Rebecca’s expression tightened.
“What else were you being paid for?”
“I wasn’t being paid.”
“Then what do you call eighteen years of money from the man who destroyed your husband?”
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Partly.
She went still.
My husband.
The words clicked into place.
Rebecca H. Michael H.
I stared at her. “So that’s what you were to Michael.”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel started sending you money after he died.”
The words clicked into place.
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“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rebecca took a breath. “Because Michael left something behind, Daniel could never give back.”
“What?”
Before she could answer, a voice came from behind me.
“Mom?”
Michael left something behind.
Rebecca went pale.
I turned.
A young woman stood in the doorway.
Thin. Tired.
One hand rested against her chest.
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Against my son’s heart.
Rebecca went pale.
“Lily,” Rebecca whispered.
The girl looked straight at me.
And suddenly Ethan’s letter felt different.
He had known exactly who would receive his heart.
But if he’d been wrong about Daniel being her father, then there was still something he had discovered that I hadn’t.
And Lily was standing right in front of me with the answer.
Against my son’s heart.
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“You’re Laura,” she said.
I nodded.
Lily pressed her hand to her chest. “Ethan told me you’d have questions.”
My throat tightened. “Then I hope you have answers.”
“Some.”
Ethan’s letter felt different.
She sat beside Rebecca.
“Michael was your father?” I asked.
Lily nodded. “Daniel wasn’t.”
“Then all that money…”
“Guilt,” Rebecca said. “And responsibility. After what he did to Michael, he wanted to make sure Lily had what she needed.”
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Ethan told me you’d have questions.
I looked at Lily. “And Ethan knew all of this?”
“He found out before he died,” she said quietly. “Including that I needed a heart.”
“And he chose you?”
Her hand moved to her chest. “Yes. He did.”
Guilt and responsibility.
For months, I had thought losing Ethan meant my job was to hold on to every piece of him.
Looking at Lily, I finally understood what my son had understood first.
Love wasn’t always about holding on.
Sometimes it was choosing what could live after you let go.
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