“So I picked up extra shifts.”
I felt something crack open in my chest.
“You don’t owe me any of that, baby.”
“I know I don’t owe you,” she said. “That’s why I wanted to.”
I pulled her into a hug, and I couldn’t hold it back anymore. Years of quiet fear that she’d one day walk away just melted right off my shoulders.
“I never needed repayment, sweetheart. I only ever needed you.”
“That’s why I wanted to.”
***
We drove home together that day.
Through Lily’s lawyer, Jillian received a formal letter shutting down every attempt she’d made to insert herself into my daughter’s finances. We never heard from her again.
***
Three weeks later, Lily stood beside me in a small courthouse and legally took my last name.
I cut my hours at the hospital down to something a normal human could survive.
We drove home together.
***
That night, we ate dinner on the porch where the gift box had once appeared.
Lily laughed at something on her phone, and I just watched her.
