Chapter 28 - Redecorating
The Cherry Creek mansion had felt like a crime scene for months. Even after the cleaning crews had scrubbed it from top to bottom, the shadows of what had happened in the living room lingered like a heavy fog.
I refused to sell the house. Grant and Vanessa had tried to take my home, and running away would mean giving them a posthumous victory. Instead, I decided to reclaim it completely.
I took a three-month leave of absence from my federal job. I hired a team of contractors, and together with Lily, we tore the house apart.
We ripped out the cold, white marble floors where Lily had been forced to kneel, replacing them with warm, rich oak hardwood. We tore down the sterile, modern wallpaper Vanessa had picked out, painting the walls in bright, sunny yellows and calming ocean blues.
We threw out the white sofa, replacing it with a massive, overstuffed sectional covered in soft, durable fabric—perfect for building forts and spilling juice boxes.
Lily was hesitant at first. The trauma was still a heavy, dark weight on her small shoulders. For the first few weeks, she followed me from room to room, clutching my leg, terrified that if I walked out of her sight, I would disappear for another eight weeks.
But as the house transformed, so did she. The warm colors, the constant flow of friendly contractors, and the undeniable safety of my constant presence began to chip away at her fear.
I enrolled her in intense, specialized play therapy. We spent hours sitting on the floor of her newly painted pink bedroom, building massive Lego castles and painting watercolor masterpieces.
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She still hadn't spoken a single word since the day I came home. Her voice remained locked behind a wall of trauma, a silent defense mechanism against a world that had betrayed her so brutally.
But her eyes were brighter. She smiled when I made silly faces. The bruises had faded entirely, and she was finally gaining weight, her cheeks filling out into the healthy, rosy roundness of a normal five-year-old. The physical wounds were gone; we just needed time for the invisible ones to heal.
