Chapter 13 - THE GIRL WITHOUT A BOARD VOTE
Their daughter was born at 3:18 a.m.
Six pounds, four ounces.
Healthy.
Loud.
Emma cried when she heard the first scream.
Lucas cried before it.
They named her Lily.
No Kane family name.
No strategic meaning.
Just Lily.
The trust automatically activated at birth.
Eighteen percent moved into the infant trust.
The court-appointed independent trustee assumed control.
Margaret received no vote.
Lucas received no vote.
Emma received no vote.
For once, nobody won.
That was exactly right.
Margaret arrived at the hospital at noon.
She waited outside.
A nurse entered.
“Mrs. Kane, your mother-in-law is asking whether she may visit.”
Emma looked at Lucas.
He did not answer for her.
Good.
Emma said:
“Ten minutes.”
Margaret entered slowly.
No pearls.
No folder.
She saw Lily.
Her face broke.
Not chairwoman.
Grandmother.
She stepped closer.
Then stopped.
“May I hold her?”
Emma looked at the woman who had once prepared papers to decide where this baby would go if Emma could not speak.
“No.”
Margaret’s eyes fell.
Emma continued:
“Not yet.”
Margaret nodded.
“Okay.”
That answer mattered.
Margaret stayed the full ten minutes without asking about the trust, the company, the refinancing, or the board. She looked at Lily, then at Emma, and once seemed ready to explain herself. She stopped. Emma noticed that too. Sometimes restraint was more convincing than another justification.
When Margaret left, Lucas asked, “Was that okay?”
May you like
Emma looked at the closed door. “It was ten minutes.”
He nodded. He understood that ten minutes was not forgiveness. It was ten minutes.
