But apparently, Helen’s respect toward us, our marriage, and how we raised our child, came with an expiration date.
A little too wide. A little too proud.
“Now, your daughter is fine!” she beamed.
“Everything went great! Lily loved being here, especially with Timothy the cat. Oh, and Lily is now baptized!”
I blinked.
I thought she was joking.
But she wasn’t. Not at all.
Helen moved aside, letting us into the living room. Then, she sat down on the couch and proudly told us how she and Greg took Lily to church that morning.
The priest had performed a private baptism. No witnesses, no warning. Just Helen’s will and a priest she’d cornered into thinking that everything was okay.
Then I saw the thin gold necklace around Lily’s neck.
I felt something inside me go ice cold. I picked Lily up, muttered a quick thank you, and left. Natalie followed.
In the car, she tried to downplay it.
“It’s just some water and a few words,” she said.
“It doesn’t mean anything if we don’t believe in it, Ethan. Lily is still ours. She’s still our baby.
And she doesn’t know any better. The kid probably thought she was going swimming.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. But it was clear that Natalie didn’t get it.
Greg and Helen didn’t just go against us. They planned it.
They executed it. And didn’t think twice. They erased me from a parenting decision that belonged to both of us.
When we got home, I told Natalie straight.
“Your parents will never watch Lily unsupervised again.
Do you understand, Nat?”
She stared at me like I was punishing her.
“You can’t just make that decision alone,” she said loudly. “Who do you think you are?”Continue reading…
