“Yes. She was scared, but she kept going, Ash. She said you gave her hope.”
Ashley pressed another cookie, her voice soft. “Did you ever meet them?”
“No, baby. They never wanted to see her after that. She stayed at the shelter for a while before I met her. That’s why it was always so important to her. The people there were her first family—before me.”
Ashley frowned. “I don’t get it. I’d never turn away my family. I just want people at the shelter to feel like they belong, Dad. Like we belong.”
“You’ve got your mom’s heart. You know that, right?”
She gave me a tiny smile and carefully arranged the cookies.
