“I want Lily to know her mother planned for her.”

Brenda’s expression tightened. “You always have to prove something.”

Maybe she was right. I wanted to prove that my daughter would never need to earn security by making herself useful.

Yet even after becoming a mother, I kept tolerating the same family pattern. Brenda attended every school event for the twins and remembered their clothing sizes.

She promised to come to Lily’s preschool recital, then forgot. When she visited, she brought the boys’ old toys in grocery bags and called them presents.

At Christmas, the twins received tablets. Lily got a coloring book. I told myself a three-year-old did not understand cost. But children understand attention long before they understand money.