“Because she knew who Lily was.”
Grace’s answer came so quietly that I almost missed it.
I was still kneeling on the marble floor, one hand resting against the little girl’s cheek.
Victoria stood several feet away, her hockey stick lying between us.
I looked at my fiancée.
“Is that true?”
Victoria’s face tightened.
“Nathan, you can’t seriously believe her.”
“Did you know this child was mine?”
She said nothing.
Lily pressed herself against Grace’s injured shoulder. Grace winced but kept her arms around her daughter.
I turned toward the gray-haired household attendant standing near the kitchen doorway.
“Mr. Wilson, call for an ambulance. And make sure Victoria doesn’t go near them.”
Victoria stared at me.
“You’re giving orders to protect a maid?”
I rose slowly.
“I’m protecting a woman you just attacked and a child who was standing beside her.”
“Nathan—”
“Stay where you are.”
For the first time since I had known Victoria Bennett, she looked uncertain.
Then Grace spoke again.
“She didn’t just know about Lily. She knew where we were living.”
I looked down at her.
“What?”
Grace swallowed.
“She came to see me last month.”
Victoria took a step forward.
“That’s a lie!”
I moved between her and Grace.
“Then you’ll have no trouble explaining why you were holding a hockey stick over them.”
Victoria stopped.
The room went quiet except for Lily’s crying.
I knelt beside Grace again.
“Tell me what happened.”
She looked at Lily, then back at me.
“Five years ago, your father made me leave. I thought you knew.”
I stared at her.
“My father?”
Grace nodded.
“And Victoria found out about Lily before you did.”
Five years earlier, Grace had worked at the Cole family estate.
I was thirty years old then, still trying to prove I could run the family business without my father’s constant interference.
Grace was twenty-four.
She was intelligent, patient, and far more willing to tell me when I was wrong than anyone on my father’s payroll.
We met in the kitchen late one evening when I returned from a disastrous business dinner.
She was finishing her shift.
I complained about an argument with my father.
Grace listened for a minute before saying, “Maybe he doesn’t need you to win every argument. Maybe he needs to see you can make a decision without asking permission.”
I laughed.
Nobody spoke to me like that.
Over the following months, we grew close.
I began looking forward to the evenings when we could talk without my father’s business associates watching.
Eventually, we fell in love.
I knew our relationship would cause trouble.
My father, Charles Cole, had already spent years discussing a future alliance with the Bennett family.
Victoria’s father, Robert Bennett, was his oldest business partner.
Their companies held properties and investments together.
Charles believed marriage between the families would protect those interests.
I didn’t agree.
And I told him so.
When he discovered my relationship with Grace, he called her into his office.
I wasn’t there.
By the time I returned from a business trip, she had disappeared.
Her phone number no longer worked.
Her apartment was empty.
And my father told me she had accepted money to leave.
I didn’t believe him at first.
I searched for her.
But every attempt ended in silence.
Eventually, I accepted the explanation that hurt the most.
Grace had chosen to leave me.
I never knew she was pregnant.
The ambulance arrived within minutes.
Grace resisted when the paramedics suggested taking her to the hospital.
“Lily needs me.”
I crouched beside the little girl.
“Your mother needs a doctor. We can go together.”
Lily looked at me through wet eyelashes.
“Will you stay?”
The question almost broke me.
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll stay.”
Victoria stood near the kitchen island, her arms folded tightly.
“Nathan, we need to discuss this privately.”
I looked at her.
“We will. After Grace receives medical care.”
“You’re going to let this woman destroy everything we’ve built?”
I stared at her.
“Everything we’ve built?”
She gestured toward the house.
“Our future. Our wedding.”
I looked at Lily.
The little girl was clutching Grace’s apron.
“She isn’t a threat to my future, Victoria.”
Victoria’s expression changed.
I continued.
“If she’s my daughter, she’s part of it.”
Victoria turned away.
Mr. Wilson approached quietly.
“Sir, should I ask the security staff to preserve the kitchen footage?”
I hadn’t thought about the cameras.
“Yes. Preserve everything.”
Victoria spun around.
“Nathan!”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“You don’t need to involve security.”
“Grace has been injured. Lily witnessed it. The footage stays.”
Victoria said nothing.
That silence told me more than another argument would have.
At the hospital, doctors confirmed that Grace had suffered a serious shoulder injury and bruising from the blow.
Lily had no visible injuries.
But she refused to let go of her mother’s hand.
I sat beside them while the medical staff finished their examinations.
Grace watched me carefully.
“You don’t have to stay.”
I looked at her.
“I told Lily I would.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I never wanted you to find out this way.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
Her face tightened.
“I tried.”
I waited.
She looked toward the sleeping child.
“Your father threatened me.”
I felt a familiar anger rising.
“What did he say?”
“He told me you would lose your position in the company if I stayed. He said he could make sure I never worked again.”
I stared at her.
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“I went to your office. Your assistant said you were unavailable.”
“I was overseas that week.”
“I know that now.”
She swallowed.
“Your father gave me a letter. It said you wanted me gone.”
I shook my head.
“I never wrote anything like that.”
Grace looked at me.
“I believed you had chosen the company.”
I leaned forward.
“Grace, I spent months looking for you.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I didn’t know.”
We sat in silence.
Then she reached into her bag and removed a worn envelope.
Inside was a copy of the letter she had received.
It carried my name.
But the signature wasn’t mine.
I read the first paragraph.
It instructed Grace to end our relationship and leave the estate.
The wording was cold and formal.
Exactly the sort of language my father used in business disputes.
I looked at Grace.
“He forged this.”
She nodded.
“I started to suspect that after Lily was born.”
“Why?”
“Because I received another letter. This one came from your father’s legal office.”
She handed me a second page.
It warned her not to contact the Cole family regarding any personal or financial claim.
At the bottom was a signature.
Robert Bennett.
Victoria’s father.
I had known Robert Bennett since childhood.
He attended family holidays.
He advised my father on business acquisitions.
After Charles died three years earlier, Robert helped me manage the transition into leadership.
And when Victoria and I became engaged, Robert celebrated as though our marriage had been his idea all along.
I looked at the document again.
“Why was Robert involved?”
Grace shook her head.
“I don’t know. But Victoria came to my apartment last month.”
I felt cold.
“What did she want?”
“She asked whether Lily knew your name.”
I stared at her.
Grace continued.
“I told her to leave us alone. She said I should remember what happened the last time I tried to be part of your life.”
I looked at Lily sleeping beside her mother.
“And today?”
“I came to the estate because I was tired of hiding. I asked Mr. Wilson if you were home. Victoria heard me.”
Grace touched her injured shoulder.
“She saw Lily and became furious.”
I remembered Victoria’s words in the kitchen.
You should’ve never returned.
Now they made sense.
She hadn’t been surprised to see Grace.
She had been afraid Grace would reach me.
That evening, I called my attorney, Margaret Ellis.
Margaret had handled my father’s estate after his death.
She knew the Cole family’s legal affairs better than anyone.
I asked her to meet me at the hospital.
She arrived carrying a folder.
“Nathan, what’s happened?”
I showed her the two letters.
She read them carefully.
Then she looked at Grace.
“May I ask where you obtained these?”
Grace explained.
Margaret examined Robert Bennett’s signature.
“This appears consistent with correspondence from his office.”
I looked at her.
“Did my father authorize Robert to contact Grace?”
Margaret hesitated.
“There was an arrangement involving the Bennett family, but I wasn’t aware it concerned Grace.”
“What arrangement?”
“Your father’s estate plan included several provisions intended to protect family ownership interests.”
I leaned forward.
“Be specific.”
Margaret opened her folder.
“Your father established a trust holding part of the estate’s property interests. The trust contains a provision for any previously undisclosed biological descendant.”
I looked at Lily.
“Meaning my daughter.”
“If paternity is established, Lily may have rights under that provision.”
Grace looked confused.
“What kind of rights?”
“Potentially an independent beneficial interest in certain assets. The exact extent would require reviewing the trust and related agreements.”
I stared at Margaret.
“Who controls those assets now?”
“The trustees oversee them. Some are tied to companies in which the Bennetts have interests.”
“And my marriage to Victoria?”
Margaret paused.
“The marriage itself doesn’t automatically transfer Lily’s rights. But your upcoming wedding is connected to a separate family business restructuring.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“What restructuring?”
“A consolidation of certain Cole and Bennett holdings.”
I had approved the broad proposal months earlier.
Robert had assured me it was routine.
Victoria had called it a wedding gift from both families.
Now I wondered whether they had been counting on something else.
I looked at Margaret.
“Would Lily’s existence complicate the arrangement?”
“Yes,” she said. “Potentially significantly.”
The next morning, I returned to the estate.
Victoria was waiting in the living room.
She stood when I entered.
“Nathan, thank goodness. I’ve been calling.”
I closed the door.
“Why did you visit Grace last month?”
Her face changed.
“I don’t know what she’s told you.”
“Answer the question.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“I wanted to protect us.”
“From a four-year-old girl?”
“From someone trying to use a child to get your money.”
I stared at her.
“Did you know Lily was mine?”
Victoria looked away.
“Grace claimed she was.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t believe her.”
“Then why did you go to her apartment?”
Victoria said nothing.
I took a breath.
“Did your father know?”
She looked at me sharply.
“Leave my father out of this.”
That was an answer.
I continued.
“Grace was threatened five years ago. Robert signed a letter warning her not to contact my family.”
Victoria’s voice rose.
“Your father wanted her gone!”
“My father is dead.”
“And he knew what was best for you!”
I looked at her.
“No. He knew what was best for his business.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“Nathan, we’ve spent years building a future.”
I shook my head.
“You’ve spent years keeping me from knowing I had a daughter.”
She began crying.
But I had seen her standing over Grace with that hockey stick.
I couldn’t forget it.
“The wedding is canceled,” I said.
Victoria stared at me.
“You can’t do that.”
“I just did.”
“You’ll destroy the agreement between our families.”
I looked at her.
“Then perhaps it shouldn’t exist.”
Victoria moved out that afternoon.
I instructed the household staff to preserve the kitchen security footage and cooperate with the authorities investigating the assault.
I also asked Margaret to review every document related to the Bennett restructuring.
The results were disturbing.
The agreement would transfer management authority over several jointly held assets into a new company controlled by the Bennett side.
I would retain a substantial financial interest.
But Robert would gain greater operational control.
The arrangement had been prepared months before Victoria and I announced our engagement.
And the supporting documents assumed that I had no children.
Margaret placed the papers on my desk.
“Lily’s existence doesn’t automatically invalidate this agreement,” she explained. “But it raises questions about disclosures and whether the trust’s interests were properly considered.”
I studied the signatures.
“Who prepared it?”
“Robert’s legal team.”
“Who reviewed it for my father?”
“Your father’s longtime counsel.”
“And after he died?”
“Robert’s office continued coordinating the transaction.”
I leaned back.
For years, I had trusted Robert because my father trusted him.
Now I saw how much authority I had allowed him to keep.
“Freeze the restructuring,” I said.
Margaret nodded.
“And arrange an independent review.”
The next development came from Mr. Wilson.
He had worked for the Cole family for more than thirty years.
He had known me as a boy.
He had also known Grace before she disappeared.
He came to my office carrying an old notebook.
“Mr. Cole, I think there’s something you should see.”
I looked up.
“What is it?”
“Five years ago, your father asked me to arrange a car for Miss Grace.”
I stood.
“Where was she going?”
“He said she was leaving the estate permanently.”
Wilson opened the notebook.
“I kept the driver’s record because the trip was charged to the household account.”
I studied the entry.
Grace had been taken from the estate to her apartment.
The following day, a second journey had been arranged.
This one went to an office building owned by Robert Bennett’s company.
I looked at Wilson.
“Was Grace in the car?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did she go willingly?”
Wilson hesitated.
“She was upset. I remember that.”
I thought of the forged letter.
The threats.
The sudden disappearance.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Wilson lowered his eyes.
“Your father instructed the staff not to discuss Miss Grace with you.”
I stared at him.
“And you obeyed.”
“Yes, sir.”
He looked ashamed.
“I thought it was a private family matter. I didn’t know there was a child.”
I closed the notebook.
For years, everyone around me had accepted my father’s authority.
Even when his decisions hurt people who had done nothing wrong.
Grace and Lily moved into a temporary home where they could recover without Victoria approaching them.
I visited every day.
At first, Lily was shy.
She watched me from behind Grace’s chair.
She asked small questions.
“Do you like pancakes?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have a dog?”
“No.”
“Can you draw a butterfly?”
“Not very well.”
She laughed.
The sound was so unexpected that I nearly cried.
One afternoon, she handed me a picture.
Three figures stood beneath a yellow sun.
One wore a blue dress.
One wore a black suit.
The smallest held both their hands.
“That’s us,” Lily said.
I looked at Grace.
Her eyes filled.
I turned back to Lily.
“It’s beautiful.”
She smiled.
Then she asked, “Are you going away again?”
I felt the weight of everything she had already experienced.
I knelt beside her.
“I have to go to work sometimes. But I’ll tell you when I’m leaving and when I’m coming back.”
She considered that.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
A voluntary paternity test later confirmed what Grace had told me.
Lily was my biological daughter.
When the results arrived, I sat alone for several minutes.
Four years.
Four birthdays.
Four Christmas mornings.
Hundreds of ordinary days I could never recover.
I had missed her first words.
Her first steps.
The first time she called someone Daddy.
But I could be present now.
I called Grace.
“The results came.”
She was quiet.
“I know.”
“Thank you for telling me the truth.”
Her voice trembled.
“I wanted you to know her.”
“I want to know both of you.”
She didn’t answer immediately.
Then she said, “Nathan, we can’t go back to what we were.”
“I know.”
“Too much happened.”
“I know.”
I looked at Lily’s drawing on my desk.
“But I’d like us to decide what happens next without my father or Victoria deciding for us.”
Grace was silent for a moment.
Then she said, “I’d like that too.”
The investigation into the Bennett family’s involvement continued.
Margaret uncovered a payment authorization from Charles Cole’s office dated shortly before Grace disappeared.
It had been approved for a legal settlement concerning an unnamed former household employee.
Grace insisted she had never received money.
The banking records showed the funds had been transferred to an account controlled by Robert Bennett’s legal office.
That didn’t prove Robert had personally kept the money.
But it raised a serious question.
Where had the funds gone?
Margaret requested the underlying settlement documents.
Robert’s attorneys initially resisted.
Then an independent review revealed that no signed settlement agreement from Grace existed in the file.
The payment had been authorized.
The money had moved.
But Grace had never agreed to the arrangement.
I stared at the report.
“My father thought he was paying her to leave.”
Margaret nodded.
“That’s one possibility. We still need to establish what he knew.”
“And Robert controlled the account.”
“Yes.”
I thought about the forged letter.
The threats.
Victoria’s visit to Grace’s apartment.
For the first time, I wondered whether my father had known the full extent of what Robert was doing.
Two days later, Margaret called with another discovery.
“Nathan, I found a confidential instruction attached to your father’s estate records.”
“What kind of instruction?”
“It names Robert Bennett as the person responsible for handling any future claim involving Grace or a child connected to her.”
I went still.
“My father knew she might be pregnant?”
“The language suggests he considered that possibility.”
I stared at the wall.
“He never told me.”
“No.”
“Did he know Lily had been born?”
“We haven’t established that.”
I closed my eyes.
Charles had spent his life controlling everything around him.
His company.
His household.
His son’s future.
Even after his death, his decisions were still reaching into my life.
But one thing was clear.
Robert Bennett had known enough to anticipate a claim involving Grace’s child.
And Victoria had known enough to seek Grace out.
Neither had told me.
Then Grace received a call from the police.
A complaint had been filed alleging that she intended to take Lily out of the country without notifying me.
Grace called me in tears.
“Nathan, I haven’t planned any trip.”
“I know.”
“They’re saying I’m trying to disappear with her.”
“Who filed the complaint?”
“The officer wouldn’t tell me.”
I contacted Margaret immediately.
She advised Grace to cooperate with the authorities and provide documentation showing Lily’s residence and circumstances.
The complaint was investigated.
No evidence supported the allegation.
Grace had not booked international travel.
She had not applied for new travel documents for Lily.
And she had not attempted to conceal the child from me.
The complaint was closed without action against her.
But the timing frightened me.
Someone was still trying to make Grace look dishonest.
Someone still wanted me to believe she was capable of taking Lily away.
I asked Margaret to preserve every relevant communication.
Then I requested that she examine whether the complaint had any connection to the Bennett family’s representatives.
I would not accuse anyone without evidence.
But I was no longer willing to ignore the pattern.
The next morning, Margaret arrived at my office carrying a sealed envelope.
She placed it on my desk.
“I found this in your father’s private safe.”
I looked at it.
The paper had yellowed slightly.
Across the front were four handwritten words.
For Nathan, Before Marriage.
I stared at my father’s handwriting.
“Was this meant for Victoria?”
Margaret shook her head.
“The envelope was sealed five years ago.”
I looked up.
“Five years?”
“Yes.”
That was before Victoria and I became engaged.
Before Charles died.
Before I knew Lily existed.
I turned the envelope over.
The seal was intact.
“Why wasn’t it given to me?”
“Your father instructed that it be held until you announced a marriage. It appears the instruction was overlooked during the estate transition.”
I stared at it.
My father had prepared a letter for the day I planned to marry.
And he had written it during the same period Grace disappeared.
I broke the seal.
Inside was a handwritten letter and a copy of a legal memorandum.
I unfolded the letter.
Nathan,
If you’re reading this, you’re preparing to marry.
Before you sign any agreement joining the Cole family assets to another family, you need to know what I did.
I stopped.
My hands began trembling.
Margaret waited silently.
I continued.
I interfered in your relationship with Grace. I believed I was protecting the company and your future. I was wrong.
I swallowed.
My father had never admitted being wrong about anything important.
The letter continued.
Robert Bennett assured me that Grace would accept a settlement and leave quietly. I authorized the payment.
Later, I discovered that the documents did not contain her signature.
I looked up.
“Margaret…”
She nodded.
“Keep reading.”
I confronted Robert. He insisted the matter had been handled. I did not believe him.
I began reviewing the agreements between our families. Some gave the Bennett interests more control than I intended.
I revised my estate plan to protect any biological descendant you might have, whether known or unknown at the time.
My eyes filled.
My father had suspected.
Perhaps he had never known about Lily.
But he had known there might be a child.
And he had changed the trust.
I read the final paragraph.
If you choose to marry, make certain no one uses that marriage to weaken the rights of your children. Do not sign a restructuring agreement until independent counsel has reviewed every provision.
I cannot undo what I did to Grace. But I can leave you the means to prevent the next mistake.
Your father.
I lowered the letter.
For a long time, I couldn’t speak.
My father had caused the first separation.
But before his death, he had begun to recognize what he had done.
He had left a warning.
Not because he knew Victoria would become my fiancée.
Because he feared the Bennett family’s influence could eventually endanger anyone with a claim to the Cole estate.
Margaret examined the memorandum attached to the letter.
It identified several provisions in the proposed family asset structure that required independent review.
Some were the same provisions Robert had included in the new agreement.
I looked at her.
“Robert knew my father objected.”
“It appears so.”
“And he kept pushing the arrangement after Charles died.”
“Yes.”
I thought about Victoria.
She had spoken about our wedding as though it were the most important event in our lives.
But every discussion about the ceremony eventually returned to the family agreement.
The signing.
The consolidation.
The future of the Cole and Bennett holdings.
Now I understood why Lily’s existence had frightened her.
A child with independent rights under the trust could complicate the restructuring.
And Grace was the person who could establish Lily’s identity.
Victoria hadn’t attacked Grace because of a simple personal grudge.
She had been trying to keep a truth from reaching me.
A truth that threatened the financial arrangement her family wanted.
The final confrontation with Robert Bennett took place in my attorney’s office.
I refused to meet him privately.
Margaret attended.
So did independent counsel reviewing the trust.
Robert arrived looking irritated.
“Nathan, this has gone far enough.”
I placed my father’s letter on the table.
“Have you seen this?”
Robert glanced at it.
His expression changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“From my father’s safe.”
He looked toward Margaret.
She said nothing.
I continued.
“Charles discovered Grace never signed the settlement.”
Robert leaned back.
“That was years ago.”
“Where did the money go?”
“It was handled through our legal office.”
“Grace never received it.”
Robert looked at me.
“You’re relying on her word.”
“And the absence of any signed agreement. And the bank records.”
He said nothing.
I placed the proposed restructuring documents beside the letter.
“My father also warned me about these provisions.”
Robert’s jaw tightened.
“Charles became overly suspicious near the end of his life.”
“Did you tell him the settlement was completed?”
Robert looked away.
I waited.
Finally, he said, “I told him the matter had been resolved.”
“But it hadn’t.”
Robert didn’t answer.
I leaned forward.
“Did Victoria know about Lily?”
He stared at me.
“Ask my daughter.”
“I did.”
Robert looked toward the door.
I continued.
“Grace says Victoria visited her apartment. Victoria attacked Grace when she came to see me. The security footage confirms the assault.”
Robert’s expression hardened.
“I won’t discuss my daughter without her attorney.”
“Then don’t.”
I stood.
“The restructuring is canceled. Your family will not gain control of those assets through my marriage.”
Robert rose sharply.
“You’ll regret this.”
I looked at him.
“I already regret trusting you.”
The evidence concerning the settlement and business arrangements was referred for appropriate legal review.
Robert’s role in the missing payment and the representations made to Charles became the subject of further proceedings.
Victoria faced consequences for attacking Grace, supported by the preserved security footage and witness statements.
The investigation did not depend on Lily explaining what she had seen.
She was four years old.
She had already been frightened enough.
I wanted her to feel safe.
Not responsible for proving what adults had done.
The marriage never took place.
The Cole-Bennett restructuring was abandoned.
Margaret helped ensure that Lily’s potential rights under the family trust were properly examined and protected through the legal process.
And Grace received independent legal advice about her own interests and Lily’s future.
For the first time, no one connected to the Bennett family was making those decisions for us.
Grace’s shoulder healed gradually.
The first weeks were difficult.
She couldn’t lift Lily comfortably.
She struggled with ordinary tasks.
I arranged help, but I learned quickly that offering money wasn’t the same as being present.
Sometimes Grace needed me to take Lily to the park.
Sometimes she needed someone to bring groceries.
Sometimes she needed me to listen without trying to solve everything.
We began learning how to be parents together.
Not as the people we had been five years earlier.
As the people we were now.
One evening, Lily asked if I could read her a bedtime story.
I sat beside her.
She climbed under the blanket and held out a book.
Halfway through, she interrupted.
“Daddy?”
I stopped reading.
“Yes?”
“Are you going to marry Victoria?”
I felt a sharp ache in my chest.
“No, sweetheart.”
“Why?”
“Because she hurt Mommy. And because we weren’t going to be happy together.”
Lily thought about that.
“Will Mommy be okay?”
I looked toward the doorway.
Grace stood there, her shoulder supported by a light brace.
I smiled.
“We’re going to help her get better.”
Lily nodded.
Then she reached for my hand.
“Okay.”
I finished the story while she slowly fell asleep.
Months later, I stood in the same kitchen where everything had changed.
The marble floor had been cleaned.
The broken silence had been replaced by ordinary household sounds.
Lily sat at the island, drawing butterflies.
Grace stood beside her, helping choose colors.
Mr. Wilson brought in a plate of sliced apples.
Lily looked up.
“Daddy, come see!”
I walked toward her.
She held up a picture.
Three people stood beneath a bright yellow sun.
One wore a blue dress.
One wore a black suit.
The smallest had long brown hair.
I smiled.
“That’s beautiful.”
She pointed at each figure.
“Mommy. Me. You.”
Grace looked at the drawing.
Her eyes filled.
I turned toward her.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“I’m just glad she gets to do this.”
“Draw pictures?”
Grace smiled through her tears.
“Draw her family without being afraid.”
I looked at Lily.
Then at Grace.
For years, I had believed my future depended on protecting the company my father left me.
But the most important thing he’d left behind wasn’t the estate.
It was a warning that helped me recognize how badly our family had treated someone I loved.
I couldn’t give Grace back the years she spent raising Lily alone.
I couldn’t recover the birthdays I’d missed.
And I couldn’t erase the day Victoria hurt them.
But I could make sure the people who had tried to separate us no longer controlled our lives.
Lily held out a yellow crayon.
“Daddy, you forgot the sunshine.”
I took it.
Then I sat beside my daughter and helped her finish the picture.
