It showed a little girl lying in a hospital bed.
“Do you remember Lily?” she asked.
I frowned.
“Your childhood friend?”
Emma nodded.
Lily had been Emma’s best friend in elementary school. Her family had moved away several years earlier.
“What does Lily have to do with this?”
Emma wiped her tears.
“Mom, Lily is very sick.”
I stared at her.
“She needs an expensive operation. Her family couldn’t afford it.”
My husband quietly sat down.
Emma continued.
“Three months ago, I found out she was getting worse. I wanted to help, but I didn’t have enough money.”
She looked toward her father.
“So I asked Dad.”
I glanced at the bundles of cash.
“And the medical clinic?”
“We’ve been meeting with the doctors and arranging her treatment.”
I could barely speak.
“But why all the secrecy?”
Emma began crying harder.
“Because the money Dad gave me wasn’t his.”
