Chapter 26 - The next birthday
Aubrielle turned seven ten months after the original party.
Pizza.
Cupcakes.
Backyard.
Twelve children.
No three-tier cake.
No live professional production.
My mother attended in person.
Claire came with Nathan.
Marietta dropped Claire at driveway and left.
No scene.
No argument.
She respected boundary.
That was progress even if it came from court orders, probation, and consequences.
Aubrielle opened gifts herself.
One at a time.
Claire handed her a package.
Aubrielle opened it.
Inside:
A scrapbook.
Photographs of the two girls.
Some from before everything went wrong.
Some recent.
Aubrielle smiled.
“Did you make this?”
Claire nodded.
Then:
“My dad helped with glue.”
Nathan said:
“Extensively.”
Everyone laughed.
Later cake time.
Aubrielle reached first.
Then stopped.
Looked at me.
“Can I?”
“It’s your cake.”
She cut a crooked piece.
Handed first slice to Claire.
Not because anyone told her.
Choice.
That mattered.
Eleanor watched.
No tablet.
No intermediary.
May you like
No Marietta translating.
Just a grandmother seeing both girls directly.
