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For a full minute Hyacinth waited, and then finally her mother said, softly, “And from that moment on, you were so dear to me I love allHyacinth’s “You saved me”

So squeezed in Hyacinth’s c

hest She couldn’t quite move, couldn’t quite breathe She could only watch her rateful that she’d been lucky enough to be her child

“In some ways I was a little too protective of you,” Violet said, her lips for the tiniest of smiles, “and at the same time too lenient You were so exuberant, so completely sure of who you were and how you fit into the world around you You were a force of nature, and I didn’t want to clip your wings”

“Thank you,” Hyacinth whispered, but the words were so soft, she wasn’t even sure she’d said them aloud

“But sometimes I wonder if this left you too unaware of the people around you”

Hyacinth suddenly felt awful

“No, no,” Violet said quickly, seeing the stricken expression on Hyacinth’s face “You are kind, and you’re caring, and you are far htful than I think anyone realizes But—oh dear, I don’t kno to explain this” She took a breath, her nose wrinkling as she searched for the right words “You are so used to being completely comfortable with yourself and what you say”

“What’s wrong with that?” Hyacinth asked Not defensively, just quietly

“Nothing I wish ether, her left thuesture Hyacinth had seen on her ht

“But what I think happens,” Violet continued, “is that when you don’t feel that hen soive you unease—well, you don’t seee it And you run Or you decide it isn’t worth it” She looked at her daughter, her eyes direct and perhaps just a little bit resigned “And that,” she finally said, “is why I’ht man Or rather, you’ll find him, but you won’t know it You won’t let yourself know it”

Hyacinth stared at hervery still, and very small, and very unsure of herself How had this happened? How had she cos and the lack thereof, only to find herself laid bare and open until she wasn’t quite certain who she was anymore

“I’ll think about that,” she said to her mother

“That’s all I can ask”

And it was all she could promise