Blacktail Deer Plateau I want reasons to stay

There it was.  As she moved in closer, the walls broke, as though Raleska's grief were a wave she'd been trying to keep contained behind a sand embankment.  Rosalyn shifted to allow her better space to lean into, and as she supported the girl who had collapsed into her, encircled her in a loose but warm embrace.  

Still, what could she say?  She didn't care how Raleska knew or how it had happened.  She knew the daughter was already struggling with guilt, but that wasn't a conversation that it was her place to start.  The decision had been hers to begin with.

I'm here, was all she settled on.  Say it, if it needs said, she silently willed.  She'd always found catharsis in words.  And even if those words ended up knives against her, Rosalyn would take them.