Once she was done, I placed a kiss on Collins’s bald head and smiled down at her. “You’re still the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”
Collins looked up at me and smiled. “Less time in the bath and more time to play Pokémon.” Her fist-bumped the air.
Laughing, I looked at Shirleen and said, “Now me.”
I watched as a look of pride hit her face.
“No, Mommy. Thank you for being willing to do this with me, but I want you to leave your hair. So, I can remember that when I beat this thing, I’ll have beautiful hair to look forward to.” And wouldn’t you know it, my almost seven-year-old daughter caused my heart to fill with even more happiness and love, and I didn’t even think that was possible.
If it was in me, I would beat the hell out of Hazel for what she had thrown away.
An amazing daughter.
As I tried to pay Shirleen, she just smiled and shook her head at me.
Collins looked up at me and asked, “Do you think my bio mom would have offered to shave her hair off too?”
“I don’t know, baby. I don’t know what Hazel would do.” I had told her when she was five that I wasn’t her biological mother. I told her that her real mother, my sister, just wasn’t ready to be a mom and I didn’t know if she would ever be ready.
I had told her that when Hazel had told me she was pregnant, I had jumped at the chance to raise her because I knew she was a miracle.
And even though Collins knew, she told me I would always be her mommy even if Hazel decided to want her back, that she wouldn’t go back.
So, to turn this into a moment to take the sadness away and make her smile, I placed an order for things to make one of Collins’s favorite meals and I placed an order for some beanies before we left the salon and headed home.
The months were getting colder, and I knew she would need them for her head.