Millie entering grade one took Emmeline almost by surprise. It felt like just seconds ago when she and Nicholas were happily moving into that train station. It seemed surreal to think about that time, another life. She thought about Millie having a baby at sixteen and then pondered the idea of permanently putting a lock on her bedroom door. Nicholas would approve of that.

Life was changing again—not that it had stayed still for more than a minute. In a blink, Millie didn't need her as much, becoming capable of doing things on her own: she could brush her own hair, and insisted on picking out her clothes. She had a wicked sense of style, mixing sparkles and busy patterns. At first, Emmeline would fight with her about her clashing choices, but she soon learned how strong-willed Millie was. She started to let her wear whatever she wanted, unless it was really important. Parenting that kid was usually an exercise in compromise, and well, Emmeline asked herself, did it matter if the sparkles on her shirt didn't precisely match the sequins on her skirt if it made her happy?

Besides, Emmeline wasn't a stranger to getting weird or disapproving looks from people. She couldn't count the number of times she had to explain that Millie was her kid, and she wasn't babysitting, then see the other person's eyes fall as they backtracked awkwardly. Her heart sunk at their disapproval. So she was young, but she had stood up to the challenge, and Millie was turning out to be a pretty awesome kid if she did say so herself.

It wasn't just Millie growing and changing; Emmeline was too. She loved being in the kitchen, and daily she was getting more and more responsibilities at the bakery. She tried new recipes, which went over so well that Kathy, her boss, changed the bakery's recipes to hers. People came just for her cookies, and Emmeline was thrilled. Kathy saw the enthusiasm and set out to teach her everything she knew. Kathy was a French-trained chef with some serious skills. That was a while ago; now, she was starting to lose her passion and was happy to let Emmeline take over as she spent more time in the front of the bakery, chatting with customers and munching on Emmeline's creations.

Emmeline finally felt like she had some control over her life. She was on the verge of twenty-two and finally knew where she wanted her life to head. The idea of having her own bakery flitted through her mind regularly, challenging her sense of what she thought she could do. If only she had the money. No matter how much she tried to put some aside, other more pressing things always seemed to come up, like the summer when Millie went through two full sizes of clothes or when her car needed new tires and brakes in the same month. It was just never enough.

Emmeline supposed she could work longer hours, but the idea killed her. She wanted to spend as much time with Millie as she could. It was one reason why she didn't date. Firstly, the idea seemed so foreign. Besides, what twenty-something guy would want to date her in between her running Millie to gymnastics and ballet class? It wasn't like she even had time to date or had any guy to make her question if she even wanted to. Pernella was slowing down, and leaving Millie with her for long wasn't easy. And she didn't exactly have a lot of money left over at the end of the month to pay for babysitters, especially to go out with guys that weren't going to stick around. Besides, Millie provided hours of entertainment, hardly ever leaving her with a moment of peace.

Halfway through grade one, as Emmeline went to pick her daughter up from school, she found Millie bouncing.

"Mommy!"

"Hi, Millie. It looks like you had a good day!"

"Mommy! Today we were working on an art project, and it was really boring, and I said to Keesha that I wanted to put glitter on it, 'cause that would make it better, and she said that it would make it better. Glitter makes everything better, Mommy, and so we found the glitter and we put glitter on it, and it was sooooo beautiful!" Millie took a breath.

"Wow, that sounds amazing." Emmeline took Millie by the hand as they crossed the street to where she parked.

"Soooo, we decided that it would be sooo much better if all the projects that we work on need to have glitter, 'cause glitter makes things so much better, and then we will even do better in school that way."

Emmeline laughed. Millie's energy was infectious as she talked nonstop about her new best friend and how they were definitely going to get the bestest marks ever with their new glitter system. She went on with all the things they were going to glitter as Emmeline parked the car at the house. As they walked inside, they were greeted by a turkey strutting around the kitchen.

"Pernella!" Emmeline yelled, then groaned as she realized she would have to scrub the floor again tonight. "Why is there a turkey in the kitchen?"

Pernella came out wearing a fifties-style apron, jeans, and her hair tied up in a ponytail with a handkerchief around her head.

"I heard howling," she said plainly.

"Awhoooo," Millie said.

"I'm sorry, I'm still confused," said Emmeline.

"There was howling outside; there could be a fox or something. I didn't want anything to happen to poor ol' juicy Christmas dinner here." She pouted. "I didn't raise her for a fox to get her first!"

Emmeline shook her head. It was hard to believe that this was her normal life. If she didn't love Pernella so much, she would have run as far away as she could. The thing was, Pernella always let Emmeline be exactly who she was, something that she was never allowed to do at her parent's house. The only thing she asked in return was that Emmeline let Pernella be herself too, and if that meant there was occasionally a turkey walking around in the kitchen, then it was just something she would have to live with. Even if there was a perfectly safe pen just outside, which the turkey would probably prefer to be in at that very moment.

"There was a message from the school, Emmeline," Pernella said. "I think they want you to call them back."

Emmeline looked at Millie, who shrugged her shoulders, pulled a banana off the counter, and then handed it to her mom. Emmeline absentmindedly peeled it and handed it back on her way over to the phone.

The secretary at the school answered on the second ring and promptly explained how Millie had not only added an excessive amount of glitter on her project but proceeded to paint her entire desk with glue and dump several bags of glitter, decorating the whole thing. The school's custodian was having a serious problem cleaning it off, and

Emmeline giggled slightly—of course her kid would do that! She put on her stern Mommy face and shot her daughter a disappointed look. Millie was too busy to pay attention, focused on trying to feed the banana to the turkey, who was gobbling madly and still running around the kitchen. Emmeline apologized to the secretary for Millie's behavior and hung up the phone.

"Millie, Angel Face, did you glitter your desk?"

Millie's eyes lit up, and she smiled. "Oh, Mommy, you have to see it. It's so pretty! It's like a unicorn lives there."

"Millie, there are some places that you are allowed to glitter and some places that you aren't. Your desk isn't one of them."

"But I needed to. very pretty. I work best with my unicorn desk."

"I'm sorry, but they are washing it all off, and the school isn't exactly happy about it."

Her little lip trembled.

"I'm sorry, Angel Face."

"That's silly," said Pernella. "She should be able to glitter anything she wants."

"That's not exactly what the school says," Emmeline said dryly. Pernella obviously had a huge influence on Millie.

Little tears formed in the corners of Millie's eyes, which she was desperately trying to hold back. She was stubborn, that one. And she didn't like it when people saw her cry. Emmeline knew better than to acknowledge the tears fighting to stay in place.

"If this girl wants to glitter something, then she's going to glitter something. Millie, how about the wall in the dining room? I've been thinking for years that it's entirely too boring."

Millie's eyes lit up, and Emmeline chuckled. She should have known that was where this was going.

Millie and Pernella disappeared into the other room, making plans, while Emmeline took the turkey outside and locked it up in the coop for the night.

She came back and spent the next hour cleaning the kitchen, something she didn't love doing. She knew there were people out there who loved to clean; she just wasn't one of them. And thought that it would be so much better if she had been born with that gene.

She let Millie stay up an extra half hour working on the dining room wall. She was so proud of the rainbow sparkles and wired from the excitement. Emmeline finally tucked her in, then went to her room and worked on a few recipes. Some days for fun, she would imagine what her dream bakery would look like. She'd sketch out crude pictures, and write menus, before ripping them up into shreds so no one would find them. Pernella would push her every day until Emmeline made it happen, and she just wasn't ready for that.