Chapter 14 - Sophie Chose the Scissors
The stylist showed Sophie several options.
“We can leave it growing.”
Sophie studied herself.
“Or?”
“We can even everything out a little.”
Sophie looked at me.
Not for permission.
For reassurance.
“Your hair,” I said. “Your choice.”
She thought carefully.
“Even.”
The stylist lifted the scissors.
Sophie flinched.
My chest tightened.
The stylist immediately lowered them.
“We don't have to.”
Sophie took a breath.
Then another.
“Okay.”
“You sure?”
Sophie nodded.
“Okay.”
Snip.
A tiny lock fell.
Sophie stared at it.
No screaming.
No Vanessa gripping her.
No searching.
Just Sophie making a choice.
Snip.
Another lock.
By the end, her hair framed her face in a short, slightly uneven bob.
She looked in the mirror.
Then smiled.
“I like it.”
I had to turn away for a second.
The stylist understood.
Outside, Sophie took my hand.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Vanessa can't cut it anymore?”
“No.”
“Only me?”
“Only when you say yes.”
She squeezed my fingers.
That afternoon, we returned home.
Rachel’s bedroom was no longer frozen exactly as she'd left it.
That had been another difficult decision.
For years, I treated the room like preserving it could preserve her.
Now Sophie and I turned part of it into a reading room.
Rachel’s photographs remained.
Her vanity remained.
But sunlight came in again.
Sophie played there.
Laughed there.
Lived there.
The space stopped being a tomb.
A week later, Lily arrived with her parents.
She stood awkwardly in our doorway holding a wrapped birthday gift.
Sophie stared.
Lily stared back.
Then Sophie touched her new haircut.
“You like it?”
Lily smiled.
“Yeah.”
Sophie grabbed her hand.
“Come see my room.”
And just like that, they disappeared upstairs.
Lily’s parents and I stood in the hallway.
Her father looked at me.
“She knows you're biologically related.”
I nodded.
“But I'm her dad.”
“Yes,” I said immediately. “You are.”
His shoulders relaxed.
“And I will never challenge that.”
Her mother started crying.
So did I.
There was room for truth without stealing anyone's place.
That was something Vanessa had never understood.
Love didn't become more valuable by taking it away from someone else.
Later, Sophie and Lily came racing downstairs.
Sophie was holding the little plastic capsule.
My heart jumped.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your desk.”
I crouched.
“Sophie, that's important.”
“I know.”
Then she held it out to me.
May you like
“We don't need to hide it anymore.”
She was right.
