My Daughter Chose a Different Legacy
Chapter 17 - My Daughter Chose a Different Legacy
Emily shocked Allie a year later.
She quit her corporate job in Chicago.
“You did what?”
They were eating breakfast when Emily announced it.
“I quit.”
“You loved that job.”
“I loved the salary.”
“That is not the same thing?”
Emily laughed.
“Mom.”
Allie smiled.
“What are you going to do?”
Emily slid an application across the table.
Law school.
Allie stared at it.
“You want to become an attorney?”
“Someone in this family should do it honestly.”
Allie nearly choked on her coffee.
Emily’s smile faded.
“Too soon?”
“Maybe.”
“Sorry.”
Then Allie began laughing.
Really laughing.
The kind she had forgotten existed.
Emily joined her.
Months later, Richard wrote his daughter a letter.
Not Allie.
Emily.
He apologized without excuses.
For the money.
For the waiver.
For using her trust.
Emily read it three times.
Then she asked Allie, “Do you think people change?”
Allie looked toward the Morgan House courtyard.
“I think they can.”
“Do you think Dad will?”
“I don’t know.”
Emily folded the letter.
“What should I do?”
Allie shook her head.
“That decision belongs to you.”
Emily eventually agreed to meet Richard for coffee.
Not because Allie pushed her.
Not because forgiveness was required.
Because Emily wanted to see whether her father had finally learned how to listen.
The meeting lasted one hour.
When Emily returned, Allie asked nothing.
Emily sat beside her.
“He looks different.”
“How?”
“Smaller.”
Allie understood.
Not physically.
Richard had once occupied every space as though it belonged to him.
Now consequences had reduced his world.
“Did you forgive him?”
Emily thought.
“I told him I’m willing to see who he becomes.”
Allie smiled.
“That sounds wise.”
“I learned from my mother.”
“No.”
Allie took her daughter’s hand.
“You learned by watching my mistakes.”
Emily squeezed it.
“Those too.”
Then she revealed another surprise.
She had received her law-school acceptance.
And she intended to specialize in veterans’ and family advocacy.
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For the first time, Morgan House had a future that had nothing to do with property values.
It had a legacy.
