Chapter 23 - The Word
At three and a half, Noah heard the word bastard somewhere.
Not from us.
A television show playing in another room.
He repeated it at breakfast.
Rosa nearly dropped a plate.
“What that?”
I considered.
At three, simple.
“It's an unkind word people sometimes use.”
“Means?”
“A long time ago, some people used it for children whose parents weren't married.”
He stared.
“Like me?”
Children are terrifyingly efficient.
“Yes.”
“Bad?”
“No.”
“Grandma say?”
My heart stopped.
How did he know?
Amanda had told him more than I expected during an age-appropriate conversation about why Margaret was absent.
Not the staircase details.
Enough.
I answered:
“Yes. Grandma used that word.”
“Why?”
“She believed something wrong.”
“Me wrong?”
“No.”
“Grandma wrong?”
“About that, yes.”
He ate cereal.
Then:
May you like
“I want strawberries.”
And the family legitimacy crisis ended for breakfast.
