Chapter 10: Ordinary Months
The seasons moved without a crisis at the door.
Lily learned to ride a bike on the short path behind the building, fox relegated to the basket when she remembered him at all. School reports came home with smudges and stickers. Daniel taught her to make scrambled eggs; Rachel taught her the names of two birds on the wire. I watched the easy accumulation of a childhood that did not require legal letters to stay intact and felt the surgical year recede into a single dark hinge rather than a permanent weather system.
My parents’ silence became the default. Vanessa’s name surfaced once in a social-media photo a mutual acquaintance liked by mistake; I muted the acquaintance and did not investigate further. Helen sent a year-end note confirming no filings, no further inquiries. I thanked her and paid the last small invoice. The folder of screenshots and certified copies stayed in a drawer, not on a table. Prepared was not the same as haunted.
