Chapter 20 - The Garden AgainA year after the incident, Lacey asked for flowers.
Gloria almost dropped her coffee.
“What kind?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said no flowers.”
“I changed my mind.”
Gloria resisted making the moment symbolic.
“Okay.”
They visited a nursery.
Lacey rejected roses.
Too much like Marissa.
Rejected lilies.
“Funeral flowers.”
Rejected hydrangeas.
“Too grandma.”
Gloria looked offended.
“I like hydrangeas.”
“Exactly.”
Eventually Lacey chose sunflowers and lavender.
Bright.
Ordinary.
They did not plant them directly over the former disturbed area.
Not because of superstition.
Because Lacey chose a different section.
That mattered.
Warren had taken choice away.
Reclaiming the garden did not mean reenacting his location.
They hired the regular gardener to help.
Gloria refused to make Lacey handle soil if she did not want to.
She wanted to.
Halfway through, Lacey stopped.
A shovel hit compact ground with a dull thump.
Her face went pale.
Gloria immediately set the tool down.
“We can stop.”
Lacey breathed.
Then shook her head.
“Wait.”
They waited.
Five minutes.
Lacey picked up a smaller hand trowel.
“No shovel.”
“No shovel.”
They finished with hand tools.
The flowers looked slightly crooked.
Perfect.
That night Lacey sat by the window.
“I thought it would feel different.”
“What?”
“The garden.”
“How does it feel?”
“Like a garden.”
Gloria smiled.
Maybe that was the victory.
Not sacred.
Not cursed.
A garden.
The media story had faded.
Alder Crest was sold to another developer.
The failed hotel project resumed under a different name.
Warren’s dream continued without Warren.
Gloria found that strangely appropriate.
Projects were not people.
Buildings did not owe loyalty to their creators.
Investors recovered some losses.
Life moved.
Warren remained incarcerated.
His second letter arrived near Christmas.
Lacey refused it.
“Send it back?”
“No.”
“Keep it unopened?”
“Yes.”
Gloria placed it in a file.
Choice.
No drama.
No guilt.
Lydia asked nothing about it.
Good.
Marissa’s trust reached a stable new rhythm.
Annual reviews became educational sessions.
Lacey attended the first fifteen minutes.
The trustee explained:
“This money belongs to the trust for your benefit.”
Lacey asked:
“Can Grandma steal it?”
Gloria choked.
The trustee answered seriously.
“Controls exist so no single person can simply take the money.”
“Even Grandma?”
“Even Gloria.”
Lacey looked satisfied.
Gloria was too.
Trustworthy systems should not depend on Gloria being good.
That was another lesson Warren accidentally taught them.
May you like
Protection came from transparency and limits.
Not character claims alone.
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