Chapter 7
Two months passed.
We started planning Lily’s eighth birthday. She wanted a party at the zoo, with her whole class.
We sent invitations out. We booked the pavilion. We bought a cake shaped like a giraffe.
Three days before the party, my phone rang.
It was my father-in-law.
For the first time ever, he sounded small. Defeated.
“Can we come?” he asked. “Not to cause trouble. Just… to see her. To see you.”
“Have you apologized to Lily?” my husband asked when I handed him the phone.
There was a long pause.
“We’ve been thinking,” his father said slowly. “For years we told ourselves we were protecting you. That we wanted you to have a ‘proper’ family. But we were wrong. We hurt the girl you love more than anything. We hurt our own son.”
He took a shaky breath.
“We’re ready to apologize. Properly. If you’ll let us.”
May you like
My husband looked at me. Then at Lily, who was coloring on the rug.
“Come over tomorrow morning,” he said. “And be honest. That’s all I ask.”
