Chapter 9
We began to heal.
Eleanor changed her will. Named me her sole heir. But she also gave me something more precious.
Her love. Her time. Her history.
She told me about my father. About the life we should have had. About the years she’d spent clinging to hope.
And I told her about mine. About the foster homes. About the loneliness. About how I’d always kept the star around my neck, feeling like it was a promise.
"It was a promise," she said. "To us."
We spent months learning each other. Learning how to be mother and daughter. How to be family.
I began to work alongside her. Learning the business. Standing beside her.
People saw me now. They saw the star. They saw Eleanor’s daughter.
And they respected me.
One afternoon, I walked past the hotel restaurant where we met.
I paused, looking in through the window.
There I was again—just a waitress. Wondering who I was. Where I belonged.
May you like
And now... I knew.
I belonged here. With her.
