Chapter 4 – The Bear With the Blue Ribbon
Chapter 4 – The Bear With the Blue Ribbon
Six months later...
The mansion no longer felt cold.
Laughter echoed through its halls once again.
Lily sat curled up in the library, hugging the white teddy bear with the blue ribbon.
She had named him Hope.
One evening, she looked at her father.
"Daddy?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Do I ever have to earn dinner again?"
Adrian's heart nearly broke.
He knelt beside her.
"No."
"You never did."
He brushed a strand of hair from her face.
"A child doesn't earn love."
"A child is loved."
Tears filled Lily's eyes as she wrapped her arms around him.
Across the room, the old butler smiled quietly.
The house was still grand.
The marble floors still gleamed.
The crystal chandeliers still sparkled.
But none of those things made it a home.
What made it a home...
Was an eight-year-old girl who no longer went to bed hungry.
And a father who promised that no one would ever make her feel unwanted again.
Because the greatest gift a parent can give a child...
May you like
Is the certainty that they will always be safe.
The End.
