After my daughter Meredith died in a car accident, I tried to stay close to her six-year-old daughter, Emma. I sent gifts, money, and love, hoping it would help her heal. But after Meredith’s widower, Josh, quickly remarried a woman named Brittany, things began to feel… off. Emma grew quiet. When I visited, she clung to me, whispering that Brittany said she shouldn’t talk about her mother because it made her dad sad. Then Brittany started messaging me directly—asking for money for Emma’s birthday gifts,

school needs, clothes. I always said yes, happy to help. Until Emma told me she’d never received any of it. The Barbie Dreamhouse? Never seen. The sapphire earrings, a tribute to her mother’s birthstone? Brittany was wearing them. My heart broke, but my resolve hardened. I smiled, nodded—and planned. With my health improving, I hosted a birthday party for Emma. Family, friends,