Money was always tight. Clara picked up extra shifts, sometimes falling asleep at the kitchen table with bills spread out before her. But Emily never went hungry, never lacked warmth. Neighbors whispered admiration at how one woman alone could carry so much, but Clara never thought of it as a burden. She thought of it as grace.
Years blurred into milestones. Emily’s first steps, her lopsided drawings taped to the fridge, her stubborn insistence on reading bedtime stories aloud herself. Each moment deepened the thread between them until Clara could no longer remember life without Emily’s laughter echoing through it.