Hope

She looked so vulnerable sitting in the coffee shop drinking her hot chocolate. It had been a while since they'd seen each other and their relationship had been somewhat restrained. Sarah paid for her Grande Skinny Latte and carried it over to the table. Her daughter looked up at her almost sheepishly.

"Hi" she said, in a small voice.

"Hi!" Sarah replied, shocked by how cheerful she sounded. This was not a time to be cheerful, but her motherly instinct kicked in automatically which made her want to protect and look after her daughter. She needed to be honest about her feelings though.

After exchanging the usual niceties about college and work, it was time to talk about the real issue.

Sarah took a large gulp of her coffee in an effort to compose herself and began.

"You really hurt me know."

For a moment there was a flash of what looked like anger across the young girls face. But as quick as it appeared, it was gone and the girl remained silent.

"I know you were angry and I admit I was in the wrong, but I want to try and explain things to you." Sarah paused for a second to give her child chance to respond but again she said nothing. Sarah continued, "I was in a really dark place, I made some silly mistakes. I went the wrong way about somethings and it definitely shouldn't have come out the way it did bu.."

At this moment, her daughter interjected. "Mum, its okay, stop. You don't have to explain." She looked at her mother with her big, beautiful, brown eyes. They were wide, as if they were searching Sarah's soul for the unspoken answers. The were sad, innocent eyes. Lonely eyes. Sarah had never wanted to hold her daughter as much as she did in that moment. Instead, she took another sip of her latte, which had started to cool.

Her daughter carried on. "When you told me what you'd done, I was angry and I didn't know how to reacted. I know you were going through some things and looking back, I knew how unhappy you were. But I didn't know what to do, how to act or even how I should feel about it, so I just lashed out. I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry too!" said Sarah as tears filled her eyes. "I don't blame you for getting angry, I'd have been angry too. And you're right, I was deeply unhappy back then. But I'm in a much better place now" Sarah smiled, "I've got a long way to go, but I'm finally on the right track.

A solitary tear ran down Sarah's face but she made no attempt to wipe it away. Some how it seemed right not to. She didn't want to hide her vulnerability from her daughter any longer. That's what had got her into this mess in the first place.

For the first time in three months the two women smiled at each other. Sarah grabbed the sweet young girls hands and squeezed them in hers. The tears fell freely on both sets of cheeks this time as their bond began to mend.

This was a bond that could never really be broken, the two women had a deep connection that could never be broken. No amount of cross words and slammed doors could undo the knot that bound these two souls together. Right in that moment, Sarah understood that this, the love between a mother and her child, was the real love story. This was the real fairy tale ending. For there would never be another living being that Sarah could give her whole heart to the way she did to her daughter. This was the greatest love of her life.