Chapter 16
Lily asked about the chair three days later.
We were eating breakfast in the same banquet room.
The broken carving station was gone.
The vase fragments had been removed.
The marble pedestal remained empty.
Lily stopped beside Richard’s old chair.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Can I sit?”
My heart tightened.
“You can sit anywhere you want.”
She looked uncertain.
“Grandpa said chairs get dirty.”
“No.”
“Because me?”
“No.”
I pulled the chair back.
“This one?”
She nodded.
I helped her climb up.
Lily sat very still.
Waiting.
For punishment.
None came.
A server brought pancakes.
Lily immediately looked at me.
“Can I eat?”
“Yes.”
“All?”
“If you’re hungry.”
She stared at the plate.
Then took one bite.
Another.
Afterward, she slipped half a dinner roll into her cardigan pocket.
I saw.
Didn’t shame her.
Later, when we were alone, I placed a small snack basket in her room.
“You never have to hide food.”
She looked at me.
“Even if I cry?”
“Especially then.”
Her eyes filled.
Richard would have mocked that.
I let her cry.
Daniel sent a letter.
I did not read it to her.
Not yet.
He asked whether Lily wanted to see him.
She said no.
That answer stood.
Margaret asked once.
Lily said:
“Maybe later.”
That answer stood too.
The crushed Christmas card remained on my desk.
I flattened it beneath a book.
Tape repaired the torn corner.
On the front, Lily had drawn four stick figures.
Me.
Daniel.
Herself.
Richard.
Under Richard was a crooked green Christmas tree.
Inside the card were three words:
I LOVE GRANDPA.
Children are unfairly generous.
Their love often survives far beyond adult deserving.
I didn’t throw the card away.
I didn’t return it either.
One day Lily could decide.
That was becoming the rule of our house.
Not obedience.
Choice.
One afternoon she asked about the antique key.
“What does it open?”
“A room.”
“Scary room?”
“Not anymore.”
“Can I see?”
“When you’re older.”
She nodded.
No argument.
Then asked:
“Is this our house?”
I smiled.
“Yes.”
“Mine too?”
“Yours too.”
She thought about Richard.
Then whispered:
“Floor too?”
I crouched.
“The floor is yours if you want to play on it.”
May you like
Pause.
“Never because somebody says that’s where you belong.”
