She pointed upstairs.
“You already have Ben. He had seven years with you. Now everything revolves around appointments, specialists, therapy—”
“By deliberately making her cry?”
“Enough,” I said.
“I’m thinking about everyone.”
“No. You’re deciding for everyone.”
“I’m thinking about Brenda too.”
“By deliberately making her cry?”
Diane’s face crumpled.
Then a voice came from the doorway.
“I needed you to see how difficult this could become.”
“You manufactured the difficulty.”
“Because you weren’t listening!”
Then a voice came from the doorway.
“But we wanted Brenda.”
Diane went silent.
We all turned.
Ben stood there in dinosaur pajamas.
Diane went silent.
Ben looked at her.
“You keep saying everything changed.”
Nobody answered.
He frowned.
“I was protecting you.”
“But we wanted her.”
Daniel walked to the door and opened it.
“Mom, you need to leave.”
She started crying.
“Daniel.”
“Leave.”
“I was protecting you.”
Afterward, I sat with Ben on the stairs.
“No. Ben was protecting Brenda from you.”
Diane left.
Afterward, I sat with Ben on the stairs.
“I’m sorry.”
He looked confused.
“For what?”
“I kept sending you back to bed. I thought you were being silly.”
“You should’ve told me anyway.”
“I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“You should’ve told me anyway.”
He hesitated.
“Grandma’s an adult.”
“I know.”
“I thought adults know what’s right.”
I pulled him close.
Diane was no longer part of our daily lives.
“Adults can be wrong too.”
He leaned against me.
“And if an adult ever tells you to keep something secret because telling me would upset me, you tell me anyway.”
“Even if you’ll get mad?”
“Especially then.”
Almost a year later, Brenda turned one.
Diane was no longer part of our daily lives. Any contact happened under boundaries Daniel and I controlled.
At Brenda’s birthday, he helped put one candle on her cake.
By then, Ben had stopped hovering whenever someone picked Brenda up. He was back to being her brother instead of her guard.
At Brenda’s birthday, he helped put one candle on her cake.
My sister asked him, “What did you wish for when your mom was pregnant?”
Ben grinned.
“I already got it.”
Then he dipped one finger into the cake and dabbed frosting onto Brenda’s nose.
Right then, Brenda grabbed a fistful of frosting and smeared it across his shirt.
Ben stared down at himself.
Then he dipped one finger into the cake and dabbed frosting onto Brenda’s nose.
“Okay,” he said. “Maybe I should’ve been more specific.”
