“Yeah.”
Vera sat down and put an arm around her. She was almost fully recovered, with color back in her cheeks and a sparkle in her eyes—and not from tears, but from something good.
“Some people don’t know how to love. They only know how to possess. And when they can’t possess something, they get angry.”
“Do you and David love each other?”
Vera smiled. She didn’t call him Mr. Vance anymore, just David.
“Yes. I think so.”
“Good. Are you really happy?”
“Uh-huh. He’s a good man.”
“And you’re happy with him.”
“I am.” Vera hugged her tighter. “You’re my treasure, you know that?”
“I know,” Molly answered seriously. “You are, too.”
The divorce was finalized after six months of lawyers and court dates. Kira got a lot of money, but she didn’t get the one thing she wanted—David. And judging by her face in the last photo Molly saw online, that infuriated her more than anything.
“She’s going to try to cause trouble again,” Molly said one day.
The three of them were sitting in the kitchen of their new home—a large, bright house they had all moved into together, as a family.
“What makes you think so?” David asked.
“Because that’s who she is. She won’t let it go.”
He and Vera exchanged a look.
“You might be right. But we’ll handle it.”
“I know.”
And they did. Kira reappeared a year later, when everyone had almost forgotten about her. Molly was nine, Vera was pregnant with a baby brother, and everyone was happy. David worked, building his houses, and came home to play board games with Molly. Everything was so good that Molly sometimes worried it was a dream, that she’d wake up in the old apartment with the peeling wallpaper and the cold radiator. But it wasn’t a dream.
Kira was waiting by the school gate when Molly was leaving. Tall, beautiful, with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
“Hello, Molly. Remember me?”
Molly remembered. She stopped, clutching the straps of her backpack.
“What do you want?”
“To talk. I want to tell you something.”
“About your… stepfather?”
Molly didn’t know what to do. Run? Call for help? But there were other parents and kids around, and Kira wasn’t doing anything threatening. Just standing there, smiling.
“Let’s go to a café,” she offered. “I’ll buy you some ice cream.”
“I’m not allowed to go with strangers.”
“I’m not a stranger. I was David’s wife. Almost your stepmother.”
“You’re not my stepmother. You never were.”
Kira’s smile tightened, but it didn’t disappear.
“Such an attitude… Just like your mother.”
Molly turned and walked away. Her heart was pounding, but she forced herself to walk slowly, not to show her fear.
“David isn’t who he says he is!” Kira called after her. “He’s lying to your mother. You deserve to know the truth!”
Molly didn’t look back. She reached the corner, turned, and only then did she run—home, to her mom, to safety.
Vera listened to her story in silence. Her face grew serious, but not scared.
“You did the right thing by walking away. What did she want?”
“I don’t know.”
“Probably to cause a fight between us.”
“To hurt us. She said David is lying.”
“David doesn’t lie.”
“I know. But that’s what she said.”
Vera hugged her.
“Some people can’t stand to see others happy. It eats them up inside. So they try to destroy that happiness to make themselves feel better.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Yes. It’s very stupid. But it happens.”
That evening, when David came home, Vera told him everything. He listened, his face darkening, his hands clenching into fists.
“I’m calling my lawyers,” he said finally. “This is harassment. She has no right to approach a child.”
“David.”
“What?”
“Sit down. Calm down.”
He sat. Vera took his hands in hers.
“Molly handled it. She’s a smart girl, smarter than all of us. We’re not going to panic. But we will be more careful.”
“She crossed a line.”
“I know. But if we start a legal battle, that’s exactly what she wants. A scandal, attention, a chance to be in the spotlight again. Let’s not give her that.”
David looked at Vera, and something in his expression softened.
“How can you be so wise?”
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