The Letter Lily Finally Wrote
Chapter 16 - The Letter Lily Finally Wrote
Three years passed.
Lily turned fifteen.
Noah turned ten.
Life became ordinary.
Jonathan learned to attend school conferences.
He burned pancakes.
He became embarrassingly loud at Noah's baseball games.
He argued with Lily about curfews.
And every time she slammed her bedroom door, he secretly thanked God she felt safe enough to be angry.
Then Lily decided to write Michael.
She spent three days working on the letter.
She showed Jonathan before mailing it.
Dad,
I don't hate you.
But I don't trust you.
Those are different things.
I hope prison changes you.
But I won't make my life depend on whether it does.
Mom taught me that love without safety isn't love I have to accept.
Someday I may visit.
Not yet.
Lily.
Jonathan read it twice.
"Are you sure?"
She nodded.
He handed it back.
"I'm proud of you."
"For forgiving him?"
"No."
"For deciding your own boundaries."
Lily smiled.
Then she hugged him.
"You sound like a therapist now."
"I've spent three years raising teenagers."
"I'm one teenager."
"Feels like seven."
She laughed.
That evening, Jonathan stood beneath the magnolia tree.
It had grown taller than him.
He imagined Emily standing beside him.
"You'd be better at this," he whispered.
From the porch, Noah shouted:
"Grandpa! Lily stole my charger!"
May you like
Jonathan sighed.
"Or maybe not."
