"It was," Rinoa said fondly. She was trying to focus on that side of it. She'd spent two days with her mother. It was a gift. She missed her, again, but she always had.

She winced mid-bite. "But ... she was a no-show?" she asked. "That would be rough. Everyone else gets someone, and you wait, but ..."

She was especially going to be grateful, now that she realized how heartbroken she might have been if her mother hadn't come at all.