There was counseling. And now there is also trust. While my stepchildren and I don'talways get along perfectly, we are comfortable living together in thesame space. Not out of our house or out of mylife. The girls know that I worked hard to make a home for them, a homethat they are part of.
Intimacy is usually slower to grow in blendedfamilies.
But the bloom that results is worth all the care. Fern Kupfer is a novelist and writing professor at Iowa State University. She is a frequent contributor to Working Moms' Internet Refuge .