“I’m sorry.”
He looked confused.
“For what?”
“I kept sending you back to bed. I thought you were being silly.”
“You should’ve told me anyway.”
“I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“You should’ve told me anyway.”
He hesitated.
“Grandma’s an adult.”
“I know.”
“I thought adults know what’s right.”
I pulled him close.
Diane was no longer part of our daily lives.
“Adults can be wrong too.”
He leaned against me.
“And if an adult ever tells you to keep something secret because telling me would upset me, you tell me anyway.”
“Even if you’ll get mad?”
“Especially then.”
Almost a year later, Brenda turned one.
Diane was no longer part of our daily lives. Any contact happened under boundaries Daniel and I controlled.
At Brenda’s birthday, he helped put one candle on her cake.
By then, Ben had stopped hovering whenever someone picked Brenda up. He was back to being her brother instead of her guard.
