Chloe had also lost her extravagant lifestyle. Without unlimited financial support, she was working at a restaurant and learning to pay her own expenses.
Neither of them remained part of our lives.
One afternoon, David handed me an envelope containing the deed to the former St. Regis ballroom. He had arranged for the space to be transformed into the Leo Vance Pediatric Emergency and Respiratory Center, a nonprofit facility providing emergency treatment to seriously ill children.
“Where your mother celebrated her vanity,” he said, “we’re going to help families who are fighting to save their children.”
I looked across the garden, where Leo was laughing as Barnaby chased him through the sprinklers. For the first time, I understood that protecting my family didn’t mean obeying the people who had raised me.
It meant standing beside the people who loved me, especially when they needed me most.
My mother had threatened to disown me for refusing to leave my sick child. In the end, losing her was the beginning of the peaceful life I’d always deserved.
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