“Who wrote that?”
“My niece.”
“Roland’s?”
Tiffany nodded.
“Her name is Lily. She doesn’t know everything.”
“Children know more than adults think.”
Tiffany’s eyes softened.
“She asked why the wedding was canceled.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That the adults had made choices they needed to take responsibility for.”
Margaret nodded.
“That was enough.”
Outside, evening settled over the river.
Margaret walked home alone.
She no longer felt the need to explain the empty space where the wedding had been. The space belonged to her now. She could fill it with something chosen slowly.
That night, she opened the final page of her husband’s trust documents again.
At the bottom of the page, beneath his handwritten note, was a second line she had never noticed.
If Margaret saves the land, ask her to plant something there.
She called the attorney the next morning.
“What land?” he asked.
“The remaining family parcel.”
“That property is still protected by the trust.”
“I want to use it.”
“For what?”
Margaret looked through the kitchen window at the river.
“A garden.”
The attorney laughed softly.
“Your husband mentioned that possibility.”
“He did?”
“He left instructions for a portion of the property to become a public garden if you ever decided to keep it.”
