The Guilt of a Sparrow

by Jess B. Moore

  We would be okay.

  Cotton helped with the bags. I put on sad music and watched my mama move gracefully around her kitchen. And I came to appreciate her too, as her own person, as someone I could love separately from our roles of mother-daughter. It was a start.

  Together we shared the evening and a meal. We got to know each other in these new roles, feeling them out and discovering how they fit. It was a relief to know that I could grow and change and still come back home. That I could be my own person and my mother's daughter at the same time. Cotton was there, at my side all the while, happiness and pride radiating from his whole being. I let myself get lost in his smiles, his sharp blue eyes, his hand holding mine. I fell in love with all of him, even the dark parts. And I let him love all of me, even the broken bits. Together we were stronger.

  Thank you for reading this Crooked Cat novel. If you have enjoyed it, we and the author would be grateful for a review. Thank you.

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