For the girl who had once chosen security over love.
For the woman who had spent forty-six years alone because she thought she had no right to a second chance.
Silvia didn’t visit at first.
Neither did Mikhail.
But one day, when Emilia was seven months old, someone knocked on the door.
I opened it.
Silvia stood there.
She was holding a small bag.
“Can I come in?”
I didn’t say “of course” immediately.
Not because I wanted to punish her.
But because I was afraid.
Afraid she would come inside, see the baby, and we would start arguing again.
But then I looked at her face.
She looked tired.
Not angry.
Just tired.
“Come in,” I said.
She put the bag on the table.
Inside was a small knitted blanket.
Pink, with white flowers around the edges.
“I made it myself,” she said. “I didn’t know what else to bring.”
Emilia was lying in her crib, moving her little arms.
Silvia slowly approached.
“Can I hold her?”
My heart tightened.
I looked at my daughter.
Then at the baby.
“Yes.”
Silvia picked her up awkwardly.
For the first few seconds, she looked as though she didn’t know where to put her hands.
Then Emilia grabbed her finger.
Silvia began to cry.
“She’s so tiny.”
“Yes.”
“Mom…”
I waited.
“I really was afraid.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
“But I was also angry. Because…” She swallowed. “Because I thought that if you had another child, everything you had done for us would become less important.”
Those words surprised me.
“What does that mean?”
“My whole life, I told myself that we were your purpose. Me and Misho. That you sacrificed everything for us. And when Emilia came along, I felt… replaced.”
I sat beside her.
“No one can replace your child, Silvia.”
“I know that in my head. But not in my heart.”
I put my hand on her shoulder.
“You will always be my daughter. And Mikhail will always be my son. Emilia doesn’t take anything away from you.”
“But she’ll inherit.”
There was the truth.
Small.
Uncomfortable.
But still there.
I looked at her.
“Yes. She will inherit. Just like you will. But love isn’t property that gets divided into square meters.”
Silvia lowered her head.
