Chapter 7 - Lily Knew Exactly Why Grandma Hated Her
That afternoon, Lily finally said the thing Dominic had been dreading to hear.
He was helping her put together a puzzle on the living room floor when she suddenly asked, “Was Mommy bad too?”
Dominic’s hand stopped over a cardboard puzzle piece.
“No.”
“Then why does Grandma say I’m just like her?”
His throat tightened.
“Grandma said that?”
Lily nodded.
“She says I cry like Mommy and look like Mommy and that’s why you never move on.”
There it was.
Not discipline.
Not stability.
Not an old woman worried about a grieving child.
Diane hated that Lily resembled Elena.
The same soft brown eyes.
The same way of holding her chin when she was trying not to cry.
The same sensitivity Diane had always despised in Elena and now despised in her daughter.
“Listen to me,” Dominic said, taking both of Lily’s small hands in his. “You being like your mother is one of the best things in this house.”
Lily looked uncertain.
“She was kind,” he said. “You are kind. She was brave. You are brave. None of that is something to be ashamed of.”
Lily studied his face as if checking for truth.
Then she whispered, “Grandma says I make you sad.”
Dominic shook his head.
“No. Losing your mom made me sad. Loving you never will.”
That time, when Lily cried, she crawled straight into his lap.
Not from fear.
From relief.
And Dominic understood with sick clarity that Diane’s cruelty had not been random humiliation.
It had been a campaign.
Not against all children.
Against this child.
May you like
The one who reminded the house who had come before Diane’s influence.
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