In our town, whenever a child was born, the parents set aside a bottle from that year’s vintage.
The bottle remained in the cellar until the most important day of that child’s life, when it was finally brought upstairs and opened.
The night Lily received her acceptance letter from Parsons, Mom went down to the cellar and brought up her bottle.
It wasn’t a bottle that had been set aside when Lily was born. When she came to live with us at eleven, Mom spent months tracking down a bottle from Lily’s birth year and wrote her name on the neck tag herself.
My older brother, Ryan, brought up his own bottle too.
“Our little artist is going to New York.” He raised his phone, grinning. “Two corks are coming out tonight.”
My acceptance letter sat at the other end of the dining table.
Northwestern. Full scholarship. Civil engineering.
Nobody had asked.
I went down the cellar stairs and stopped in front of the dusty wooden rack.
“Where’s mine?”
Mom hesitated for half a second.
“Your father gave it away a few years ago. It was just a bottle, Anna. Don’t make a scene on Lily’s happiest night.”
My boyfriend, Ethan, was bent over Lily’s bottle, wiping dust from its shoulder. He heard the question but didn’t look up.
That was the moment I finally understood.
They owed Lily’s father a life.
And for years, they had been repaying that debt with pieces of mine.
Even my boyfriend had become part of what they were giving her.
I took out my phone and accepted the overseas scholarship.
Departure: August 27.
One way.
This time, I wasn’t coming back.
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 10 Six months later, one morning, Marcus stopped me on my way out to the site. “Anna. Someone at the gate for you.” I walked down to the perimeter fence. Four people were standing on the other side of the wire. Mom’s hair had gone half […]
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 10 Read Post »
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 09 By the time Lily came out of the shower, Ryan had read the whole thread. It only went back four years. Anything older had been wiped. Four years ago. The woman’s voice notes, auto-transcribed. “Lily, listen to your mother. That family owes us. Your dad
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 09 Read Post »
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 08 Three months later, Lily came home for winter break. She wheeled her case through the front door and the room felt wrong. Mom was on the couch. Didn’t jump up to take her case. Didn’t get up at all. Lily set the case down and
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 08 Read Post »
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 07 By month three at the field station, I’d lost twelve pounds. The heat wasn’t the worst of it. The worst was the gunfire at night. The compound sat right on the edge of the security perimeter. First night, Marcus came into the bunkhouse in a
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 07 Read Post »
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 06 Next morning, Dad drove home before it was fully light. The house was silent. He pushed open the mudroom door. Twelve square feet. Concrete floor swept clean. Every trace of me — gone. “Give her a few days, Dad,” Ryan said behind him. “She’ll come
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 06 Read Post »
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 05 Dad’s hand was shaking on the phone. “What do you mean, something’s turned up?” “We pulled the original inspection logs. Your safety walk that morning was fully compliant, Mr. Mercer. There were no gaps. No omissions.” Dad went still. “That can’t be right. That morning
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 05 Read Post »
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 04 My fingers paused on the clasp. “Free with what?” Lily set her glass down and pulled a jewelry box out of her bag. Flipped it open. Rose gold. A butterfly pendant, small stones set along the wings. “Ethan has such good taste! I’ve been eyeing
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 04 Read Post »
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 03 I was woken by voices in the driveway. I pulled the curtain back. Everyone was dressed and gathered around Dad’s car. Lily had a shopping tote over one arm. She spotted me at the window and waved. “Anna! Aren’t you dressed yet? We’re heading into
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 03 Read Post »
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 02 The next morning, they were all at the breakfast bar with the laptop open, filling out Lily’s housing forms. Mom had bookmarked her top pick. “Lily’s always loved her art. That dorm right by the Parsons campus is supposed to be gorgeous.” Ryan leaned in.
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 02 Read Post »
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 01 In our town, whenever a child was born, the parents set aside a bottle from that year’s vintage. The bottle remained in the cellar until the most important day of that child’s life, when it was finally brought upstairs and opened. The night Lily received
My Family Chose Her And Lost Me Forever Chapter 01 Read Post »
