That Night, I Asked Her the Truth
That evening, I sat beside Mia.
“Mia, can I ask you something?”
She shrugged.
“Sure.”
“Why did you give away your horseback ride?”
“Someone else wanted it.”
“But you wanted it too.”
She looked at me.
“Yes.”
That one word broke my heart.
“Then why didn’t you go?”
She looked down at the bracelet around her wrist.
“I thought about how much you worked for me to come here.”
I went quiet.
She continued.
“I knew you worked extra Saturdays.”
My throat tightened.
“You knew?”
“I know everything costs money.”
“Mia…”
“You skipped buying new shoes.”
I stared at her.
She had noticed.
“I know Grandma helped with dinners too.”
I sat closer.
“You weren’t supposed to worry about any of that.”
“But I did.”
Then she finally said what she’d been carrying inside.
“I thought if you worked that hard to send me here, I should make it worth it.”
I took both of her hands.
“You did.”
She shook her head.
“I could have worked more. I could clean. I could give things to people who didn’t get them.”
And suddenly, I understood.
I’d thought I was giving my daughter a gift.
She thought I’d given her a debt.
