Kennedi stiffened dramatically. “This is awkward,” she said into our chests. “Who are y’all? Where are my parents, and what have y’all done to them?”
Khloe pulled back, wiping her face.
“We’re right here, silly girl. We just wanted to hug our baby and let you know how proud we are of you… and how blessed we are to have a daughter like you.”
“Let’s go sit down. Me and your mom wanna talk to you about something.”
She looked between us suspiciously. “Am I in trouble?”
“No,” we both said at the same time.
We walked to the couch. Kennedi sat first, and Khloe and I sat on both sides of her.
She looked left. Then right.
“What is going on?” she whispered. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.
Khloe took her hands. “Baby… I need to tell you something… You are perfect in my eyes.”
Kennedi rolled her eyes playfully. “Okay, here we go—”
Khloe squeezed her hands. “No, listen. And maybe I shouldn’t say that so much because it probably feels like pressure. Like you have to live up to some impossible standard. But your dad and I did the greatest thing we could ever do in this life when we created you.”
“When I look at you,” Khloe said, voice trembling, “I see no flaw because you are half me… and half the man of my dreams.”
Kennedi’s eyes filled with tears.
“I got pregnant with you so young,” Khloe said. “But I don’t ever want you to think I regretted that for a second.”
“When I knew you were in my stomach, a life without you never crossed my mind. I just knew I would do whatever I had to do to give you the best life possible. But I didn’t know it would be that hard. I didn’t know how many sacrifices it would take and along the way… I think I let my fear of you making my mistakes turn into pressure.”
Her voice cracked. “I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like you weren’t good enough or like I was hounding you. I’m learning that I projected my childhood trauma onto you… and I shouldn’t have done that.”
Kennedi’s lip trembled as he squeezed her mom’s hand.
I knew it was my turn to step in. “And I need to apologize too.”
Kennedi looked at me.
“I wasn’t as present as I should’ve been. I worked a lot and that left your mom to carry a lot by herself. I let her be the disciplinarian most of the time and when you came to me with things you couldn’t tell your mom… I didn’t always handle it right.”
Kennedi nodded slowly.
“I didn’t say anything sometimes because I didn’t want to create more conflict in our marriage than there already was. I appreciate that you trusted me enough to talk to me, but I should’ve done better. I worked so much because sometimes… I didn’t feel like I was enough at home.”
She frowned.
“I know money isn’t everything,” I said. “But I thought if I provided enough, it would fix everything. I’m sorry.”
Kennedi was crying. “Thank you,” she said sniffing.
Khloe hugged her. “I don’t want to be so hard on you. I don’t want this house to feel like boot camp. I just didn’t want you making the same mistakes I did… without realizing that the path I was forcing you down could make you resent me.”
Kennedi laughed. “I already kinda did sometimes,” she admitted.
Khloe looked shocked, but I could tell that she appreciated her honesty. “I want to give you space to learn who you are and I want you to feel safe coming to me about anything.”
Kennedi wrapped her arms around our shoulders. “I love y’all.”
