand that what you are doing is wrong?" Miranda yelled. Edward, a tall man with blond hair and blue eyes staggered away from his wife.

"I'm not doing nothing wrong!" Edward shouted back and smashed his empty beer bottle against the cupboards. "I can stop at any time!"

"But you won't!" Miranda cried, tears streaming down her face. "You won't stop, not even for your wife!"

"Shut up!" Edward hissed and staggered towards the door, intent on going out to the pub. But at that very moment a little girl with brown pigtails and glittering blue eyes walked into the home, her school books in her arms, a smile on her face. She beamed when she saw her father.

"Daddy, guess what?" Sofia cried out, rushing into her home. The young girl was nine years old and full of light. "I got a perfect score on my math test!"

"Congratulations, sweetheart," Miranda replied and hurriedly wiped away her tears. Sofia pulled her test out of her bag and showed her father.

"Can we pin it up on the pantry door?" she requested.

"Why, so you can gloat?" Edward spat out, his hand on the doorknob. A bitter feeling had risen up in the man. He knew his daughter was better than him, smarter than him, but he hated to admit it.

"No, daddy," Sofia responded and looked at the floor, ashamed.

"Go to your room," Edward growled and shoved the little brunette towards the stairs. She tripped over a bucket and fell, smacking her head on the stone floor, and became unconscious. Miranda screamed and raced over to her daughter.

"What have you done?" she demanded. Edward, horrified by what he had done, raced out of his house, going to get another drink at the pub. Miranda scooped up Sofia, a feat hard to do since her stomach was bulging with child, and took her to her room. Then Miranda checked her daughters head, saw no bleeding and went back downstairs to make dinner, leaving her daughter to sleep.

As Miranda cooked she began to think. Edward's drinking was getting out of hand. Now he had hurt Sofia. But she was almost ten. She was strong and could take his hits. However, the little baby Miranda would be delivering in a month couldn't. If Edward got drunk enough he could kill the baby. Miranda debated sending the two children away.

But Sofia was too old to be sent away. It would much too traumatizing to be left behind at this age. The baby, though, hadn't connected to Miranda yet. So, as the pregnant women placed the bread and cheese on the table, she decided that it would be in the baby's best interest to send it to the orphanage ten miles away, in the hopes that it would have a better life.

A month later Miranda birthed another daughter. Edward named her Madeline, after his mother. But, that night, Miranda snuck out of her house, walked ten miles, and delivered the baby to Miss. Sandy's Girls' Orphanage. Then Miranda creeped back home. She let Edward and Sofia think the child had died or been kidnapped. They mourned the child's death for weeks but eventually the feeling passed and life returned to what it had been. Sofia had her tenth birthday and the whole village was invited to celebrate. Things were looking up.

Then Edward fell in love with a women he met at the pub. Regretting his past and wanting to start again, Edward divorced Miranda and broke her heart. He left to another kingdom with his new wife and started again, opening his own pub until he slipped off the roof while he was repairing it when it was raining and died.

Miranda and Sofia were all alone. The women dug out her father's old tools and became a cobbler, teaching herself to make shoes. Soon she was the best in the village. Sofia forgot her past and moved on, opting to devote her whole time to her friends and mother.

Then King Roland called on Miranda for a new pair of shoes and the rest was history.

"Ah!" Miranda shouted and jumped awake. Roland tired over in his sleep. The queen placed her hand on her thumping heart, overcome with guilt and memories. She fell back into her bed, deciding something. Tomorrow she would go find Madeline, her lost daughter. And then Sofia would finally be a big sister.