Chapter 19 - ANNA'S LETTER
Lily sat beside me while I read.
Anna had written about courage.
Not the movie kind.
The ordinary kind.
Asking for help.
Telling the truth when adults make truth uncomfortable.
Walking away from people who confuse love with ownership.
Then Anna wrote:
Grandma may love you in the only way she knows how. That does not mean you must accept every way she treats you.
Lily looked up.
"Mom knew Grandma was difficult."
"Very."
"Did Mom know all of this would happen?"
"No. She was trying to make sure it couldn't."
We kept reading.
Anna told Lily never to let money decide who she trusted.
She told her that family was not a magic word that erased harm.
And then she wrote something for me.
Dan will blame himself for things he could not see. Please remind him that grief makes people easy to fool because grief uses all the energy we normally spend noticing things.
I stopped.
Lily touched my arm.
"Mom says you're not allowed to blame yourself."
"Apparently."
"She was bossy."
"The bossiest."
Lily smiled.
Then she grew serious.
"Are we still rich?"
I laughed despite myself.
"The trust still has plenty of money."
"Good."
"Why?"
"I want a dog."
That was the first time the trust sounded like what Anna intended it to be.
A future.
Not a weapon.
Not leverage.
Just possibility.
I folded the letter.
At the bottom, Anna had added one last line:
People may tell you who you are because they want something from you. Listen carefully, then decide for yourself.
Lily read it twice.
Then she said:
May you like
"I think I want to be the kind of person who carries two injectors."
I didn't know yet how literally she meant it.
