Chapter 26 - THE FOUNDATION VOTE
Judge Porter invited Lily to the meeting when she turned eight.
Not the full board meeting. Not the lawyers. Not the financial presentation filled with charts no child should be expected to care about. Porter arranged a fifteen-minute conversation in a small room before the adults discussed a sale involving one of the Holloway Foundation’s largest properties.
The property was North Ridge.
The mountain retreat where Damian had confined Mara.
The receiver wanted to sell it.
Some board members wanted to keep the property and convert it into a retreat center for families receiving services through the new adoption-integrity fund. Financially, that option made sense. Symbolically, several people thought it would transform a place associated with harm into something useful.
Mara hated the idea.
Claire understood why.
Judge Porter asked Lily whether she wanted to know what North Ridge was before discussing the sale. Lily already knew Mara had once been kept somewhere against her will, though not every detail. Mara explained that this was the same place.
Lily frowned. “The bad house?”
“Yes.”
“Do we have to go there?”
“No,” Porter said.
That changed everything.
Lily asked what would happen if they sold it. Porter explained the money would remain in the Foundation and could support the programs adults had created after the scandal. If they kept it, the building might someday help other families.
Lily thought for a long time.
Then asked Mara, “Do you want it gone?”
Every adult in the room looked at her.
Mara answered honestly. “Part of me does.”
“Why only part?”
“Because buildings don’t do bad things. People do.”
Lily looked at Judge Porter. “Can they sell it to somebody who doesn’t know us?”
“Yes.”
“Then do that.”
Porter smiled slightly. “Why?”
“I don’t want families going somewhere and everybody saying this is where my mom got locked up.”
Mara covered her mouth.
Claire looked away.
Judge Porter wrote the answer down.
The board later approved the sale unanimously.
North Ridge went to an outdoor-education organization with no Holloway affiliation. The Foundation used its portion of the proceeds to fund independent legal representation in contested private adoptions, but no plaque mentioned Mara or Lily.
Judge Porter sent Lily a one-page letter afterward.
Your opinion was heard. The adults agreed with you. Even when they do not agree in the future, they will record that you were asked.
Lily put the letter beside her soccer ribbons.
She cared more about the ribbons.
May you like
That was fine.
The system existed so she would not have to care yet.
