“Childless women get looked at with pity. It was always our fault, and rarely the men’s. When I birthed you, I knew my prayers had finally given me a miracle. I threw myself into being a mother and it gave me the greatest joy I’d ever known.” The memories still soothed my soul and helped me sleep at night. My perfect daughter, from her first pull at my breast to her first steps. Her joy and her stubbornness to make something out of her life. Her adoration of her father and her focused ambition to garner the highest grades in the school. I soon became a noose around her neck, chaining her to me and restricting her precious freedom. No wonder we’d battled so hard and so often. I couldn’t let her go because she was all I had.

Not her fault. I saw that now. But I was just a woman who made my own mistakes.

“My second regret was the mistakes I made raising you. I know I clung too hard. Tried to direct you in the ways I wanted. I didn’t want to lose you, Frannie. It was like you were born to be free, and the time you depended on me was so fleeting. I just kept wanting . . . more.”

Suddenly, she got up from her chair and came around to sit beside me, laying her head on my shoulder. I treasured her closeness and stroked back her hair, studying the angles and shadows of her strong, beautiful face.

“There was so much I didn’t know about you and Daddy, because I never asked. I was wrapped up in my own world.”

“Sweetheart, that’s how it always is with a child and parent. It’s part of the cycle. We swear we’ll never be like our mothers, but after enough time and experience pass, you realize we’re all the same. Doing our best. Making mistakes. Pushing forward. Right now, Allegra’s struggling to be her own person and force you to listen, but it’s difficult to step back and allow her those awful mistakes. Because in the end, you just want her to be like you.” I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Or not.”

She sucked in a breath as if my words stunned her. “I just want to be a good mom,” she said softly. “Allegra doesn’t have to be like me. But I realized I made a big mistake, Mom. All those years growing up, I thought Daddy was the one really in charge. He made the money and had this big career. He had interesting friends and travel and seemed like this big-time celebrity to me, ready to play and have fun. You seemed boring. Always fussing and getting in my way. Your world was us, and I swore I’d never be that. I wanted so much more.”