the dependence

the light is coming

Years went by, happy years in which Carol and I slowly built up our much desired family;
The pregnancy proceeded perfectly, from which a magnificent baby girl was born.
This was simply a blessing for us since no one was available to let us adopt a child so a doctor in the hospital finally, thanks to an anonymous donor, helped us in this undertaking which has now been going on for a long time.
When the baby was born we kept thinking about her name; we wanted something special, which would have made a difference, would have made this girl even more special than she already was, we did not want those classic and common baby girl names that were now also taken for granted for girls, so, after several days of thinking for the perfect name to give to a newborn, we decided to call her Cate.
We were very happy, finally having to define ourselves as mothers made everything different, even if Rindy never showed up again, I knew that Carol couldn't replace her family and I certainly didn't want her to do it, I just wanted to build something exclusively ours with the woman I loved, something that would have been special to us and may made Carol feel happy, loved and accomplished, since the thought of being a terrible mother tormented her daily.
The years go by quickly Cate grew up perfectly, a very intelligent and understanding child who immediately seemed to understand the difference in her life compared to that of her friends and her schoolmates, this thing made us feel as if there was no need for laps useless words, she understood everything.
One ordinary day I woke up, ready to go to my work, I turn slightly on the bed to see Carol's still sleeping figure holding me protectively with her arms, it was something that left me breathless every day despite so many years had gone by now. After Cate was born we decided to postpone our marriage, honestly I already felt like her wife and people were starting to accept this novelty and even they started referring to us as a married couple. I knew we wouldn't need a ceremony to start our marriage, we had always been married since the beginning, we both knew it. I slowly had to get out of bed in spite of myself, having to free myself from Carol's warm arms without waking her up, not so hard since Carol literally heard nothing of what was going on around while she slept. I took my dressing gown from the wardrobe, trying to be as quiet as possible, I didn't want to disturb for any reason the beautiful woman who was lying asleep in the bed, who seemed so peaceful and calm, the most beautiful view in the whole world, I was mesmerized and speechless. I slowly walked to the window curious to see the snowy landscape outside it, but when I looked out I saw something unusual:
There was a silhouette sitting on the bench outside the street, I could see it from my bedroom window; slowly the strange figure made its way through the cold morning fog making me distinguish Carol's daughter, sitting in the cold of the snow.
'Oh no,' I said and dashed out.
I saw her, she was rubbing her arms quickly to warm up.
'Rindy?' I said walking slightly towards her taking a small frozen breath 'What are you doing here?' I said curious.
'I ... I have lost my home, it's the only place I can stay' she said, I could see the effort in her eyes looking in my direction for the cold, who knows how long she'd been out there in the blizzard, I should have made the hardest decision and let her into the house or something really unpleasant would have happened to her out there.
'Come on, let's go,' I said gently, taking her frozen hand and slowly pushing it towards the door.
I should have explained to Carol the motivation of my behavior without frightening or moving the minds of either of them, I should have made sure that both would be calm and ready for dialogue, otherwise it would have been worse than the first time.
'Come on, sit down, I'll bring you something warm,' I said, closing the door slightly behind myself without making too much noise and wrapped her with the blanket.
She just nodded, she was completely still frozen, I couldn't have left her alone out there in the cold.
'Abby where are you…' I heard carol's voice before she stopped, in that moment I knew she had seen rindy.
I walked to the couch, handing my cup to rindy, and when I turned around,
I immediately noticed Carol's look of shock and confusion.
'Here you go' I said and lightly rubbed the girl's arms to warm her.
'What are you doing here?' Carol said in a robotic voice. I couldn't tell whether or not she was happy with Rindy's presence, but, on the other hand, who could ever leave someone out in that weather.
'I found her out here this morning, completely frozen, so I let her in to warm up,' I said looking in Carol's direction.
'Oh' she just said she looked in the direction of her daughter, almost examining her from the moment they hadn't seen each other for over four years.
'She can stay here until she finds a new home, after all this is her home too 'I said turning to Carol.
'right,' she whispered, almost like a question rather than a statement.
'Mom?' I heard a sleepy voice behind Carol's figure.
Fuck, I forgot, Rindy didn't know about Cate.