Chapter 16 - Naya’s consequences
Naya did not go to jail.
She committed no crime by sleeping with my husband.
Morality and criminal law are not twins.
Her consequences were relational.
She lost friends.
Some deservedly.
Some because people enjoy taking sides more than they admit.
Mom’s church friends gossiped.
Naya hated it.
I did not celebrate.
She returned to work after maternity leave.
She had been a senior product manager for a healthcare software company.
Good salary.
She kept her career.
Good.
Being a terrible sister should not erase professional competence unless conduct crosses into work.
Her harder consequence was practical.
Single motherhood.
Not because Claire cursed her.
Because she chose not to resume a relationship with a man who had lied about another child and another woman.
Mike had parenting time with Lucas.
Paid guideline support.
Shared medical and childcare costs.
Naya had help from Mom.
Sometimes me?
Not at first.
Eventually.
The first time she asked me to watch Lucas for forty minutes during a pediatric appointment overlap, she looked humiliated.
“You can say no.”
“I know.”
“I wouldn’t blame you.”
“Stop.”
She stopped.
I watched him.
He slept the entire time.
Very inconsiderate after all the family drama around his existence.
When Naya returned, she whispered:
“Thank you.”
I said:
“You’re welcome.”
No grand reconciliation.
Forty minutes.
A baby.
May you like
A bottle.
Sometimes repair is that small.
