Chapter 7 - The Girl Who Brought Him Home
Six months later, Dominic found Lily in the garage.
She was kneeling beside a cardboard box filled with wires, old hinges and copper tubing.
He folded his arms.
“No.”
Lily looked up.
“You don’t even know what I’m doing.”
“You’re sorting scrap metal.”
“I’m organizing.”
“You’re wearing new clothes while kneeling on a garage floor.”
“That sounds like a you problem.”
Dominic stared.
From the doorway, Victor laughed.
Dominic turned.
“Do you have somewhere to be?”
“Yes. Anywhere you aren’t looking at me like that.”
Victor disappeared.
Lily held up a brass fitting.
“This is worth at least four dollars.”
Dominic crouched.
“You have money.”
“That doesn’t mean we throw useful things away.”
He sighed.
Six months had changed almost everything.
Marcus Bell and Harris were awaiting trial.
Claire’s evidence had helped investigators dismantle the network behind the port corruption.
Dominic had sold several questionable businesses, reorganized others and discovered that coming home before midnight did not actually destroy an empire.
Eleanor lived in a cottage on the estate grounds.
She called it unnecessary.
Lily called it Grandma’s house.
Dominic called it the only compromise that stopped Eleanor from moving back into a third-floor walk-up with arthritis.
Lily had returned to school under her legal name.
Anna Lily Moretti.
But everyone who mattered still called her Lily.
Dominic picked up her canvas salvage bag.
“This thing is disgusting.”
“It has history.”
“It has rust.”
“History has rust.”
“Where do you learn these sentences?”
“Grandma.”
“Of course.”
Lily suddenly became quiet.
Dominic noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You touch your scar when you’re worried.”
Her hand dropped.
“You noticed?”
“I notice everything about you.”
She looked toward the floor.
“We have family day tomorrow.”
“I know.”
“Parents come.”
“I know.”
“And grandparents.”
“Eleanor already picked her outfit three days ago.”
Lily smiled.
Then looked nervous again.
Dominic waited.
“Can you come?”
He frowned.
“Obviously.”
“You’re busy.”
“I canceled everything.”
“Everything?”
“Victor complained for twenty minutes.”
“That sounds serious.”
“It was brutal.”
Lily smiled again.
Then she reached into the scrap box.
“I made you something.”
She handed him a small object made from twisted copper wire.
A star.
Dominic stared at it.
“It’s crooked,” Lily said quickly.
“It’s perfect.”
“No, it’s definitely crooked.”
“Then it takes after me.”
She laughed.
Dominic slipped it into his jacket pocket.
Lily looked at him.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“When you saw me in the warehouse, did you know?”
“No.”
“But you thought?”
“I hoped.”
“Why?”
Dominic sat on the garage floor beside her.
Because expensive trousers had stopped mattering months ago.
“You had Anna’s scar.”
Lily touched beneath her eye.
“And then you said your name was Lily.”
“So?”
“Your mother wanted to name you Lily.”
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“I wanted Anna. Claire wanted Lily. We argued for three weeks.”
“Who won?”
“You were named Anna.”
Lily grinned.
“So you won.”
“No.”
Dominic smiled.
“Your mother called you Lily whenever she was annoyed with me.”
Lily laughed.
“That was probably a lot.”
“Constantly.”
She leaned against his shoulder.
After a moment she said, “I don’t remember everything about Mom.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Sometimes I don’t remember being Anna at all.”
“That’s okay.”
“Sometimes I feel bad about that.”
Dominic looked down.
“You survived something terrible. You don’t owe anybody your memories.”
She thought about it.
“Do you miss her?”
“Every day.”
“Do you miss the old me?”
That question hurt more.
Dominic chose his answer carefully.
“I missed my daughter.”
Lily looked up.
“But I don’t need you to become the child you were.”
“Why?”
“Because I like the child you are.”
She stared at him for several seconds.
Then hugged him.
Dominic closed his eyes.
For three years he had dreamed of holding Anna again.
He had imagined recognizing her instantly.
He had imagined her running toward him.
He had imagined hearing her call him Daddy the first time she saw him.
Real life had given him something messier.
A suspicious little girl in a thin coat.
A fake birth certificate.
An old woman with a cane and an impossible amount of stubbornness.
A burned apartment.
A silver necklace.
And a daughter who remembered almost nothing about him.
Somehow, it was better than the dream.
Lily pulled back.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“Grandma said you paid my lunch account.”
Dominic narrowed his eyes.
“Your grandmother talks too much.”
“You said anonymous.”
“I was trying to help.”
“You could’ve just asked.”
“You had threatened me with sheet metal three days earlier.”
“I was saving you.”
“Fair point.”
She stood and brushed dust from her jeans.
“Come on.”
“Where?”
“Grandma made dinner.”
Dominic rose.
“What is it?”
“Meatloaf.”
He stopped.
Lily looked back.
“What?”
“Your grandmother’s meatloaf could be used in construction.”
Eleanor shouted from across the courtyard.
“I HEARD THAT.”
Lily burst out laughing.
Dominic lowered his voice.
“How?”
“She hears everything.”
Eleanor appeared at the cottage door.
“Dinner. Now.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Dominic called.
Lily stared at him.
“You’re scared of Grandma.”
“I respect Grandma.”
“You’re scared.”
Dominic pointed toward the house.
“Go.”
They crossed the courtyard together.
Halfway there, Lily slipped her hand into his.
Dominic looked down.
For months, she had called him Dominic.
He had never corrected her.
Never pushed.
Never asked for anything she was not ready to give.
At the cottage steps, Lily stopped.
“Dad?”
Dominic froze.
Eleanor went still inside the doorway.
Lily looked confused.
“What?”
Dominic swallowed.
“Nothing.”
“You look weird.”
“I’m fine.”
She squeezed his hand.
“Come on, Dad.”
This time she said it without thinking.
Like the word had always belonged there.
Dominic followed her inside.
On the kitchen table sat warm bread, vegetables and a full gallon of milk.
Simple things.
The same things Lily once wandered abandoned warehouses hoping to earn eight dollars to buy.
Her old canvas salvage bag still existed.
But tomorrow morning she would carry a school backpack instead.
Eleanor would complain that Dominic spoiled her.
Victor would arrive too early.
Lily would probably argue about breakfast.
And Dominic Moretti, who had once believed the worst night of his life had taken everything from him, would drive his daughter to school.
Not Anna exactly as he remembered her.
Not Lily exactly as Eleanor had found her.
Both.
Alive.
Home.
May you like
And finally safe.
THE END
