Chapter 2 - THE RULE ETHAN NEVER EXPLAINED
Robert took Ethan into the downstairs bathroom and helped him clean the juice from his hair.
Vanessa stayed in the kitchen.
She did not apologize.
Robert had already called Ryan.
“Come home.”
“What happened?”
“Come home.”
Robert ended the call.
Ethan changed into a spare shirt kept in his backpack.
Robert sat on the closed toilet lid.
“Why did your dad tell you not to call Vanessa Mom?”
Ethan twisted the hem of his clean shirt.
“She gets mad.”
“Vanessa?”
Ethan nodded.
“But she lets you call her Mom when your dad is here?”
Another nod.
Robert’s chest tightened.
“How long?”
Ethan shrugged.
“A long time.”
“Why didn’t you tell Dad?”
“She said he already knows.”
Robert went still.
“What exactly did she say?”
Ethan hesitated.
“Sometimes she says I already had a real mom.”
Robert’s breath caught.
His daughter Emily.
Ethan’s biological mother.
She had died in a car accident when Ethan was three.
Robert still kept her last voicemail.
Still had her favorite coffee mug.
Still sometimes reached for his phone before remembering she could not answer.
Ethan continued quietly.
“Vanessa says if I call her Mom, people might think she replaced Mommy.”
That sounded almost reasonable.
Until Ethan added:
“But when Dad comes home, she tells me to call her Mom so he won’t ask questions.”
Robert’s hands clenched.
Not once.
Not confusion.
A system.
Vanessa wanted the public role of mother.
Without privately giving Ethan the emotional belonging that came with it.
Ryan rushed through the door twenty minutes later.
He stopped when he saw his son’s damp hair.
“What happened?”
Robert stood.
“Ask your wife.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“He was being disrespectful.”
Ryan stared.
“He asked for juice.”
Robert continued.
“You apparently know why she treats him differently.”
Ryan’s expression changed.
Just enough.
Robert caught it.
“You do know something.”
Ryan looked toward Ethan.
The boy immediately looked away.
“Dad?”
Ryan swallowed.
“There’s something complicated about Vanessa becoming your mother.”
Robert stared at him.
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“There’s nothing complicated about letting a seven-year-old believe he did something wrong simply by loving the woman you married.”
Ryan looked ashamed.
Vanessa interrupted.
“That is not what this is about.”
Robert turned.
“Then what is it about?”
Vanessa opened her mouth.
Ryan snapped:
“Don’t.”
Everyone froze.
Robert slowly faced his son-in-law.
Ryan had not told Vanessa to stop insulting Ethan.
May you like
He had told her not to reveal something.
And Robert realized Ryan was afraid of the answer too.
