To Emily And Stephanie Ronner

For over fifteen years, Emily held onto the letter.

She should have burnt it. Certainly she had come close to doing so on several occasions. But every time, she stayed her hand. When her mother had abandoned her and her sister Stephanie, running away from her responsibilities, Emily knew she could never forgive her. When the letter arrived a few months later, she never opened it, not caring about whatever justifications or lies her mother had.

But on her eighteenth birthday, Stephanie asked to read the letter, so Emily opened it.

The letter she expected. The cheque, not so much.