Chapter 18 - The Question Lily Finally Asked
Years later, Lily and I sat on the same porch where Dad had apologized.
She had a family of her own now.
Her daughter, Eleanor Sarah, was six.
Yes.
Six.
Life had a strange sense of symmetry.
Little Ellie was playing in the yard.
Lily watched her.
“Dad?”
“Hmm?”
“Would you have walked away from Grandma's money?”
“Yes.”
She turned.
“That fast?”
“Yes.”
“Even hundreds of millions?”
“If keeping it meant hurting you.”
She stared at me.
“How?”
I shrugged.
“You were my daughter.”
As if that explained everything.
Because to me, it did.
Lily looked toward Ellie.
“I understand now.”
Her daughter ran toward us.
“Mommy!”
Lily opened her arms.
Ellie climbed into her lap.
“Grandpa?”
“Yes?”
“Mom says you saved her from mean people.”
I looked at Lily.
She was trying not to laugh.
“Your mom exaggerates.”
“No, I don't.”
Ellie frowned.
“Were they villains?”
“No.”
That was important.
“They were people who made cruel choices.”
“What's the difference?”
“Villains belong in stories. Real people can choose differently tomorrow.”
Ellie considered that.
Then ran away because a butterfly was apparently more interesting than generational wisdom.
Lily laughed.
“She has her priorities straight.”
May you like
“She gets that from you.”
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