Chapter 19 - AUBRIELLE’S SECOND BIRTHDAY CAKE
Aubrielle wanted another cake.
Not another birthday.
“Same birthday,” she said. “Different cake.”
Maya liked the idea if it stayed small.
No reenactment.
No forcing closure.
Just reclaiming an ordinary event.
So one Saturday:
Me.
Aubrielle.
Daniel.
Livia.
Cecily by video.
A small strawberry cake.
No Marietta.
I set it on the table.
Aubrielle froze.
Her hand stopped inches from the frosting.
My chest tightened.
“Do you want me to cut it?”
She shook her head.
Then:
“Can I touch?”
“It is your cake.”
She pressed one finger into frosting.
Waited.
Nothing happened.
Livia did the same on the opposite side.
Aubrielle laughed.
Then Cecily said through the tablet:
“Please use plates before your fathers revolt.”
Normal.
Aubrielle cut the first slice with my help.
She handed it to Livia.
Why?
“Because she didn’t get cake either.”
I nearly cried.
Then she gave second to herself.
Good.
Not self-sacrifice.
Then me.
Then Daniel.
Cecily complained she had none.
We promised later.
No symbolic speech.
Just cake.
Afterward, Aubrielle asked:
“Can Aunt Marietta ever come?”
I did not say never.
“I don’t know.”
“Does she hate me?”
I swallowed.
“She has acted like your place in the family takes something away from Livia.”
“That hate?”
“Sometimes people can care about someone and still treat them badly because of beliefs they refuse to change.”
Too complex.
She frowned.
“Does she like me?”
“I don’t know enough to answer.”
Honest.
Then:
“Livia likes me.”
“Yes.”
That mattered more.
Then the girls ran upstairs.
Cecily stayed on video.
She whispered:
“I missed that.”
“What?”
“A normal birthday.”
“Not birthday.”
She smiled.
“Same birthday. Different cake.”
Good.
Then she said:
“Marietta used to be like that with you.”
“Like what?”
“Generous.”
I remembered.
My sister gave me half her Halloween candy when we were children.
Helped me pass algebra.
Drove six hours when Ivy died.
People are more than their worst chapter.
May you like
They can still become unsafe.
Both true.
