“Because someday, Lily needs to receive exactly what her mother intended for her to have.
Uncompromised.”
Six months later, on a clear spring afternoon, Marcus drove Lily and Evelyn to the Martha’s Vineyard estate.
He opened the wooden shutters and let the bright Atlantic sunlight spill across the hardwood floors.
Lily immediately ran onto the back deck overlooking the ocean, her hair blowing in the sea breeze.
Inside, while uncovering furniture, Marcus found one of Hannah’s old sketchbooks in a drawer.
A moment later, Lily came running inside carrying a framed photograph she had discovered.
It showed Marcus and Hannah years earlier, sitting together on that same deck.
“Mommy was here, wasn’t she?” Lily asked softly.
“She loved this place,” Marcus said, kneeling beside her.
“Is the house mine?”
“Someday, when you’re older,” he said, “you’ll decide what you want to do with it.”
Lily looked toward the waves.
