y

isp autumn air. I didn't spare him another glance. My pace quickened, each

onfusion. "Donnell... your father... he wants to see you! We're having an anniv

clench. But then the image of my mother's lonely grave flashed in my mind, and the anger flared anew. They had all abandoned me

ds, festering just beneath the surface, began to ache. Donnell Dillard. My father. The man who had been so consu

nell stood at the front, his face streaked with tears, but his arm was wrapped around Ainsley, who sobbed dramatically into his shoulder. She was always the

approach him, leaning heavily on my crutches. "Ainsley needs

th became my curse. It meant Ainsley always needed more, deserved more, demanded more. She got

in the coffin. I was lying in a hospital bed, barely consc

e was gruff, distant

"They said it's bad. My spine... th

ing pause. "Well, you always were

rs welling up. "Please, I'm so

ing to Clayton. I can't let her down. This whole thing with your accident... it

whose eyes held a pity I couldn't bear, gently picked it up. She didn't say anything, but her gaze spoke volumes.

e, a phantom ache lingering even after all these years. That girl, the

base, a neutral zone, far removed from the ghosts of my past. I paid the driver and walk

stantly warmed. I answered, and his handsome face filled the

ming. "When are you coming home? Daddy s

id, a genuine smile finally grac

onditional love I had always craved. "Everythin

lied smoothly. "Dea

ppeared. His kind eyes held a hint of concern. "Ivy, darling, everything is

d me broken and abandoned and brought me into the Richardson f

red him. "Just tying up loose ends

, you have us now, sweetheart. Anything you need,

once so tainted, now tasted like warmth and

ered, my voice thick w

finally hung up, a profound sense of peace settled over me. The ghosts of the graveyard, the bitterness of the past, seemed to recede,