Two months later, I signed the adoption papers.
***
That first year almost broke me.
“That’s not a bad thing.”
From the moment she came into my life, she became my entire world.
Lily cried almost every night for a mother I couldn’t bring back.
I paced the hallway at 3 a.m. with a toddler on my shoulder and a shift starting at 6 a.m.
I worked long hours, with family assisting with babysitting.
But slowly, quietly, things got better, and she became the reason I came home.
She became my entire world.
***
Fifteen years passed like a single held breath.
Now I was standing on a step stool in the dining room, hanging streamers while a barbecue smoked on the back patio. Lily was turning 18.
“Dad, those are crooked.”
“They’re artistic,” I said.
“They’re crooked.”
She grinned at me from the doorway, phone in one hand, and I felt something warm and steady behind my ribs. My kid. My whole world.
