Chapter 6 - THE CHILD WHO WAS ALWAYS EXPECTED TO MOVE
Vanessa did not deny it.
That shocked Ryan.
“I was organizing.”
“You labeled his things for the basement.”
“He has too much stuff.”
“You bought a crib.”
“We’re trying again.”
Ryan stared.
“When?”
Vanessa looked away.
“You made another appointment?”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me?”
“I knew what you’d say.”
Ryan almost laughed.
“You’re angry at Ethan because you think I’ll choose him over a baby we don’t even have.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Neither is pouring juice over a seven-year-old.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“He needs boundaries.”
“He needs a home.”
“He has one.”
“Then why are you planning where to move him?”
She snapped:
“Because if I ever get pregnant, I am not raising my baby in a house where every room is a shrine to Emily.”
Ryan stopped.
There it was.
Not Ethan.
Emily.
The photographs.
Her old cookbook.
The Christmas ornament Ethan made for her in preschool.
Vanessa saw all of them as competition.
Ryan finally understood something he should have understood earlier.
Vanessa had not been asking Ethan to stop calling her Mom because she respected Emily.
She wanted control over when motherhood counted.
She wanted Ethan to present her as his mother socially.
But privately, she refused any obligation she associated with that role.
She wanted recognition without emotional risk.
Ryan said quietly:
“You don’t actually want him to stop comparing you to Emily.”
Vanessa frowned.
“You want Emily gone.”
Vanessa’s silence answered.
Ryan walked downstairs.
She followed.
“What are you doing?”
He opened the hall closet and took out a suitcase.
Her eyes widened.
“You’re kicking me out?”
“For now.”
“This is my house too.”
“Then I’ll take Ethan somewhere else.”
That frightened Vanessa more.
“Ryan.”
He stopped.
She lowered her voice.
“If you leave with him, don’t expect me to keep trying for another baby with you.”
Ryan looked at her.
Months earlier, that threat would have terrified him.
May you like
Now it clarified everything.
“You just made my choice incredibly easy.”
