Chapter 2: Fine, Keep It All

I didn’t go straight to the bus station after sunrise.

Before I left this city for good, there were still a few things I needed to take back.

I called a moving company and had them meet me with a truck at the lake house. My clothes were there, along with my books, my work tools, and several antique pieces I had bought at flea markets and restored myself.

At exactly eight o’clock, the moving truck pulled up to the house.

The moment I pushed open the door, I heard Claire’s delighted laugh.

“Noah, I want to turn the upstairs master bedroom into the nursery. And that walnut table is too old—let’s move it to the dining room. It’ll be perfect for family dinners.”

“Whatever you want, honey,” Noah said.

The living room was full.

Diane stood there holding paint swatches, helping Claire choose new wall colors. Robert was by the window, talking about extending the deck to create a play area for the baby. Noah sat on the arm of the sofa, his hand resting on Claire’s shoulder.

They had already started redecorating their “new home.”

From the roof to the floors, from the kitchen cabinets to the baseboards, nearly every inch of this place had been touched by my own two hands.

The movers followed me inside, and the laughter in the living room died instantly.

Claire spoke first.

“Elise? What are you doing back here?”

As if I were the one intruding.

I didn’t answer her. I simply took a neatly organized file of receipts and photographs from my bag and set it on the coffee table.

“The walnut dining table, the oak dresser, the rocking chair upstairs, and the brass floor lamp in the basement were all purchased by me, personally.”

I opened the first receipt. It showed the purchase date, the shop’s stamp, and my signature.

“These are the payment records.”

Then I laid out the before-and-after restoration photos. In them, the tabletop was split down the middle, the dresser was missing two drawers, and the rocker’s arms were riddled with wormholes.

“This is what they looked like when I bought them. I also paid for all the restoration materials. I’m only here to take my furniture and personal belongings. Nothing else will be touched.”

I gestured for the movers to start with the dining room.

The second they lifted one corner of the table, Claire burst into tears.

She grabbed Noah’s arm and collapsed against him.

“Elise, do you really have to do this to me?” Her shoulders shook as she cried, one hand protectively covering her stomach. “Are you trying to strip our home bare? I’m pregnant. I can’t handle this kind of stress.”

That table had taken me three winters to restore.

The way she said it, I was stealing from her home.

Noah immediately pulled her closer and rounded on me. “Can’t you see she’s pregnant? Stop upsetting her!”

“I’m taking back my own property.”

“It’s just a few pieces of old furniture!” His face darkened. “Can’t you just leave them for Claire? She needs a stable home right now.”

“Then you can provide one for her,” I said, looking straight at him. “Stop decorating your life with my things.”

Robert strode over and planted himself in front of the table.

“Put it down.”

The movers stopped, looking to me for direction.

Robert pointed a finger at the furniture, his voice hard. “These things were restored in our house, using our electricity and our water. That makes them our property!”

For a second, I thought I’d misheard him.

“The purchase receipts are in my name.”

“So what?” he sneered. “They’ve been sitting in this house for years. They’re family property now. If you take so much as one piece, I’ll call the police and report you for breaking and entering and theft!”

As he spoke, he was already pulling out his phone.

It was as if all the mortgage payments, taxes, and repair funds I had poured into this house over the years simply didn’t exist. A few buckets of water and a little electricity were apparently enough for them to swallow years of my labor without a shred of shame.

“Robert’s right.” Diane moved to his side and nodded. “Don’t forget, we adopted you. Without us, you wouldn’t have even had a roof over your head.” She looked at me without the slightest hesitation. “Everything you have belongs to this family.”

The room went abruptly still.

Claire sniffled into Noah’s shoulder, though from my angle, I could see the faintest hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth. Noah watched me warily. Robert stood gripping his phone, waiting for me to make a move.

I looked at them all and suddenly laughed.

So, even the things I had bought with my own hands and restored with my own labor weren’t allowed to be mine.

Adoption wasn’t about family.

It was a lifelong debt I had unknowingly signed up for.

I closed the file folder. “Don’t move anything,” I told the movers. “We’re leaving.”

The crew hesitated, glancing at the furniture that filled the house. “Ma’am, you’re just going to leave all this?”

“Yes.”

I turned and looked at Robert one last time. He looked like a man who had just won a war, his thumb still hovering over the emergency call button.

I said, one word at a time, “Fine. Keep it all.”