“Do you ever regret having me?”
The question was so quiet that Emma almost wished she had not heard it.
She moved to the chair beside her daughter and took both her hands.
“Listen to me, Sophie. I regret the things adults did that hurt us. I regret being frightened and confused when I should have been protected. I regret the years when I believed I had to be strong every minute of every day.”
She paused, fighting back tears.
“But I have never regretted you. Not once. You were never the mistake. You were a child who deserved love, safety, and a future. And I loved you from the moment I held you.”
Sophie leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her mother.
For a long time, neither of them spoke.
Then Sophie whispered, “I know.”
On the evening of Sophie’s eighteenth birthday, their little home filled with laughter.
