Chapter 7 - Sisters who kept score
Natalie and I were fourteen months apart? No.
Three years.
Still close enough to compete.
She was the successful one first.
Honor roll.
Cheerleading captain.
State university.
Marketing degree.
Marriage at twenty-seven.
House at thirty.
I changed majors twice.
Got pregnant at twenty-eight.
Married Ryan quickly.
Divorced four years later.
Natalie had never said:
I’m better than you.
She did not need to.
She corrected my table settings.
Asked if I had considered:
“A more stable career track.”
Gave Grace expensive clothes and then said:
“At least she’ll have something nice for pictures.”
I responded badly.
I joked that Natalie would monogram oxygen if she could.
Called her parties:
“corporate launches for children.”
At Christmas one year, I told Ryan:
“Natalie needs every room to know she’s winning.”
He said:
“Then stop entering the race.”
I did not.
That was my part.
I did not cause what she did to Grace.
But I had participated in years of adult competition that should never have reached our children.
Natalie interpreted Grace through me.
If Grace cried?
Claire babies her.
If Grace talked loudly?
Claire needs attention.
If Grace wore the crown Owen gave her?
May you like
Claire’s kid is stealing the spotlight.
That was how adult resentment contaminated a child.
