Chapter 2
Ruby refused to go upstairs.
That hurt more than seeing the suitcases.
I carried her halfway up the staircase before she started shaking.
“No room.”
I stopped.
“It’s still your room.”
She shook her head against my shoulder.
“Ethan room.”
Behind us, Ethan looked like someone had struck him.
Valentina had followed under guard.
“Ruby is being dramatic.”
I turned slowly.
“Say that again.”
She stopped.
Good.
I took Ruby into my bedroom instead.
Ethan came with us because he asked.
That surprised Valentina.
It did not surprise me.
The boy had been quiet through the entire banquet because, unlike his mother, he understood something terrible had happened.
I sat with both children.
“Ethan.”
He looked up.
“Did you ask for Ruby’s room?”
“No.”
Immediate.
Good.
“Did you want her chair?”
“No.”
“Why did you sit there?”
His eyes filled.
“Mom said if I moved, Uncle Marcus would think I wasn’t ready.”
Ready.
Interesting word.
“For what?”
He looked toward Valentina in the hall.
She could not hear from where she stood.
“Family.”
I frowned.
“You are family.”
He shook his head.
“Not real family.”
Ruby looked confused.
She reached over and touched his sleeve.
“You Ethan.”
The boy started crying.
Children sometimes repair adults by refusing to understand the categories adults worked hard to create.
I waited.
He wiped his face.
“Mom says after tonight everybody was supposed to see.”
“See what?”
“That I belong next to you.”
My jaw tightened.
“And Ruby?”
His voice became smaller.
“Somewhere else.”
There it was.
I stood.
Not because Ethan had done something wrong.
Because if I stayed seated, the rage might show on my face and he would think it belonged to him.
I walked into the hallway.
Valentina looked at me.
“You’ve been telling him he isn’t family.”
Her expression hardened.
“I’ve been telling him reality.”
“No.”
I glanced back toward the room.
“He already had a place.”
Then at her.
“You needed him to believe the only way to keep it was to take Ruby’s.”
Valentina folded her arms.
“You have no idea what it feels like raising a son in a house where your biological daughter inherits every instinctive loyalty.”
There.
Not discipline.
Fear.
I understood the beginning.
Not the end.
“You were afraid Ethan would be secondary.”
“Yes.”
“So you made Ruby disposable.”
Her face changed.
She opened her mouth.
May you like
Then stopped.
Because saying no would require explaining the suitcases upstairs.
