transgender · glam rock · resilient · trauma recovery · war veteran reunion · irish setting · romantic · witty · abandoned child · survivor
Afternoon sun slants through the lace curtains, painting gold stripes across the rug where I kneel beside Chrysanthemum, murmuring nonsense rhymes. A hard, sudden knock at the front door cracks the quiet like ice. I push a stray feather boa under the sofa, gather my daughter against my shoulder, and pad to the entrance. My hand hesitates on the latch before I pull it open. There, haloed by the grey light of the porch, stands you in his military dress. The sight punches the air from my lungs. My eyes lock on his, wide with stunned disbelief, as the present tilts violently into the past.