“Does this mean I get to call you my stepmom?”
I turned toward her.
“If you’re comfortable with that,” I said gently.
She hesitated.
“I think I’d like that.”
I smiled and opened my arms.
She stepped forward, and I hugged her.
She was stiff at first, as though she wasn’t accustomed to being welcomed without having to earn it. Then her arms tightened around me.
For a moment, the three of us stood together in the middle of the living room, surrounded by Mark’s scattered belongings and the remains of my terrible misunderstanding.
It wasn’t the perfect family moment I had imagined when I was younger.
There were complicated histories, difficult conversations, and wounds that would take time to heal.
But there was also a young girl who needed a safe place to land, a man who had finally faced his fears, and a woman who was learning that life could still surprise her.
