First off, I am enjoying this story quite a bit. It is a fresh take on the "real family" theme. I like your reasoning for Sheila's reactions and treatment of Willow. I can think of several reasons why Janet wouldn't hire a PI to find her daughter, and only one of them is money. I would imagine that fear of rejection would be a large part of it as well. By the time Janet could afford to hire a PI to find her daughter, at least 10 years would have passed (med school takes a lot of time and money after all). By that time she would have no idea what Sheila and Ira had told Willow, if Willow knew she was adopted or not, etc. She would know that legally she has no rights when it comes to her, as she willingly gave her up for adoption. If Sheila and Ira told her that they didn't want her to see Willow, she would be even more heartbroken than she is now. Plus unless she could *prove* they were unfit parents, which isn't always an easy thing-especially in neglect cases-she wouldn't be able to help Willow at all. More than likely though she feels that Willow is better off with Sheila and Ira and doesn't want to upset her daughter's world, no matter how much she misses her.
Anyway, I am really enjoying this story and look forward to the next bit. I found one little nit-picky complaint, and it is one of American versus British English. It really isn't a big deal and I doubt most people would even notice it. In chapter two, when Sheila is discussing Willow's education and she says that Willow's "use of full stops and commas were abysmal," Americans don't use the term full stop. We would say her use of periods and commas were abysmal, or simply that her punctuation was abysmal. Like I said it is a nit-picky thing and not really a big deal. Just thought I would point it out. :)
Can't wait for the next bit.
ETA: You are quite welcome. I'm American, but just spent the past two years living in Jamaica, where they use British Standard English and Jamaican Patois. After two years of learning to use the British spellings and terms while writing professional letters, and such, I'm now having to watch what I type now that I'm back in the US. :) It has helped me write Giles in my story "The Road Not Taken," which I really need to work on. RL has been way to busy for far to long.
Comments from author:
thank you, that's a real help (:
*g* yep, i'm british so i tend to sound amercan/british through writing and speech...apparently anyway. i blame american TV for that ;)
