Chapter 26 - Iris’s third birthday
By Iris’s third birthday, family gatherings looked different.
Not perfect.
Different.
Rachel brought a homemade pasta salad.
Diane brought cake.
Paul sent a ridiculous electronic toy from Arizona that Ben immediately hated.
Noah was twelve.
Lily nine.
They adored Iris.
Rachel and I were closer than during our twenties.
Not because we forgot.
Because our relationship finally stopped requiring a financial pipeline.
She still occasionally complained.
“You’re the rich sister.”
“I have a mortgage.”
“You have a fancy mortgage.”
Fair.
I no longer responded by proving I cared with money.
She no longer interpreted refusal as proof I did not love her children.
At the party, Lily asked:
“Aunt Elena, are you paying for my college?”
Rachel nearly dropped a plate.
“Lily!”
I started laughing.
“Who told you to ask that?”
“Noah.”
Noah disappeared toward the backyard.
I called:
“Nice try!”
May you like
No family crisis.
Just a joke because the old subject no longer had enough power to destroy the room.
