Chapter 7 - The Price of Keeping Peace
I stared at the invitation until the letters blurred. "She can't possibly mean that," I told Mara.
"Maybe ask her what she means instead of guessing," Mara said. "And don't go alone."
Becca called before I could answer. "Emily, I didn't know you weren't involved. Linda told everyone you wanted quiet time and the baby would spend her first weeks with her."
"No one asked me."
Becca went silent. "I thought that was weird. My mom said something similar happened when Daniel's sister had her first child."
I had never met Daniel's sister, Rachel, properly. She lived two hours away and rarely came to family dinners. Daniel called her difficult. I had accepted that without asking her.
I called Daniel. "Did you tell your mother our baby would live with her?"
"No. She exaggerates."
"Then correct her. Today."
He sighed. "I can talk to her."
"And the money?"
"What money?"
I had opened our joint savings account while he was speaking. A payment for $6,800 had gone to a local renovation company. The memo said NURSERY PROJECT - L. PARKER.
"That's the emergency fund we were saving for my unpaid leave."
He became quiet. "Mom's spare room needed work. I was going to replace it."
"You spent our safety net on a room I said our baby wasn't using?"
"She was excited, Emily. I didn't want to hurt her feelings."
There it was: his mother's feelings had a line in our bank account. Mine didn't even have a vote.
I asked him to return the money before the hospital bills arrived. He promised to figure it out. I couldn't tell whether he meant the refund or a story that would make me stop asking.
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A minute later Becca forwarded another photo. Linda stood in the new nursery, smiling beside a framed ultrasound image. The image included my full name and a date from my medical chart.
Under it Linda had written: SOON SHE'LL BE WHERE SHE BELONGS.
