My half-sister Alyssa always had a way of making people feel small. Even at our father’s funeral, while everyone else spoke softly and avoided eye contact, she stood tall and confident—already certain of what she believed she deserved.
When the will was read, her confidence turned into a smirk.
She inherited ninety thousand dollars. I inherited Dad’s cactus.
Alyssa actually laughed. “I have kids,” she said casually, as if explaining something obvious. “You’re forty-two and didn’t give him a legacy. The plant can keep you company.”
I didn’t argue. I didn’t cry in front of her either. I just nodded, took the cactus, and went home.
That night, I cried quietly on my kitchen floor, the cactus sitting on the table like a silent witness. I felt dismissed—not just by Alyssa, but by life itself. Still, that plant mattered to me. My dad had kept it for years, watering it carefully, moving it into the sun every morning. It felt like the last piece of him I could still touch.
So I cared for it. I talked to it. I treated it gently, the way he always had.
Three days later, Alyssa called.
Her tone was different—tight, rushed. “Hey… listen, I’ve been thinking. That cactus would look really nice in my living room. As décor. I’ll come get it.”
The request felt wrong. Sudden. Desperate. I told her no.
She hung up without saying goodbye.
Nine weeks passed. Life settled into a quiet routine again—until one afternoon, when I decided to repot the cactus. As I loosened the soil, my fingers brushed against something hard at the bottom of the pot.
It wasn’t a rock.
It was a small USB drive, sealed carefully in plastic.
My hands shook as I plugged it into my laptop. Inside were documents—investment accounts, passwords, statements. My dad had quietly built a portfolio worth over four hundred thousand dollars.
Then I saw the video.
He looked tired, but his eyes were warm. “I am so proud of you,” he said softly. “We didn’t always agree, but I have always admired the strong, kind woman you became. These investments are my gift to you and your future. No one knows about them. I kept them secret so you would learn to stand on your own—and you did. I love you. Always.”
That was when Alyssa’s sudden interest made sense.
But the money wasn’t what saved me.
That video did.
Whenever doubt creeps in, whenever I feel small again, I watch it—and I remember that I was loved.
