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they continued to leak. Her mom was in the same boat. She stared at her

with a lopsided smile on her face and her cheeks wet. She’d never looked so

beautiful to Kiera as she did in that moment.

“We’re in this together. All of us,” her mom sobbed. “As a family. We

will always have each other, no matter what. We will always be behind you.

Always. We do love you. More than you could ever know. Not just because

you’re our daughter, but because we’re proud of you. I know you think

we’re hard on you, but it really is just because we worry about you. A lot.

We don’t mean to be critical of you. We’re astounded by all that you’ve

accomplished. Absolutely astounded, and overjoyed, but that doesn’t mean

we’re ever going to stop worrying about you.”

“I know, Mom.” Kiera brushed at her eyes again. “Thank you. I know.”

“I hope you can be patient with us as we learn. We’re bound to stumble

along the way, but we will try. We aren’t going to change how we love you,

but we do need to learn how to support you. I hope that you can be open

about what you need from us.”

Kiera’s throat was so thick all she could do was nod. Her parent’s

reaction astounded her and made her slightly ashamed that she’d allowed

her doubts and thoughts to get so out of control that they dominated her life.

Although, perhaps a few years ago they wouldn’t have understood. They

wouldn’t have been so accepting. When she was a teenager, she doubted

they would have supported her like they were doing now. Now, they

accepted that she was a grown woman who knew her own mind. Maybe she

was wrong about that too. Maybe her parents would have reacted the exact

same way then as they did now. She didn’t want to make judgements or

assumptions anymore. Her assumptions and doubts had caused everyone so

much pain already.

“Can we give you a hug?”

Kiera hated that her mom felt like she had to ask her that. Like she

needed permission. “Yes.” Kiera nodded. “Of course you can.”