𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 (𝐖𝐋𝐖)

𝟏𝟏

Before she could finish her sentence, she burst into tears once again.

Though, I didn't need to hear more.

I got all of the information I needed.

Mrs. Ruby and I would be having a conversation very soon.

What teacher goes around telling a six year old that their parents are "inappropriate" just because of their gender. I'm so sick of people who can't seem to gather the human decency to realize that same sex relationships aren't an issue. Humans should be able to love someone who shares the same gender as them without receiving backlash or being called degrading names. It's such a sad thing to witness that parents are going around putting false information into their children's heads — telling them who they can't be can't love. Saying such fucked up things like that causes a kid to become confused about not only themselves but the world in general as they grow up.

I took a shaky breath as I eased my nerves, forcing myself to think of something other than Mrs. Ruby's stupidity.

All of a sudden it had hit me that Ariella had referred to Iris as her mother.

A chuckle left my mouth and Ariella looked at me with confusion.

"I'm sorry, stellina. It's just that you consider Iris your mamma?"

She nodded with slight hesitance, "Moms are supposed to care for you, and Iris cares for me all the time. That makes her my mamma right?"

I stared at her in silence.

Her definition of a mother wasn't entirely wrong, if not at all. However, I didn't know how to answer her question. Iris and I's relationship hasn't developed that far as of yet, so I'm not sure how comfortable she is with being considered as Ariella's mother.

'What should I say?'

A throat cleared, forcing Ariella and I's heads to turn to Iris who stood leaning against the opening to the living area.

"How much did you hear?" I questioned.

"Enough." she smiled before making eye contact with Ariella, "It's more than okay to have two moms. There is no guidebook to life that anyone is bound to follow. You could have two moms or two dads and still receive the same amount of love that any child gets because love is love. Ignore anyone that tells you any different. As for the 'Mamma,' I'm whatever you want me to be."

Ariella grinned and hopped out of my lap to run towards Iris, hugging her legs like she'd done the first time she met her.

'Thank you.' I mouthed to the brunette.

'You're welcome.' she mouthed back.

After the two finished with their hug, Iris looked at us both with a certain excited glint in her eyes, "So, I just made chocolate chip cookies and hot cocoa . . . and was wondering if you guys wanted to decorate for Christmas."

"Yes!" Ariella squealed loudly.

I watched with loving eyes as my daughter dragged Iris to the room that contained all of our seasonal decorations.