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Every debt: cleared.
Every account: settled.
Everything: rebuilt.
And then transferred.
To the girls.
“I fixed it,” he said.
Fifteen years.
That’s how long it took him to come back.
Inside the house, when I told the girls, the air changed.
Shock.
Anger.
Confusion.
Jenny didn’t care about the money.
“Why didn’t he come back sooner?” she asked.
No one had an answer.
But eventually, they made a choice.
“We should talk to him,” Lyra said.
The reunion wasn’t dramatic.
No tears.
No hugs.
No cinematic moment of forgiveness.
Just questions.
Hard ones.
“You missed everything,” Jenny told him.
“I know,” he said.
“Are you staying this time?” Dora asked.
“If you’ll let me.”
Dinner that night was… strange.
Not tense.
Not warm.
Just unfamiliar.
Like we were all learning how to exist in the same space again.
One small conversation at a time.
Later, after the house had quieted, I stepped outside.
Edwin was sitting on the porch.
“You’re not off the hook,” I told him.
“I know.”