She waited until Lily met her eyes.
“You have never once been the problem.”
Lily’s small voice trembled.
“Then why didn’t she want me?”
Rachel swallowed the lump forming in her throat.
“Because sometimes people love control more than they love family.”
Lily remained quiet for a long moment.
Then she asked the question Rachel would never forget.
“Will you ever lock me outside?”
Rachel pulled her daughter into her arms despite the IV tubing.
“There is nothing in this world that could make me do that.”
Lily finally cried.
Not loud.
Not dramatically.
Just years of confusion quietly escaping into her mother’s shoulder.
Three days later, television vans appeared outside the Westmoreland house.
Someone inside the courthouse had leaked the filing.
Neighbors who had watched Lily standing in the storm began speaking publicly.
Mrs. Harper gave an interview.
