Firstly- Wow, what an opening! The "best part of waking up, is Tabitha* in your lap". (Think Folger's jingle)
Secondly- Boooo, to the ending.
A lot of people bring up good points- the biggest issue, is changing the nature/dynamic/relationship with the "D" character- it creates issues such as these.
Real D - Cecilia has no claim/rights.
Buddy/Roomie/Childhood Friend (which is creepy if you stop and do that math) - The MC has no claim/rights.
- The oddest thing is- WHY would you wait 18 years to finally track down your own niece? So, this just doesn't make a great deal of sense in any context.
- We know that Lanie came from money, so it's not a stretch that her sister would as well.
- The MC didn't go underground or off the grid (as far as we know), so Cecilia could have tried to find the D/Niece at any time.
- The MC never met any of Lanie's family/saw pictures(?)- (If you go the D route)- otherwise, I guess it could/would make sense.
- The D/Niece is old enough to make her own decisions- even if Cecilia was supposed to be her legal guardian if something happened to Lanie- her ward is an adult now and would nullify any of her rights. Plus a judge may wonder why it took you almost 2 decades to take custody of her...
In a way I feel bad for Palmer- not only did he have to change his original vision, but the P-Witch-hunt has forced him to tweak this idea to try and keep all parties concerned content. In their universe- this story might make a little more sense and have some type of cohesion. However, the story for those of us that are slightly deranged and perverted (*raises both hands) this story has created causality loops and/or paradoxes that are going to be a lot harder to resolve (or at the very least make any kind of logical sense). I will say that I think Palmer is a great writer/storyteller, judging from his previous releases- and I don't know how he managed to paint himself into this corner (yeah, I do- the "powers that be" stapled the brush to his hand), but I'm fairly confident that he will find someway to get himself out this seemingly impossible conundrum.
(Fingers X'd)
*That's what I call her, feel free to substitute the name that you use into the song- it should still work.