Page 35 of With the Key in the Office

The speeches stayed short. No one lost focus. Which, with this crowd, was an achievement worth a newsletter headline.

Jessie stepped up, pages in hand, confident in a way that made me proud just watching her. The teacher’s robes fit her, and so did the responsibility. She didn’t clear her throat or tap the mic. She just raised her chin and started calling names.

First from our trio. Jaylyn with hunched shoulders, hands tight, trying not to cry. She gave up as soon as Jessie called her name. Full tears down both cheeks. You had to love the honesty. She crossed to the dais and took her diploma.

Robbie’s turn next. He squeezed my hand, steady, no dramatics, as if managing a hardware store full of angry customers. When Jessie called him, the cheers went up, with my voice maybe the loudest.

Robbie took his ribboned diploma from Beth and bowed.

Then, finally, me.

I stepped up, every cell in my body screaming that this was a dream sequence. The bunting. The orbs. Jessie’s proud smile behind the podium. The crowd going misty. For three seconds, I stared at the stage, unable to move.

Then I found Emily in the crowd. I’d finally been allowed to tell her everything. She’d taken it like a champ and immediately wanted to know when she could be a godmother.

Front row, right in the sunshine, hair loose and shining, eyes wide. She had her phone up, and she was both crying and laughing. Sob-laughing. Big, messy, and beautiful.

Something inside me clicked into place.

I belonged here. I belonged with the magic and the rules and even the accidental honeysuckle explosions. But more than that, I belonged out there, too. Among the students, the friends, the real world. A Godmother.

I walked the steps, heart steady, and met Jessie’s gaze. She waited with a small, quiet smile, the kind that said she saw more than she let on.

“Cendi Ault,” she announced. “Godmother, gardener, and fixer of things most people never notice.”

Jessie placed the ribboned diploma across my palms. The moment had weight, and warmth, and strangely no panic at all.

It was just right.