Page 115 of Something Like Sunflowers

My strong-willed wild child stares back at me with eyes full of questions. Ones it’s my job to teach her the answers to. Ones I need to face myself.

Because you can’t just place blame on yourself, sulk, or wonder what would have been. This little girl in my arms is proof enough that you never know what lemons life will throw you…or in this case, what bit of life Lemon will throw at you.

Go figure, Devyn isn’t lucid enough for me to tell her that pun and swat me for how stupid it is, but maybe this is how we come full circle.

Or maybe the circle is never filled because it’s not over. Life isn’t done throwing us curveballs or turning our worlds completely upside down. Fate might have some hold on us, but what we do in the bits in between that fate is what makes us stronger, wiser, braver. And if we’re lucky, it makes us happier.

“Life doesn’t always work out how we might imagine, Ellie.” I wipe her tears and repeat the words spoken to me so long ago, words that held very little meaning until now. “But what we do with that fate is entirely up to us.”

“You really did get spiritual, didn’t you?” a weak voice rasps, and we both jump.

“Devyn!” Ellie shouts, leaping from my lap and wrapping her arms around Devyn’s neck, straddling her. “You’re awake! I knew you’d wake up. I just knew it!”

Her eyes scrape over to meet mine, accompanied by a smile that warms my heart.

She’s okay.

“I heard what you said, too, Ellie.” She runs her hand across Ellie’s cheek, smiling.

“And if I’m your Polly, you, sweet girl, are my Chuck.”

Tears fill their eyes, and even though it’s something I thought I’d never see, both of my girls let them roll freely, willingly.

“Is that all right with you? If I become your mother? If we become a family?”

“Yes!” Ellie shouts, jumping up and down on the bed to the point I have to remove her for Devyn’s safety when an IV pole gets knocked over and the day nurse comes bustling in shouting curses our way.

“Oh, she’s awake! Doctor Bennett!” She turns to us, inclining her head and clicking her tongue. “She needs to be seen by the doctor now, okay? We’ll call you two when she’s clear for visitors.” She smiles impatiently, shooing us out the door.

“Ponygirl,” I call to her before it shuts. “You’re prettier than a princess. You’re a queen.”

She laughs, a slow, weak laugh, but it’s a laugh, nonetheless. A vessel for hope and a new beginning.

And it’s beautiful.

Something like a birdsong or a ride on a midday trail. Like the light on a lake that ripples with the water when your fishing pole gives. Like rain on a summer garden and blossoms on trees.

I look at Ellie, her hands curled around thick, sturdy stems that hold the bravest, brightest flowers in the field, and I smile.

We just needed the right conditions to bloom.

That’s what we are.

Something like sunflowers.

Something like us.

Epilogue

Devyn

Stop wriggling so much!” I swat Hunter, who’s twisting around on the barn bench, arms bound to his sides by bright blue rope that I put there personally. I smile ear to ear and offer him a curtsey, pleased with my work.

“The student has surpassed the teacher,” I tease, skipping joyfully to the rack and plucking a riding crop from the very center.

“Don’t you even think about it, babygirl.” He groans, but I notice the lilt in his voice. It says do fucking think about it, babygirl, so I raise a brow at him.

“Sunflowers?”

---