(Scarlett’s POV)


    I wake up earlier than usual today, because of Lily.


    She wants to take gingerbread cookies to ir and James to thank them for looking after herst night.


    How did I raise such a sensible girl? I help her decorate them, her small hands carefully cing each candy


    eye and gumdrop button. She is so proud of how they turn out.


    “Are we going to give them to Grandma and Grandpa now, Mama?” she asks as I buckle her in her car seat,


    bouncing with excitement.


    “Yes, baby. We’ll drop them off and return home.”


    But as I pull into the driveway, I catch sight of Jasper’s car. That’s unusual. Is he here because of what


    happenedst night?


    I frown, debating whether to go back. I don’t want to be a part of whatever discussion they’ll have.


    His face lights up when he sees Lily, but when his eyes meet mine, the warmth dies.


    Cold. That’s the only way to describe how he looks at me. Like I’m a stranger.


    Then I notice he’s carrying Virginia on his back.


    “Daddy!” I stop Lily just as she’s about to run to him.


    “Let’s see grandma first.” I say, “You still haven’t given her the cookies you made.”


    “Oh, yes! The cookies!”


    Distracted, she forgets about Jasper, and returns to get her cookies out of the car.


    He enters the house with Virginia draped against his side. Her hair is a mess, her makeup smeared, and she


    looks like she hasn’t slept in days.


    But Jasper carries her like she’s made of porcin, like she might shatter if he lets go.


    “I’ve got you,” he murmurs. “Just a few more steps.”


    The way he touches her- so careful, so tender – makes something twist in my chest. This is the man who held me like that once. Who I thought would protect me for the rest of our lives.


    Now he won’t even look at me.


    Virginia lifts her head, and our eyes meet. Even hungover and broken, she manages to smile. A small, satisfied curve of her lips that makes my skin crawl.


    Lily and I walk into the house after Jasper, hand in hand. The living room is tense. Like everyone’s walking on


    ss.


    “Where’s Aunt Virginia?” Lily asks, looking around.


    James’s jaw tightens. “She’s sleeping.”


    “Is she sick?“/


    “Something like that.”


    I don’t miss the way he sighs when he mentions Virginia. Or the way he looks at me like he has something to say, but doesn’t know where to begin.


    ir appears from the kitchen, her eyes red and swollen. She must’ve been crying for hours.


    “Oh, habibti,” she breathes when she sees Lily. “My sweet girl.”


    She kneels down to hug Lily, but her movements are stiff. What is going on with them today?


    I look around the living room. Jasper is nowhere to be seen. My stomach dips, unease weighing my heart. If he’s with Virginia…


    “Grandma, we brought you gingerbread cookies.” I return to my senses <i>to </i>find Lily handing ir the canister of cookies we baked earlier this morning.


    Her eyes are clear, bright. A stark contrast to everything around us.


    “How wonderful.” ir smiles. “Should we put them in the kitchen?”


    I follow them, but stop when I hear footsteps <i>on </i>the stairs. Heavy footsteps. I don’t need to turn to know who


    it is. <fn640c> This update is avable on FιndNovel</fn640c>


    “Come on, Lily. Time to go home.”


    “But I want to see Daddy-”


    “Another time, sweetheart.”


    Jasper stares at me, and there’s something in his eyes I can’t read. Guilt? Defiance? I don’t know, and I don’t


    want to know.


    All I want to do now is to get out of here as fast as possible.


    “Thank you for the cookies,” ir calls after us, but I don’t respond.


    I just take Lily’s hand and walk out the door, that sick feeling in my stomach growing stronger with every


    step.


    (ir’s POV)


    I watch Scarlett’s car disappear down the street, and my heart breaks a little more.


    She didn’t say goodbye. Didn’t even look back. There goes another daughter we’ve failed.


    “Is she gone?” James asks from the kitchen doorway.


    I nod, not trusting my voice.


    We stand in silence for a moment, the weight of everything that’s happened settling around us like fog.


    “We should check on Virginia,” he sighs, rubbing his face. He hasn’t slept a winkst night, we both haven’t, after returning home.


    We climb the stairs together, our footsteps echoing in the empty house. Virginia’s door is cracked open, and we hear her crying in her sleep


    “Mama,” she whimpers. “Please don’t leave me. Please.”


    My heart aches. She’s just a lost child. Insecure and reckless due to ack of proper upbringing and love.


    244


    It’s our fault she turned out this way. If we had given her more attention, if we had strived to make up for the lost years instead of worrying about Scarlett, she wouldn’t be like this.


    She wouldn’t be forced to seek love from Jasper through those dirty methods.


    “She’s been like this since Jasper brought her home,” James whispers. “Crying, calling for us in her sleep.”


    I push the door open wider. Virginia is curled up on her side, tears streaming down her face even though she’s unconscious. Her whole body is trembling.


    Looking at her now, broken and vulnerable, all I can see is the little girl we lost twenty–five years ago. The daughter we searched for, grieved for, never stopped loving…but once we found her, we neglected her


    “We need to fix this.” James says. “But how? What can we do to help our daughter?”


    “We move.”


    “What?”


    “This house, James. It has all of Scarlett’s things. Her photos, her clothes, her baby toys.” I turn to him, seeing


    my resolve reflected in his eyes. “Virginia was right. We’ve been living caught up in the memories of our


    adopted daughter while leaving out our biological daughter. If not an intruder, what else is she supposed to


    feel?”


    James is quiet for a long moment. “You want to sell the house?”


    “I want to start over. Somewhere Virginia doesn’t have to see reminders of Scarlett everywhere.” The words


    hurt to say, but if we’re to fix this, they must be said. “We failed her, James. From the moment we brought her home, we failed her.”


    “And Scarlett?”


    The question hangs between us, weighing our hearts with helplessness, guilt, and resignation.


    “Scarlett made her choice when she left,” I say, the words stabbing my heart like a knife. “She has Jasper, Lily,


    and her bakery. She doesn’t need us anymore.”


    “But Virginia has no one but us.”


    “Virginia has no one but us.”


    We both know what this means. Prioritizing Virginia over Scarlett might mean losing Scarlett for good. Choosing our biological daughter over the one we raised, loved, called daughter for twenty years…


    But Virginia is broken. She’s lost and insecure. And Scarlett… Scarlett is strong. She survived without us


    before.


    She’ll survive without us again.


    Violet <b>Moon </b>


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