I didn’t say anything.
I was sad.
Madison had to ask him to be nice to me. |
was just living in her world.
Liam pulled me into a hug. “Natalie, are you
thinking about the baby again?”
I lost it.
Liam panicked, then brightened. “I heard your sister had a baby too. She’s always traveling, so why don’t we bring him home and raise
him as our own?”
“We’ll tell everyone you had him, so our
parents will be happy and you won’t be
judged.”
I looked at him, confused.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was doing
this for me.
But I’d decided to leave. “Fine. Everyone
wins.”
Liam looked relieved. “I’ll be good to you,
» Natalie.”
“When the kid grows up, we can travel. You always wanted to see where you grew up, right?”
He chattered on about our perfect future, but
L
it would never happen. Because I was leaving.
Liam couldn’t wait. He brought Madison and
the baby home and threw a party.
“I figured our parents should know, and you
must miss them.”
Liam watched me carefully, afraid I’d get
mad.
At the Chen house, my parents were cooing
over Preston, happy to be grandparents.
Madison sat next to them, still a little girl.
My mom stroked Madison.
“Madison was miserable overseas. Don’t
worry, this is our Chen family grandson!”
It stung, but I smiled and said hi.
My parents went cold. “Why are you sulking?
Are you trying to ruin our mood? Look at
Madison. She’s so much better than you.”
“I don’t know what you’re doing. You can’t
even carry a baby to full term, so Madison
had to fix your mess.”
“The Quaid family will be here today. Why are
you dressed like that? You’re embarrassing
- us. We shouldn’t have found you. It kept
Madison from coming home all these years.”
My parents don’t like me. They hate that I
can’t get them prestige and that I’m not a
Chen. Too bad Madison isn’t their kid.
They had to deal with me when Madison left
<
and Liam wanted to marry me. But it made
them hate me more.
My dad didn’t walk me down the aisle, and my
mom made faces.
Liam used to defend me, but now he was
staring at Madison, full of love.
He’s forgotten that he killed my baby by
poisoning me.
Madison walked up to me with her baby and
gave me a sincere look.
“Sis, look at Preston. Isn’t he cute?”
He was cute. His eyes were like Madison’s,
and his lips and chin were like Liam’s.
く
I touched the baby’s face, filled with rage.
Why did he get to live, to have a good life,
when my baby was poisoned and never saw
the light?
3
“Preston?”
“Yeah. Liam’s friend hired a fortune teller to
name him. We want him to have a good life.”
I searched through dictionaries to find the
perfect name for my baby, a name that meant
health, happiness, and peace. Liam said it
was useless.
