"You don't know how excited I was when I got your text today to have lunch," Nina told her daughter with a smile as they took off their coats and draped them across the backs of their chairs before sitting down themselves.

Willow returned her mother's smile with one of her own. "I'm excited, too," she said. "Are you okay with it being the Metro Court?"

"Honey, anywhere is okay as long as I get to be with you," Nina replied.

A faint blush dusted Willow's cheeks and her smile grew wider at those sweet words. Because of how she grew up, she still wasn't quite used to hearing anything positive said towards her, especially not by a parental figure. Even with Chase, she still felt like she had to refute his compliments.

'Maybe I need to bring that up in my next therapy session,' she thought.

'That's what growing up with Harmony and forcefully joining Dawn of Day does to you,' Sad Willow pointed out morosely.

Willow flinched.

'Oh, great job, Debbie Downer,' Rational Willow snapped. 'Now Nina's going to worry about us even more than she already does.'

Rational Willow was right because Nina's happy smile instantly turned into a worried frown. "Are you alright, Willow?" She instantly asked, reaching out to take her daughter's hand.

Willow allowed the contact and even threaded their fingers together so she could be closer to the redhead. "I'm fine," she answered tentatively. "I just have another thing to bring up to my therapist tomorrow."

Understanding flashed across Nina's face. "I see," she said.

Willow cleared her throat and smiled again at her. "Anyway," she continued, still holding her mother's hand. "I think we have twenty-six years of catching up to do."

That bright smile of Nina's that Willow was starting to love so much returned full force. "We definitely do," she replied. "Tell me about things. What do you like? What's your favorite color? Favorite food? Did you always want to be a teacher?"

Willow laughed, the sting of Sad Willow's words completely gone now. "My favorite color is blue and my favorite food is pasta. I always wanted to be a teacher, but being a nurse is nice, too. I like helping people no matter how I'm doing it."

"It's no wonder you do. With that kind heart, you were meant for that," Nina gushed.

This blush was darker on Willow's face. "Anyway, I mostly liked books and art. I spent a lot of time by myself growing up since we were always moving, so I had more solitary hobbies," she ignored the dark look that flashed across Nina's face at the reminder of her lonely childhood. "I also had a doll that was really special to me."

"A doll?" Nina echoed.

Willow nodded. "Yeah. It was a porcelain doll and she was beautiful. She had long brown hair that was so soft it could have been mistaken for real human hair. Her eyes were this bright shade of blue; I think that's how blue became my favorite color because her eyes were so sparkly and bluer than anything I'd ever seen before."

Willow's expression became more wistful and melancholic as she continued: "She was like a happier version of me back then, wearing perfect clothes and living a perfect life with everyone loving her unconditionally. I wanted to be that impossible girl so badly that when I left Dawn of Day and changed my name, I used hers. Willow."

"So that's how you got your name," Nina murmured.

"Yes. I named myself after a doll."

"What about Tait? Where did your last name come from?"

Willow shrugged. "I just thought it flowed nicely with Willow," she answered. "My thought process on that one wasn't as deep."

"Well, I think it's beautiful, no matter where both of your names came from," Nina said softly, her eyes warm.

Willow smiled slightly through the pain. "Thank you, Nina," she replied.

"How did you get your doll?" The Crimson CEO inquired.

"My dad," Willow paused and then amended: "Or, rather, my adoptive father…he gave me the doll a year after we joined Dawn of Day. He said that I deserved something good, something constant, after all of the years of neverending changes. It was the best gift I ever received."

"Do you still have it?"

She nodded. "It's tucked away in a box in Chase's apartment. After we moved in together, I just never got around to unpacking it, but it's safe in there and honestly, even though I associate it with happy memories, with everything that's happened recently, I just can't bring myself to take her out and look at her. Do you think that's silly?" She stared apprehensively at Nina, biting her lip slightly from anxiety.

Nina shook her head, staring sympathetically at her daughter. "It's not silly, Willow," she answered. "You've been through more than anyone should have gone through in their life. Your doll may have been a gift from the father who raised and loved you, but it was given during a time of pain and trauma for you. It's okay to not want to see it. Until you're ready, it can stay in that box."

"Thank you for understanding, Nina," Willow said gratefully.

"I actually had a doll of my own when I was a little girl," Nina began as she sipped at the glass of ice water she'd ordered for herself.

Willow copied the action. "You did?" She asked, placing the glass back down onto the table.

Nina nodded. "It was a porcelain doll, too, and she had long red hair and blue eyes and wore this pretty pink dress. My father also gave her to me as a birthday present on my ninth birthday because she reminded him of 'his little Princess,' as he liked to call me. I named her Danielle after him," she smiled as she thought of her father.

She had the strongest connection to her father; she always felt like he understood her better than her mother did and always preferred his presence over Madeline's. She missed him so much.

Willow smiled at her mother. "It sounds like you really loved your father," she commented.

"I did. I still do. Very much."

Nina's gaze was soft but wistful as she remembered the man who set her standards for all of the men she wanted to date. She wanted someone who was fair, kind, thoughtful, compassionate, intelligent, and understanding, someone who loved her and put her first like her beloved father did.

She thought about the men she's been with since her young adult life: Silas, Franco, Ric, and Valentin. Ric was a huge hit-and-miss, and Franco and Valentin had their flaws but were still good men, but Silas…Silas was the best out of all of them. He was a good man despite his mistakes and even though they divorced shortly after she awoke from her coma, Nina knew that he was the love of her life. She didn't think anyone could ever truly compare to her dead ex-husband, and that made her regret her spiteful actions towards him even more.

'Don't feel guilty, Nina,' the voice that sounded so much like Silas's told her. 'I forgave you a long time ago and you should forgive yourself, too. I loved you and I wish we'd gotten our happy ending.'

Hearing his voice made tears prick at the backs of her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

Willow's worried voice broke Nina from her reverie and she used her napkin to catch the tears before they streamed down her cheeks. "Yes, I'm fine, I was just thinking…"

"About your father?"

"Yes," Nina confirmed. "And I was thinking about Silas, too. Yours and your twin sister's biological father."

Willow perked up a bit at that, curiosity lighting up her face. Ever since she'd learned she was adopted from Harmony, her biological father had been on her mind. She always wondered why her father hadn't kept her and her twin, why he'd allowed their grandmother to give his daughters away while his wife was comatose from childbirth complications.

After their waitress returned to their table and took their lunch orders, Willow decided to breach the subject: "Nina…there's one thing that Harmony told me when I overheard her at my son's grave. You know…the same day that she confessed who you really were to me and I went to see you."

Nina's eyes darkened a bit at Harmony's name. "What did she say to you?" She asked, trying to keep the hatred for that woman out of her voice. Willow didn't need that from her, not when she'd encountered that monster again not too long ago.

"She told me that my grandmother—Madeline—took my sister and I because you suffered from childbirth complications and had to be put into a medical coma to recover. I know that was a lie now and that Madeline tried to kill us in the womb but failed, which caused your coma. She said, though, that my birth father either died or just wasn't in the picture and that's why he couldn't raise us."

With her eyes closed, Nina breathed deeply in an attempt to remain calm. Of course her mother would feed Harmony that lie. Any lie would do as long as it prevented Madeline and her reputation from being sullied.

When she felt like she could speak without screaming, Nina opened her eyes and told her daughter: "Silas couldn't stop Madeline's plans to give you and your sister away, nor could he raise you both while I was in my coma because my mother framed him for drugging me and almost murdering all three of us."

Willow's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "What?" She breathed.

"It's true," Nina said. "Her wanting the money that my father left me after his death wasn't the only reason why she tried to end my pregnancy. My mother hated Silas and felt like he wasn't good enough for me despite him being a good man and a good husband. When she found out that I was pregnant with our first child—our twin daughters—, she was furious. She knew that we began trying for a baby shortly after our wedding, so asking me to get rid of you wouldn't be an option, so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

"She called me to ask if we could have a mother/daughter lunch. She said that she was wrong about Silas and she was looking forward to becoming a grandmother. She seemed so sincere, it never occurred to me that she was lying…" Nina hesitated for a moment. "I got up to use the bathroom before our food came and she took that opportunity to slip opioids into my drink. When I came back and I drank my entire glass, I started feeling strange.

"My mother faked concern for me and my babies when in reality she was hoping that the drugs she'd slipped were doing their job and causing me to miscarry, but then my reaction started getting worse and looking like an overdose, and I could see the panic in her eyes. Right before I fell unconscious, I heard her apologize for hurting me, but not for hurting the two of you.

"I didn't wake up after that, but I heard years later that Silas had gone a while of being blamed and punished for my mother's crime, so while he was unjustly serving time and waiting to be exonerated, you and your sister were being raised by different families."

By the time she'd finished her monologue, their food came and they began to eat.

As Willow twirled pasta onto her fork and took a bite, chewing slowly, she mulled over this new information. So, Silas Clay—her biological father—wanted to raise her and her twin sister, but because of her grandmother's selfishness, he had years stolen from him, years that could have been spent with his wife and daughters had Madeline not committed her atrocious acts. The brunette felt a twist of hatred in her gut towards Madeline for allowing greed and prejudice to cloud her judgment and rob her, her sister, and her birth parents of the life they should have had.

"I wish things had been different," Willow began after she swallowed her bite of pasta. "I wish I'd been raised by you and Silas, but at least we found each other and we're making up for lost time."

Nina smiled softly. "Yes, and I'm grateful for that," she said.

Willow returned her smile and the mother and daughter continued their lunch date, longing for different lives but nonetheless happy that life wasn't so cruel that they were unable to reunite.