The Daughter I Couldn’t Reach

The year my daughter needed me most, I left her at a foster home and married a wealthy man instead.

Five years later, she became an A-list celebrity. Her first move after hitting the big time? Calling me during her victory livestream.

Watching me rush to collect a free meal from the community kitchen, she pulled her manager close with a satisfied smirk:

“If you’d just stuck it out a bit longer back then, you could be living the high life with me now. Regretting it yet?”

I grinned. “Oh yeah? Prove it. Wire me a hundred grand.”

She hung up, furious.

My phone buzzed.

A hundred thousand dollars hit my account.

I called her back:

“Wow, color me impressed! Send another hundred grand!”

“Dream on!”

Right as she went to hang up, I rapped my bandaged hand against the camera:

“Haha, just messing with you. Keep your money.”

My smile faded. I reached up and pulled off the scarf entirely.

Revealing a face weathered by chronic illness.

I smiled and waved at the camera:

“By the time you’re watching this recording, I’ll already be gone.”

“But hey—look at you! You made it, Violet Lane!”

“I always knew you would! Haha~”

“Shocked? I figured once you hit stardom, you’d come back to rub it in. How’s that—called it, didn’t I?”

Violet shot to her feet. She took a step forward, then froze. A bitter laugh escaped her as she turned to the host:

“How much did she pay you to stage this whole thing?”

The host froze:

“Violet, your mother’s will specified that if we ever connected with you, we should play this recording instead.”

“Will?”

Violet laughed bitterly:

“A selfish woman like her? She hasn’t had enough good days yet. Why would she give that up? Trying to guilt me now?”

She grabbed her manager’s hand. “Sorry, but when I needed her most, she walked out on me.”

She glared at the screen. “She doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near me.”

“Violet, I know you hate me.”

The second she turned away, my voice came through:

“After I left you, I never had an easy life. Don’t worry about that.”

“Still mad? Think of this goodbye video as my way of letting you vent. And if you don’t want to watch, that’s okay too.”

“And seriously—congratulations on becoming a star!”

Violet spun back around. The screen showed footage from every day and night from the day I left her until the end.