Willow listened to his story, feeling so much pain for him and his losses as well as that of her own. She’d had no idea he had gone through as much trauma as she had, and she couldn’t help but thinking that at least she knows her mother is dead; Ashton had no idea about his own father, and though Willow had no father of her own, it wasn’t the same situation. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Willow brought him into a hug, a warm and long hug as she rubbed his back. “It’s terrifying,” she admitted. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that,” she added after a sigh, and sighing once more, she cuddled her face in his neck. It was warm there, and she closed her eyes, wishing for him to feel all the warmth she wanted to give him in life. He deserved better, and she only wished that she was from something better. Though the thought of them both having rough pasts, yet finding each other anyway gave her hope that maybe not everything has to end in tragedy. So the brunette parted her lips and made half of her whole confession to him that night, bracing herself for any reaction. “I was raised by two moms, my mother Elizabeth,” she sighed slowly, blinking back tears. “She was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was eleven and she passed not long after. I never knew my dad either but it was an anonymous… sperm donor… My other mother, well she took the loss hard and I took care of the household throughout my teenage years. It was hard but I had a… sense… that Brenna, my mother, had something wrong with her. She wasn’t just grieving. She was then diagnosed with depression when I was fourteen and we moved here after she had been on medication and decided that we deserved a new beginning…” She sighed long and hard, not even satisfied that she had said those things because it was only half of her whole story, and he deserved to know everything, but how could she drop that bomb on him and then drop another? It wasn’t right, she could wait until it was. Hands searching to find his, Willow searched his facial expression for anything at all.
Ashton’s heart sank at her words. To know she’d gone through the loss of a parent like he had no matter what the circumstances was painful. He hid it even from himself most of the time but not having a parent there hurt and once in a blue moon he’d wonder to himself where his father might actually be. And here she was hugging him and trying to reassure him despite her own pain. Ashton wanted to do the same for her and it was how he was sure that Willow had a beautiful heart despite the things that had happened to her. He held her tight in his arms, hoping it would give her some small comfort and kissed the top of her head before finally saying, “It’s never easy to lose a parent. Even less when you feel like you lost two...and yeah I got some of that when my dad left but I was really too young to remember. I just know the stories my grandma told me about how she was after he left. I imagine it was sort of the way I felt when I got hurt by my ex but worse. There was me and the thought of raising me by herself. I know it’s so cliche and doesn’t help but I’m so sorry for your pain. There are some things you never get over. I know you’ve been through a lot and I can never take that hurt away for you but I can do my best to make the future a little brighter for you if you’ll let me.”
