Chapter 28 - the family table
Claire's parents were older now.
They moved more slowly.
They laughed more easily.
One Sunday evening, the entire family gathered for dinner.
Chloe sat across from her grandfather.
Claire's mother served dessert.
Everyone was talking at once.
Claire watched them.
For years, she had thought wealth meant enormous houses and expensive cars.
Now she understood something else.
Wealth was having people around a table who loved you without asking what they could gain.
Her father raised his glass.
"To Claire."
Claire laughed.
"Why me?"
"Because you turned the worst thing that ever happened to you into something that helped people you never met."
Her mother added,
"And because you finally learned to let other people cook."
Everyone laughed.
Claire lifted her glass.
"To family."
Chloe smiled.
"To Mom."
Claire looked at her daughter.
Her eyes filled with tears.
May you like
Not painful tears.
The kind that come when a person realizes how far they have traveled.
