But because, for the very first time, all of them had finally seen her.
Truly seen her.
When the music faded, she ran across the floor in her silver heels and threw her arms around my neck.
“Mom,” she whispered, laughing and crying at the same time, “they know me now.”
I held her as tightly as I had on all those nights she’d cried herself to sleep.
“Yes, sweetheart,” I whispered.
And for the first time in a very long time, I truly believed it.
“They finally do.”
