My father’s head lifted.
“But I’m keeping one condition.”
Margaret smiled.
“What condition?”
“I finish high school.”
A few people around the table smiled.
“And after that?”
I looked toward the windows.
The city stretched beneath us.
For the first time, it didn’t look intimidating.
It looked like an opportunity.
“After that,” I said, “I decide what this company becomes.”
Three months later, I graduated.
First in my class.
My father wasn’t there.
Neither was my stepmother.
My stepbrother came, though.
He sat near the back.
When my name was called, I walked across the stage and accepted my diploma.
For a second, I looked toward the empty seats where my father should have been.
Then I smiled.
Not because I had inherited a company.
Not because I had money.
But because I finally understood something.
My worth had never depended on whether my father chose me.
