My Mother-in-Law Dumped Rotting Trash on My Five-Year-Old Son—Then I Discovered Why.
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Chapter 21 / 27
Chapter 21 - Niles’s Seventh Birthday
No corporate attorney at birthday.
My rule.
Alden laughed when I told him.
“I had not planned to attend.”
“Excellent.”
Niles wanted dinosaur excavation.
We buried fake fossils in sandbox.
Roderick grilled.
Twenty kids.
No Eugenia.
Niles had chosen no.
Lys? no other.
At cake he hesitated before opening first gift.
I saw.
“What?”
“Is it normal?”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“Inside.”
I understood.
“Want me to open first?”
He thought.
“No.”
Then tore paper.
LEGO dinosaur set.
He smiled.
Second.
Books.
Third.
Soccer ball.
By fourth, no hesitation.
That night:
“Birthday good.”
“Yes.”
“Five bad.”
“Yes.”
“Seven good.”
“Yes.”
Then:
“Can eight be space?”
May you like
“Absolutely.”
Birthdays became birthdays again.
