Ashley returned home after laying her eight-year-old daughter Lily to rest, drowning in grief and exhaustion. The funeral had been a blur of muffled condolences, tearful embraces, and a hollow ache that no words could ease; the silence was unbearable because Lily’s laughter had been absent, and every step felt heavier, the weight of loss pressing down on her soul. However, as Ashley approached her backyard, she noticed something unexpected: a large, vibrantly colored tent, its red and yellow stripes stark against the grayness of her sorrow. She was confused, wondering who had placed it there and why.
She cautiously slid the tent flap back and looked inside. A little, enigmatic bundle lay in the middle of the low light. As distressing memories of Lily’s hospital bed flashed across her mind, her heart raced and panic tightened around her chest. The package, however, moved.
With its loving eyes meeting Ashley’s, a small golden retriever puppy wriggled free and waggled its tail. Something that she believed had died with Lily sparked inside her as the puppy trotted toward her. A glimmer of warmth. A glimmer of hope.
Ashley is overcome with emotion and questions why and by whom the dog may have been abandoned there. Her fingertips graze an envelope hidden under the blanket as she tenderly caresses its silky fur. She picks it up with shaking hands and gently unfolds the note inside.
She recognizes the familiar, childlike handwriting—Lily’s—and her breath catches in her throat.
The letter is straightforward but insightful. In it, Lily expresses her desire to leave her mother a gift that will make her smile once more. She reveals that she knew how much Ashley would miss her after she went to paradise, so she had persuaded her father to get her a puppy.
Ashley has a new wave of pain as she reads the note, but she also feels an overpowering sense of love. Even in her last moments, Lily had been considering ways to alleviate her mother’s suffering rather than herself.
In the days that follow, Daisy turns into Ashley’s comforting presence—a small, cozy reminder that she is not alone. Nothing could ever take Lily’s place, but the puppy gives Ashley a reason to get out of bed in the morning and encourages her to find happiness even in the middle of grief.