Then one afternoon, Sophie came rushing into the kitchen.
She was holding a letter.
“Mum!”
Emma looked up from the vegetables she was preparing.
“What happened?”
“I got in!”
For a moment, Emma did not understand.
Then she saw the university letterhead.
Her eyes widened.
“You got in?”
“Yes!”
Sophie jumped up and down.
Emma dropped the kitchen towel and threw her arms around her daughter.
They laughed.
They cried.
They read the acceptance letter together several times.
Then Sophie called Marta.
Emma ordered takeaway food, opened the windows, and played music while they celebrated.
It was an ordinary family celebration.
But to Emma, it felt extraordinary.
Eighteen years earlier, she had stood beside a hospital cot wondering how she would manage the next day.
Now she was watching her daughter prepare to enter university.
Not because every challenge had disappeared.
Not because their lives had been free from pain.
