“Dad,” she said, holding out her phone, staring at the notification as though it were a fortune.

“This money is completely mine.

You didn’t give it to me.

And Derek didn’t give it to me.

I earned it.

It’s mine.”

“You earned every single cent of it yourself,” I said, and I had to work to keep my own voice steady.

And for the first time in more than a year, I watched a real, radiant, unguarded smile break across my daughter’s face.