Dad did not.
He continued treating access as something owed to him.
So he had less access.
That was not revenge.
It was consequence.
PART 21 — THE SCHOLARSHIP
On what would have been Lily’s ninth birthday, the foundation announced
a small scholarship program for students working on transportation
safety, emergency medicine, and child-passenger protection.
I worried about using her birthday.
Then Margaret said:
“Lily liked presents. Let this be one.”
We selected the first recipients through an independent committee.
One student had lost a brother in a crash caused by a fatigued
commercial driver.
Another was developing better rural emergency-response mapping.
I read their essays alone.
For the first time, the settlement money felt less like a number
attached to death and more like movement.
Not redemption.
Nothing redeemed the crash.
But usefulness mattered.
That evening I bought a chocolate cupcake.
Lily hated vanilla frosting.
I placed one candle in it.
