She's four on the night her mother comes home from work and charges through the door of the babysitter's house calling her name and sounding panicked.
Samantha soon finds herself being wrapped in a tight hug while Olivia smoothes her hair and kisses her cheeks and whispers baby, honey, sweetie into her ear. Rather than wiggle and complain, she wraps her little arms around her mother's neck and returns the hug as best she can, old enough by now to know that sometimes Olivia's work makes her sad and hugs make her smile.
It's okay, Mommy, she assures, I'm safe.
She's seven when her world changes forever.
A woman named Alex spends a lot of time with her mother and Samantha resents having to share. She worries about being forgotten until one night they both tuck her in and promise that she's more important than anyone else.
They have a small ceremony in front of The Justice of The Peace, just the three of them and Elliot, who tries not to cry.
It's a little unusual, but Samantha is delighted when she gets her way and eagerly tosses flower petals at the happy couple while they kiss and promise forever.
She's twelve when her mother misses her first school choir solo because of work. Alex gushes that she sang beautifully, but it's not the same and Samantha is embarrassed when she cries on the way home.
Olivia comes into her bedroom later that night and curls around her on the bed, rubbing her back and whispering baby, I'm so sorry.
Samantha turns over and asks if she got the bad guy and when Olivia nods her head says honestly, I'm glad.
The next time her mother is there early and surprises her with a bouquet of roses afterward.
Samantha grins.
She's sixteen and the rules are too strict and parents are the most embarrassing people on the planet and all she wants is some freedom. She's not as smooth as she fancies herself though, and Alex catches her coming in after curfew while Olivia is out chasing a case.
Samantha Joy Benson! the blonde starts and Sam rolls her eyes and is more than a little ashamed of herself when the best she can come up with is the ultra-cliché, you're not my mother!
Alex's wounded silence gives Sam time to make her escape while dreading the consequences to come.
She's twenty-two and in love, laughing to herself at the parallel as she introduces her girlfriend to her parents. Bensons and their tall blondes.
Everyone hits it off and before long the childhood pictures come out.
I was going to do it all myself, she overhears her mother say, and knows instinctively that Olivia is sharing her naïve approach to child rearing with Leah, who is grinning at Samantha's first birthday photos. The story makes Samantha fill with pride, how her mother wanted a child so badly that she willingly became a single parent.
She never takes the easy road.