Chapter 4 - The True Inheritance
My mother stood on the steps, her shoulders shaking as she wept.
Robert walked up the concrete stairs, his cane clicking softly, until he stood right in front of her. For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The ten years of silence, pride, and hurt seemed to hang between them like a wall.
Then, Robert dropped his cane. He reached out and pulled my mother into a tight, desperate embrace.
"I looked for you, Clara," he sobbed into her hair. "Every day. I never stopped looking."
"I was so angry, Dad," she cried, wrapping her arms around his neck. "But then I had Sophie... and I realized how much you must have loved me to want to protect me, even if you did it the wrong way."
I walked up the steps, picking up my father’s silver cane and holding it out. Robert looked down, smiling through his tears as he took the cane, then reached out his other arm to pull me into the hug.
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"Your daughter saved you, Clara," Robert whispered. "She walked into my tower with a thousand dollars in her hand and a pink eviction notice in her bag. She has your heart."
"She has our integrity," Clara smiled, wiping my tears away with her thumb.
