But when Grace ran toward me shouting, “Mummy is home!” I realized that I had begun to build something more valuable than the future I once imagined with Daniel.
I had built a life that belonged to me.
One evening, as I tucked Grace into bed, she looked up at me.
“Mummy, are you happy?”
I kissed her forehead.
“Yes, sweetheart.”
“Even when Daddy isn’t here?”
I paused, choosing my words carefully.
“Yes. Because I have you, I have people who love us, and I have a life that I am proud of.”
She smiled sleepily.
“Goodnight, Mummy.”
“Goodnight, my love.”
After she fell asleep, I sat beside her bed and thought about the young woman I had been at twenty-one.
I wished I could travel back in time and tell her that love should never require her to abandon herself. I wished I could tell her that patience was valuable, but patience without honesty could become a prison.
