Freedom To Eat

The raven-haired beauty stepped outside of the San Antonio airport and shivered. It was cold in America still, she'd forgotten about that. In Australia, it was the end of Summer in the month of February. Her brown eyes scanned the parked cars and smiled when her mother pulled up to the pick-up lane, waving frantically.

As her mother screeched to a halt and hurried out of the car she was laughing breathlessly. "I'm so sorry Katya, I missed the turn for the inbound flights - twice!" The almost 27-year-old woman rolled her eyes and laughed with her mother, hurrying to her open arms to wrap her mom in a huge hug.

"And you say I am geographically challenged?" She snorted, returning the tight squeeze in the embrace. Seeing her mother, feeling her arms around her was stirring powerful emotions - emotions she hadn't felt in a long time. Joy, wholeness. Her mother had always been her best friend and rock - how could she not be? Katya's father wanted nothing to do with her, and her mother had been her only parent from a relatively young age.

She was glad to be home, and her mother's warm embrace broke the dam that Katya had worked so hard to build up inside her heart. Tears flooded and burned her eyes as she clung to her mother, burying her face into her shoulder and giving in to the sobs that wracked her body. Silence fell over the two women as they hugged, her mother stroking Katya's hair gently as her daughter unloaded the loneliness and hurt, right there in the airport parking lot.

"You're home, baby." She whispered. "You're safe, you're home. I got you, baby girl. Mama always got you." After a while, the tears stemmed, and Katya looked up, eyes red and bleary.

"I got snot on you. Sorry." She sniffled and her mother couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"It's not the first time baby! It won't be the last!" She guffawed, hugging her daughter once more. "I have a question for you. When was the last time you had cake?" She asked her daughter, a big mischievous grin crossing her beautiful face.

Katya gasped, eyes widening. It had been over a year. Her husband in Australia didn't allow her to eat sweets. Or anything with carbs. Or sugar. Or gluten. Katya had an endocrine imbalance - Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It caused her body to hold on to weight, and her husband did not like that. While Katya was plump, and thick in all the right places according to many, her husband found her disgusting. He often left her at home alone to go do things with others - being ashamed of his 'obese' wife.

So Katya followed his rules, though little they did to help. It had been a long time since she'd been allowed simple indulgences. She shook her head though, her face falling. "Mom… you know I can't have that…" The wistfulness in her voice was blatant as they loaded her luggage in the boot of the car, and loaded themselves into the front seat… but not before Katya ended up going to the wrong side of the car for the passenger seat.

"Says who? Your 'husband?'" Katya's mother responded furiously. "You left him. You're not with him anymore Katya. You can do whatever the hell you want. So that means, we are going to go and have some cake. We deserve cake. It's the first time in two years I've seen you. WE ARE HAVING CAKE." The older woman said sternly, striking chords of emotions in her daughter's stomach and heart.

"Okay, mom…" Katya said quietly in the passenger seat. It was true. She had left him. She didn't have to follow those rules anymore. It was a bittersweet feeling, but the guilt still surged through her nonetheless. It was programmed - she couldn't help it. The only thing she saw in the mirror when she looked into it now was a fat, disgusting, disappointment. Her husband made sure that she knew that was exactly what she was.

As they drove, her mother pulled off onto an exit, and they got out at a cute bakery at the edge of town. She was continuously talking, updating her about Katya's siblings, and the rest of the family. Katya was lost in the gossip, laughing and reacting to the latest gossip and news on everyone. When they walked into the bakery, the smell of fresh cakes and pastries hit her nose, and she could feel her mouth immediately begin to salivate.

"Oh wow." She gasped as her eyes took in rows of decorated cakes of all sorts. Cakes topped with berries, and chocolate shavings, pies, cookies, and cupcakes with beautiful designs. They were beautiful and memories of baking with her aunt in California flooded her memory. She had forgotten how beautiful cakes could be - and even forgotten how fun it was to make them by scratch and decorate them with love.

Tears filled her eyes - but this time it was tears of joy. Feelings and things she had forgotten flooded her mind, and she grinned up at her mom.

"Okay. This was a great idea."

"I know! I am ALWAYS right." Her mother said smugly, gesturing. "What cake are we eating? How many pieces do you want?" She asked with excitement, and Katya laughed.

"Let's start with one for now okay, Mrs. Diabetes? And let's make it that huge, double-decker chocolate cake with chocolate shavings on top." Katya said with finality. 

"Good choice daughter. Good choice."