Chapter 17 - Lily learns me in hours, not years
My first supervised visit with Lily lasted forty-five minutes.
Grace chose a child therapist’s office.
Dr. Hannah Reed.
Lily entered holding a stuffed rabbit.
She looked at me.
Then at Grace.
“Daddy?”
Grace said:
“You can call him Nathan if you want.”
Lily frowned.
“But he Daddy.”
Dr. Reed asked:
“What makes someone a daddy?”
Lily answered:
“Mommy said.”
Reasonable at four.
I sat on the floor.
“Hi, Lily.”
“Hi.”
She stared at my face.
Then:
“You have my eyes.”
Actually reverse.
Still.
“Yes.”
“Mommy says you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t.”
“Why?”
Adult fraud.
Legal intimidation.
Family power.
None belonged in preschool language.
“Some grown-ups kept important information from both of us.”
“Bad grown-ups?”
“Some made bad choices.”
Grace looked at me.
Approval?
Maybe.
Lily asked:
“Why you not find me?”
“I didn’t know where to look.”
“Now you know.”
My throat tightened.
“Yes.”
She handed me the rabbit.
“This Bunny.”
“Strong name.”
She giggled.
Forty-five minutes.
No hug until minute thirty-eight.
She initiated.
My entire body wanted to hold too tightly.
I didn’t.
When time ended, she said:
“You come tomorrow?”
Dr. Reed answered before I could promise.
“Soon.”
Good.
May you like
Parents who arrive late should not compensate by making promises faster than systems can safely support.
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