CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 47: THE ANNIVERSARY
A year and a half after the hearing, we gathered for dinner.
Not because it was a holiday.
Not because it was someone's birthday.
But because my father said:
"We should celebrate surviving."
So we did.
We ordered too much food.
Ella made handmade decorations.
Samantha brought flowers.
Halfway through dinner, my father stood up.
"I have a toast."
Everyone looked at him.
He cleared his throat.
"To second chances."
He looked at my mother.
Then at me.
Then at Samantha.
"We wasted a lot of years."
Silence.
"But we still got this."
He gestured around the room.
"This family."
Tears filled my eyes.
"Messy?" Samantha asked.
He laughed.
"Very."
"Complicated?" I added.
"Extremely."
Ella raised her glass.
"But still a family."
Everyone smiled.
We clinked our glasses together.
For the rest of the evening, we told old stories.
Some happy.
Some painful.
But for the first time, none of them hurt.
May you like
They were simply pieces of who we had become.
And that felt like peace.
