“Are you going to be alright here, my sweet girl?” I asked, the old name slipping out before I could stop it.

Caroline looked at her desk, then out at the mountains rising in the distance.

“I have everything I need, Mom,” she said.

She turned to me, and for the first time in a very long time, she wrapped her single arm around my neck and held me tight.

I held her back, feeling the strength in her spine and the steady, quiet beat of her heart.

The truth had been a hard, sharp thing, but it had cleared away the weeds.

What remained was solid ground, and Caroline was already building her own way forward.