Then a small, broken sound.
“Don’t cry, Maya,” Jenna snapped. “If you cry again, I’ll throw away your notebooks. You need to stop with those silly stories.”
“But we want to stay with James,” Maya whispered. “He’s the best brother in the world.”
Something inside me cracked open.
“You don’t get to want things,” Jenna replied calmly. “Go do your homework.”
Footsteps. A door slammed upstairs.
I stayed frozen, afraid that moving would make this real before I was ready.
Then her voice shifted—lighter now. A phone call.
“They’re finally gone,” she said, laughing softly. “I’m exhausted, Karen. Playing perfect caretaker is draining.”
Pause.
“He won’t move forward with the wedding because of them. Once they’re adopted, they’re legally his problem. That’s why they need to go.”
Another pause. Continue reading…