On the day Mother was buried, Father gave me three copper coins.
He sent me all the way to West Street for candied hawthorns, but when I returned, he was gone.
Two days later, I found him at the lantern festival with a beautiful lady and another little girl in his arms.
The candied hawthorns he claimed to want were still wrapped in my hand.
Rather than waste them, I offered them to a pale, handsome prince who refused to drink his bitter medicine.
That small gift changed both our lives—and gave two abandoned hearts a home.