“Lily...”
“So I started doing overtime. I found a lawyer who worked pro bono. I wanted to change my name to yours before my birthday, put the money in a trust fund and keep contributing, so you could stop working so much.”
“So I started doing extra shifts.”
I felt something open in my chest.
“You don’t owe me any of that, honey.”
“I know I don’t owe you anything,” he said. “That’s why I wanted to do it.”
I hugged her and I couldn't hold back anymore. Years of silent fear that one day they would go off simply disappeared from my shoulders.
“I never needed payment, honey. I just needed you.”
“That’s why I wanted it.”
That day we went home together.
Through Lily's attorney, Jillian received a formal letter ending all of her attempts to get into my daughter's finances. We never heard from her again.
Three weeks later, Lily was by my side in a small courtroom and legally adopted my last name.
I reduced my hospital schedule to something a normal person could endure.
We came home together by car.
That night, we had dinner on the porch where the gift box had appeared before.
Lily laughed at something on her cell phone, and I was just looking.
