*When I brought you home at nine years old, people in Oakridge told me I was a fool to take in a girl whose parents were gone.

They said you were too quiet, too distant, too guarded.

But I saw the way you stood in the hallway with your little canvas bag, holding your head high even when you were afraid.*

A sharp gust of wind came off the pond and sent dry brown leaves tumbling across the grass toward my boots.

*I built Sterling Construction with my own hands, but the lake house was built for you.

I put your name on the title four years ago so that no matter where the military sent you, and no matter what Victoria tried to claim, you would always have a place that was completely yours.*