Everything had changed.
It was at that moment that everything changed.
She had built confidence in herself.
She thought she had understood everything.
She thought that she was strong.
But as she looked into those bleary little eyes, it vanished.
Her confidence and strength, the very foundation of her being collapsed.
For if this moment was real, then who was she to say the sky was blue.
Or the autumn leaves red.
For as a small hand grasped her finger, her breath was surreptitiously stolen away.
Had she truly ever lived?
The thought invaded her mind.
Though she had seen a number of summers now, she could not imagine living as she once had.
How could she?
Without the feelings, she now felt.
She had a loving husband.
And a little girl she had claimed as her own.
Both of whom she loved dearly.
But it was as if only now had she become truly whole.
A giggle escaped the child's lips.
A music more melodious than any other.
Perhaps in reaction to the pure astonishment she felt.
And as laughter danced across the girl's eyes.
And silver met silver.
She realized that both of them had been born today.
For this new life had changed her own.
And she was a completely different person than the her of yesterday.
Her past desires slipped away, and she could think only of the girl.
Her daughter.
A child not of summer but no less sweet.
Her life belonged to her.
Everything belonged to her.
She longed to give them to her.
Through only her first breath, the girl changed the world.
Her world.
It was dizzying.
It was frightening.
She felt weak in a way she had never truly felt before.
And yet, as she looked at the bundle of childlike joy and innocence, she found that she regretted nothing.
For if her life had led her to this point, then it indeed must have been perfect.
Her shaking hands ran through the child's hair.
Hair that sparkled more magnificently than any red she had ever seen.
Different from the shock of blond of her eldest yet no less beautiful.
A gem of her very own more precious than a brilliant ruby.