Epilogue: Safe Enough to Find Her

A week later, I invited them to dinner, but this time I asked instead of commanded.

“Would dinner here feel okay?” I said. “You can say no.”

Livia came with Mitchell, Rose, and Natalie. Liam sat beside his sister. John cooked because I knew if I controlled every plate, I would turn even repentance into performance.

When Rose fussed, I stopped myself before reaching.

“Livia,” I asked, “do you want me to take her, or would you rather Mitchell?”

She looked at me for a long moment.

Then she smiled a little. “You can take her, Mom.”

Before leaving, she hugged me. Carefully. Not fully healed. Not erased. But real.

I had spent almost a year searching for my daughter, convinced someone had taken her from me.

In the end, I learned the truth.

She had been waiting for me to become safe enough to find her.

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