Okay, so maybe the idea of 'hearing' someone in the throng of people was some kind of wishful thinking, but she did hear something over the din of people talking and laughing.
"Dad?"
Ruth's heart squeezed in her chest.
"Dad? Where are you?!"
"Katie?"
Ruth took a step back so that Nick and Katie could have the first moment together.
She was just happy to be there and share in the moment with father and daughter, but when Katie squeezed through the crowd between them, Nick's beautiful daughter took one look at 'both' of them and rushed forward for a hug.
Ruth felt Katie's arm around her from the front and Nick's arm around her from the back and suddenly they were all hugging each other.
It felt... like home.
"Oh. My. Gawd!" Katie cheered. "That was amazing! Opening night and you're both here!"
Nick leaned in and gave Katie a kiss on her head and Ruth copied the gesture.
Ruth felt a little off kilter with the rush of emotions flooding through her. "Katie! You were amazing up there on stage!"
Katie blushed and turned her head slightly away. "Thanks..."
"I've seen you during some of your rehearsals and you were amazing then, but on stage with the lights and the costumes and it was like a dream being in the audience and seeing you on stage. I've never thought of going to a ballet performance like this, but seeing someone I know on stage? That... that was incredible."
Ruth could see that Katie's eyes were tearing up like her own.
It was hard to imagine how she could see Katie from day to day and love her more each time she saw her.
"I'm so proud of you, Katie! So proud."
Ruth lifted the handle of the basket and held it out to Katie. "I see everyone else with bouquets here and I think I might have missed the assignment, but..."
Katie looked up at her. "Is this... for me?"
Ruth nodded. "I thought it might be fun for something festive like the season. I just don't know if I completely missed the mark."
Ruth felt her insides tremble a little.
She wasn't sure if she'd made the right decision, even if the florist gave her their stamp of approval, but the most important thing for Ruth was that Katie liked it and wasn't embarrassed by her.
"It's so cool!" Katie turned in one direction and then the other. She waved at someone in the crowd. "Come here! Look at this!"
Not one.
Or two.
But a bunch of girls that had their hair up in near identical buns rushed over to Katie's side.
Katie held up the basket to show her friends. "Look at this!"
The girls crowded around to take a look, leaning in to smell the roses.
"Careful," Ruth blurted out the warning before she could stop herself. "The holly in there can poke you."
One of the girls reached in to touch one of the points with her fingertip. "It's real?"
