Chapter 26 - LILY BECOMES A MOTHER
Lily had a daughter at thirty-five.
Her name was Hannah Elise.
I cried when she told me.
“Dad, don’t make it weird.”
“Too late.”
Her husband, Noah Bennett, was a structural engineer.
Calm.
Funny.
Completely unimpressed by me.
Good.
When Hannah Elise was four months old, Lily asked me to babysit.
I arrived thirty minutes early.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“You’re early.”
“Security assessment.”
“No.”
“Window check?”
“No.”
“Smoke detectors?”
“Dad.”
I surrendered.
She handed me the baby.
“Can I?”
Lily smiled.
“You’ve been asking since she was born.”
“Good habit.”
Then she left.
The baby cried.
I panicked.
Not because babies were new.
Because somewhere in me Lily was still four.
I held Hannah Elise.
Walked.
She settled.
No emergency.
No one outside the door.
Later Lily returned.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes.”
“Did you call Cross Shield?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
“I texted one pediatrician.”
She laughed.
Then serious.
“Do you ever still see me like that?”
“What?”
“Four.”
I looked at her.
“Sometimes.”
“Me too.”
She touched her daughter’s foot.
“What do you do?”
“Remember you’re thirty-five and bossier than I am.”
“Correct.”
She smiled.
Then:
“I don’t want Hannah growing up inside what happened to me.”
“She won’t.”
Lily raised an eyebrow.
I corrected.
“We can’t promise nothing bad will happen.”
“Better.”
“But we can build a family where bad things are easier to tell.”
May you like
She nodded.
That was the real inheritance.
