Prom wasn’t in the cards for me—at least, not according to my stepmother, Madison. When her daughter Ashley got a $3,000 dream dress and I asked if I could go too, Madison laughed me off. “One daughter in the spotlight is enough,” she said, without even looking up. But I didn’t argue. I called the one person Madison tried to erase—my grandmother, Sylvie. By the next morning, I was at her door. She handed me a garment bag and a slice of cake. Inside?

My late mother’s prom dress—champagne satin, soft and strong, like her. We tailored it together between sips of tea. Her neighbor, Francine, did my hair and makeup with vintage tools and older magic. I arrived at prom quietly, wearing legacy, not labels. Madison, chaperoning, froze when she saw me. Ashley shrank beside her, unsure. Then,

something unexpected happened: I was crowned Prom Queen. Not because I was popular—but because my sketch, auctioned for thousands, was being used to restore the school pool. That was the real crown. Back home, Madison raged. My dad, finally seeing clearly, stood up. Within a week,

he filed for divorce. We moved out together. Months later, Ashley approached me in a bookstore. “I didn’t know,” she said. I nodded. That was enough. A year later, I got a full scholarship. On move-in day, I set my mom’s photo on my dorm desk—her in that same dress, smiling. Madison didn’t get the last word. Grace did.