Chapter 6 - When Lily Turned Eighteen
On Lily's eighteenth birthday, Nathan gave her a box.
Inside were seven letters.
One for every year he hadn't known she existed.
He had written them over time.
Never sent them.
Lily read them privately.
Then hugged him.
That night, she asked me:
“Would you have adopted me if you and Ethan stayed married?”
I thought.
“Yes.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Would Ethan have wanted me?”
That was harder.
“I think so.”
Ethan was present.
He heard.
He came over.
“I would've.”
Lily studied him.
“You don't have to say that.”
“I know.”
Then Ethan admitted something.
“I wanted a child so badly that I behaved terribly when your mom and I couldn't have one. If I'd known you then, I hope I would've been better.”
Lily smiled.
“That's not an answer.”
Ethan laughed.
“No. I can't know who I would've been.”
“Good answer.”
She had become annoyingly wise.
Then she announced she wanted to study medicine.
Pediatrics.
Apparently my “little clinic” had influenced her.
Ethan never mocked it again.
In fact, years later, when I became chief operating officer of the entire pediatric network, he sent flowers.
Card:
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR LITTLE CLINIC.
May you like
I laughed until I cried.
Healing has a strange sense of humor.
