The Girl Who Wouldn’t Let Me Pretend This Was Temporary
The adoption process wasn’t a handshake and a smile.
It was background checks, interviews, home inspections, paperwork that made my head spin.
And in between, I went back to the orphanage again and again.
Lily didn’t talk much at first.
But she watched.
Always watching.
Like she’d learned people are temporary until proven otherwise.
We talked about animals and books.
She showed me her drawings.
Owls kept appearing in them—perched on branches, flying over rooftops, staring straight out of the page.
