Chapter 23 - VICTORIA VALE STERLING
After divorce, I kept Sterling legally for years.
Lily carried the name.
My career records carried it.
People expected me to become Victoria Vale again immediately.
I did not.
A surname was not a moral referendum.
At forty, I changed my name to Victoria Vale Sterling professionally, keeping both.
Not reconciliation with Julian.
Not rejection of my father.
My own history.
Lily chose Sterling.
That was hers.
My father said nothing.
Julian said:
May you like
“Good.”
No one owned the noun anymore.
