Chapter 9 - SELINA FINALLY SAID HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE RIGHT PERSON
Leo turned six on a rainy Tuesday.
Selina requested permission to attend his birthday.
Rowan asked me.
I asked Leo.
He shrugged.
“Is she bringing presents?”
Children.
“She might.”
“Then yes.”
I corrected:
“You don’t have to see someone just because they bring gifts.”
He frowned.
“Does she make good cake?”
“No idea.”
“Fine.”
He agreed to a short visit.
Selina arrived carrying one modest box.
No jewelry.
No spectacle.
She looked older.
Smaller.
Consequences do that sometimes.
Leo opened the gift.
A model airplane.
Then Selina looked at me.
“Can I speak to you?”
“Here.”
She nodded.
“I owe you an apology.”
“Yes.”
No unnecessary modesty.
She swallowed.
“I taught Rowan that being a good son meant making me happy.”
“Yes.”
“I treated your marriage as a threat.”
“Yes.”
“I accepted money I knew came through false invoices.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled.
“And the night Leo was born…”
I went still.
“I heard you on the phone.”
Of course she had.
“I knew your water had broken.”
“Yes.”
“I told Rowan not to leave.”
“Yes.”
“I thought if he chose you that night, I would become second.”
There.
The truth.
I asked:
“Second to whom?”
She looked toward Leo.
“His own family.”
Exactly.
Then:
“I’m sorry.”
I believed she understood more than before.
That did not return the years.
But growth does not have to erase damage to be real.
Leo interrupted:
“Grandma?”
She turned.
“Yes?”
“You didn’t say happy birthday.”
Selina laughed through tears.
“Happy birthday, Leo.”
“Thank you.”
Simple.
Correct.
May you like
For once, she celebrated the child whose birth she had once treated as competition.
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