Chapter 9 - DANIEL MEETS LILY
I did not want the meeting Monday.
Lily did.
That mattered.
Daniel came to a therapist’s office.
Dr. Morgan—bad name? use Dr. Elise Carter.
Elise prepared all of us.
No instant father-daughter hug.
No promises.
Daniel sat across the room when Lily entered.
She stopped.
He looked like the photographs.
Older.
Beard.
Same green-gray eyes she had.
Lily whispered:
“Hi.”
Daniel stood.
Then realized that might feel too big and sat again.
“Hi, Lily.”
She looked at me.
I nodded.
Her choice.
She sat.
Daniel’s hands shook.
“I’m sorry.”
Elise interrupted gently.
“Let’s keep first meeting simple.”
Good.
Daniel swallowed.
“Okay.”
Lily asked:
“Are you my dad?”
“Yes.”
He almost added something.
Stopped.
“Did you know?”
“I thought I wasn’t.”
“Because Grandma lied?”
I watched him.
He could protect Margaret.
Or answer.
“I believed something Grandma showed me.”
Lily frowned.
“So yes?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I think she may have lied. We’re finding out.”
Lily looked at him for a long time.
Then:
“Did you want me when I was a baby?”
Daniel’s face broke.
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you check again?”
No therapist could soften that.
Daniel whispered:
“I should have.”
Lily nodded.
No forgiveness.
No hug.
At the end, she asked:
“Can I see you next week?”
Daniel cried.
Quietly.
“Yes.”
Afterward, I sat in my car and hated him less.
That frightened me.
May you like
Hatred had been structurally useful for six years.
Without it, grief had room.
