Chapter 16
Spring came with rain, court orders, and tiny green leaves on the school trees.
Mia practiced for the recital every afternoon.
She played Princess Rosalind again.
This time, she asked Mrs. Bell to add one line.
“A real princess protects herself too.”
Mrs. Bell said yes immediately.
Daniel came to rehearsals when Mia allowed it.
He sat in the back.
No phone.
No excuses.
After rehearsal, he asked if she wanted ice cream.
Sometimes she said yes.
Sometimes no.
He accepted both.
That was parenting now.
Accepting no without injury.
I watched him learn it slowly.
One evening, he walked me to my car.
“I sold the house,” he said.
The house he shared with Vanessa.
“Good.”
“I bought a smaller place near the school. Mia can help choose her room if she ever wants to stay overnight again.”
“If she ever wants,” I repeated.
He nodded.
“I mean that.”
I believed he wanted to mean it.
That was not the same as trust.
But it was something.
Vanessa violated probation in May by posting about Mia online without using her name.
The judge recognized the reference.
Back to jail for thirty days.
Protective order extended.
Mia heard from a classmate.
She came home quiet.
“People still talk.”
“Yes.”
“Will they always?”
“Some people get bored. Some people learn.”
She nodded.
“I don’t want to be the girl with the ripped dress forever.”
“You are not.”
“What am I?”
I smiled.
“Mia Carter. Pancake critic. Cape designer. Princess Rosalind. My daughter.”
She smiled a little.
“And brave?”
“Yes.”
She looked down.
“I don’t feel brave all the time.”
“Brave people rarely do.”
At the recital, she walked onstage in the repaired dress.
The audience clapped before she spoke.
Mia lifted her chin.
“I am Princess Rosalind,” she said, “and I protect the kingdom. I protect myself too.”
I cried.
May you like
Daniel cried.
This time, Mia smiled.
