Daughter For A Day

this gorgeous designer evening dress

There was an excitement in Leo's voice as he talked about everyone seeing him at the party, but when he turned to me, he could tell by the look on my face, I was not sharing in his excitement.

"What's wrong, Mom," he asked with concern in his voice.

I took a deep breath and took his soft manicured hands in mine.

"Leo, there's something I need to tell you." I paused to take a deep breath and let it out before continuing. "First of all, you look absolutely incredible. I'm truly in shock. This is beyond what I imagined. If I didn't know you were my son, I'd have no idea you weren't a real girl. It's not just the clothes and the wig and the makeup either, you pull the whole thing off so well, you really do. But I have a confession to make . . . ."

"What, Mom?"

"Well," I lowered my gaze, avoiding eye contact. "There's uh, there's not going to be a party tonight. That was Abbie's mother that called me last night. Abbie's tested positive for Covid, along with several family members. The party had to be canceled. I wanted to tell you last night, but the thought of you missing out on everything you had so looked forward to today . . . I just couldn't. I wanted you to be able to experience it anyway, even without the party to go to. We've spent all week planning and talking about today. You seemed pretty set on being a girl for the day, and I didn't want you to miss out on that. I'm so sorry I lied to you by keeping the truth from you, I hope you'll forgive me."

Leo went quiet for a moment and his smile briefly left his face. My heart began to beat faster as I waited for his response.

I feared the worst, but when his response finally came I realized I needn't have worried.

"Of course I forgive you. Mom, today has been one of the most awesome days of my life; the whole week has been awesome. Not only the fact that you were accepting of me wanting to do this, but also the way you have been willing to help. I can't begin to tell you how much fun I've had. Dressing up last week, everything which has happened today, it's been like a dream, the most wonderful dream. Can I be perfectly honest with you?"

I nodded my head.

"I've been wanting to do this for ages, I guess some part of me has always been really curious to know what it'd be like to be a girl. I was just too embarrassed to say anything, I didn't know how you would react. But then when I got invited to the party, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally go ahead with it, with an excuse to hide behind. Even then I never imagined you'd take to it so well, be so supportive of me.

"Mom, honestly, I thought if I was lucky, you'd find me one of your old dresses or something from a thrift shop to wear with my own Converse high-tops, but here I am in this gorgeous designer evening dress, professional makeup, an amazing wig, and all the accessories. It's all been more than I could ever imagine happening.

"You've made me feel like a special princess, and I think that's what I always wanted to experience, just for a day, just to see what it was like. Ive always wondered what it would be like to be your daughter and now I know."

By now I had tears in my eyes. Okay, who am I kidding? I was bawling. I leaned in and gave him a big hug. I was so proud of him for opening up like that. I wished he would've done it sooner of course, but it all began to make sense now, why he had been so comfortable taking things as far as we had.

I no longer felt guilty; even if I had been partly fulfilling my own dream of having a daughter for a day, I now knew we shared the same dream after all.

"Mom," Leo began, placing his hands on my head, which was now resting on his shoulder. "Don't cry. There's no reason to be sad. There'll be another opportunity to go out in public as a girl. Maybe for Halloween?"