Chapter 6 – Her First Grandchild
Ruth opened her door holding a roll of blue tape.
Nate looked at it before he looked at her.
“You can put that away.”
“Are you bringing everyone over?”
“No.”
She stepped back to let him into the kitchen. He stayed near the door rather than taking his usual chair.
“Did you tell Eli he needed to stay away until after the baby?”
Ruth set the tape beside a bowl of fruit.
“He’ll have a nice time with Ray.”
“You didn’t ask Ray for that. You didn’t ask Maya. You didn’t ask me.”
“Someone had to think ahead.”
Nate took out his phone and laid it on the counter, with the original moving job open.
“I did. One address. All of us. You changed it.”
Ruth looked past the phone toward the hall leading to the nursery.
“I’ve spent weeks getting this house ready.”
“For how many people?”
“Don’t start counting things as if I’m running a hotel.”
“You counted his boxes.”
Her face hardened.
“You’ll understand when your own child gets here.”
Nate felt the words land with a sickening familiarity. They were not new. They had been hiding in pleasant conversations for months.
My first grandchild. A little Carter at last. You’ll see what being a father really feels like.
At the family cookout, Maya had told him the first-grandchild remark hurt. He had said his mother was excited and did not mean it the way it sounded.
Now there was a child’s room marked for another town.
“Eli is my child,” Nate said.
“I know what the paperwork says.”
“You were at the adoption celebration.”
“I was supporting you.”
“Then support the decision I actually made.”
Ruth folded her arms.
“A baby changes a household. He could use a little space while you settle into being a real family.”
Nate picked up his phone.
“We were a real family before this pregnancy.”
For the first time, Ruth looked uncertain.
“You’re going to turn your back on me because I tried to help?”
“I’m going to make sure both my children have a place in their own home.”
He left without raising his voice.
At Elena’s house, Maya was sitting at the kitchen table with a list of possible rentals. Nate put his keys down and told her what his mother had said, including the parts that made him ashamed.
“You told me to let those comments go,” Maya said.
“I did.”
“I wasn’t asking you to fight about every word. I was asking you to notice what she meant.”
He sat across from her.
“I thought keeping the peace would keep everyone together. I left you and Eli to absorb what I didn’t want to challenge.”
Maya looked toward the doorway. Eli and Elena were laughing at something on the television.
“He needs to see what you do next.”
Nate turned the rental list toward himself.
“So do you.”