Daughter For A Day

neither of us would ever forget

On our way out, we made one final stop at the mirror to admire mother and daughter all dressed up for our night out. I pulled out my phone and took a selfie of the two of us, before we headed out the door.

We had the most wonderful evening. For dinner, we ate at a dimly lit high-end gourmet steakhouse. It was such a special occasion that I even let Valerie have a couple sips of my champagne.

The show, Chicago, was brilliant; it was elegant, charming, sweet and intriguing, all in equal measures, and we were both thoroughly entertained.

Valerie was a little nervous early on, being out in public for the first time, which was perfectly understandable, but she had nothing to worry about. To everyone who saw her, she was an undeniably attractive, 15 year old looking young lady who lookedv to be 17 -19, enjoying a show with her Mother.

Ever so often during the show, I glanced over at her. Every time, I found her smiling, giggling and singing along to the show, and I felt an overwhelming sense of joy and satisfaction.

During the intermission, we were at the snack bar and inevitably we bumped into someone I knew. It was Sarah, a woman I had worked with up until a few months ago, along with her husband John.

We exchanged pleasantries and reviews of the first half of the show, and then Sarah, who had met Leo on a number of occasions, inquired as to where he was.

"Oh Leo isn't here tonight," I quickly explained. "He wasn't feeling well, but this is my niece, my brother's daughter Valerie. I didn't want to let a perfectly good theatre ticket go to waste, so she's taking Leo's place for the evening."

Sarah and John both shook Valerie's hand and Sarah commented on how pretty she was. Valerie blushed and tried her best to hide her face behind the bottle of soda she was holding, afraid she was going to end up being recognized by Sarah.

She needn't have worried though, there was absolutely no way Sarah or John were ever going to suspect who she really was, not from this brief exchange anyway. She was too beautiful and completely feminine to arouse any suspicions.

When intermission was over, we returned to our seats for the second half, which was even better than the first.

After the show we were in no hurry to get home, so instead of heading back to the car, we crossed the street and walk slowly through the park, stopping on a bench several times to chat and watch the world go by. I wanted Leo to be able to enjoy his time as Valerie as fully as possible.

Leo had become so comfortable being a girl and I was equally as comfortable having a daughter in place of my son. Neither of us wanted this night to end, or at least ibknew i didn't,  but eventually, it had to.

As it began to get late, we headed back to the car, stopping only once, at a 24hr coffee shop/diner, for lattes and a scoop of ice cream.

Sitting in the dimly lit coffee shop/diner sipping our hot drinks and enjoying the cold vanila bean ice cream, Valerie and I spent the time 'people watching.' I would ask her about different female patrons in the shop, making observations about their appearance, outfit, shoes, mannerisms, etc. and encouraging her to offer her thoughts/opinions in return.

When we finally got home, it was after midnight and we were too tired to stay up any longer, so we cold-creamed the makeup off our faces, hung our dresses in the closet and headed to bed.

It had been a wonderful day, one neither of us would ever forget, but as my head hit the pillow, a thought occurred that gave me a brief moment of sadness. Tomorrow morning, my daughter would be gone again and I would have my son back.

The next morning was slightly strange; we both commented on how much fun the previous day had been, but as much as I wanted to suggest he dress up again and carry on as Valerie for another 24 hours, I knew it wasn't the best idea. I had to move on.

After helping him remove the polish from his finger nails, all visible remains of Valerie was gone, only the memories . . . and the photos on my phone remained. The selfie of myself and Valerie was now set as my cell phone home screen wallpaper.

I persuaded him to keep his dress and shoes and the other items in his closet 'just in case'. After putting everything away, he was back to his old self, playing video games and listening to music in his bedroom.

Everything was back to how it had been before, all but one thing. He had asked if it would be okay if he left the red, yellow, orange and blue polish on his toenails.

I told him he could keep his toenails painted all the time if he so desired and he replied, saying he'd very much like that.

As I sat by myself on the couch, sipping wine and watching Sunday television, I thought back to my dream from when I was young and how I had always 'dreamed' my future would go; grow up, meet a man, get married, settle down and have two children, first a boy and then a girl.

Okay, my marriage hadn't worked out in the end, but I was quite settled in my life now, things were comfortable and I was happy.

I had always been immensely proud of my son, no more so than this past week, but it then dawned on me that it had been my son who had given me the final part of my dream, not my ex-husband, nor any other man I had been involved with throughout my life.

Leo had given me the daughter I had always wanted, by becoming the daughter I had never had.

I had no idea what the future had in store, but I knew that whatever did happen, Valerie would always hold a special place in my heart. She had been my daughter . . .

for a day.