Chapter 22 - The Anniversary
A year passes in the blink of an eye when you aren't living in a constant state of survival.
Exactly one year to the day of my kidney transplant, I woke up in my penthouse to the smell of fresh coffee and bacon.
I walked out into the kitchen, wearing a comfortable robe, to find Chloe standing at the stove, flipping pancakes. She had a ridiculous paper party hat on her head.
"Happy Re-Birthday!" Chloe shouted, tossing a pancake onto a plate and shoving it toward me.
I laughed, pulling her into a tight hug. "You didn't have to cook, Chloe. We're going out to a Michelin-star restaurant tonight."
"I know, but breakfast is mandatory," she grinned. "Besides, Dr. Jenkins called earlier. She left a voicemail wishing you a happy anniversary and said your latest blood panels look like they belong to a twenty-year-old Olympic athlete."
I sat at the kitchen island, pouring a cup of coffee.
It was hard to reconcile the woman sitting here today with the broken, terrified girl being wheeled into the operating room a year ago.
"I feel like an athlete," I smiled. "I ran three miles yesterday."
"Show-off," Chloe teased, pouring herself a cup.
We ate breakfast in a comfortable, happy silence. There was no dread about checking my bank accounts to see what Evelyn had drained overnight. There was no anxiety about Richard's demands or Connor's insults.
There was just peace.
Later that evening, Chloe and I dressed to the nines and went to the most exclusive restaurant in the city. Arthur joined us, bringing a bottle of vintage champagne.
"To a year of absolute victory," Arthur toasted, raising his glass in the ambient light of the restaurant.
"To victory," I echoed, clinking my glass against theirs.
May you like
I looked around the table at the family I had chosen. Chloe, who had fiercely protected me when I was too weak to stand. Arthur, who had wielded the law like a sword to sever the chains that bound me.
Blood doesn't make a family. Loyalty, respect, and unconditional care make a family. And for the first time in my thirty years on earth, I finally had one.
