Chapter 29 - THE FIRST WALK
Lily was thirteen when she walked across the garden without the parallel bars.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
She stopped.
Her face was covered in tears.
I was crying too.
Dominic stood near the porch.
He didn't move.
He knew this moment belonged entirely to her.
Lily looked at him.
“Did you see?”
“Yes.”
“I walked.”
“Yes.”
She took another step.
Then another.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
She reached me.
I dropped to my knees and hugged her.
She laughed through her tears.
“I did it.”
“Yes.”
“You said I might.”
“I knew you could.”
Dominic approached slowly.
Lily looked at him.
“Don't cry.”
He smiled.
“I wasn't planning to.”
She held out her hand.
He took it.
And for a moment, three people stood together in the garden.
A mother.
A daughter.
A man who had once been a stranger.
The wheelchair remained behind them.
Not abandoned.
May you like
Not rejected.
Simply no longer the only way forward.
