Chapter 9 - The Truth Comes Out
At the next family gathering, I understood exactly how well Diane's version had worked.
Conversations dropped the second Adam and I walked in. One cousin gave us a stiff, tight hello. Another didn't even bother hiding her glare.
Diane sat next to Adam's aunt, soaking up sympathy with the wounded expression of a woman who'd been terribly wronged.
Milo had asked to stay home with a friend, and for once I was relieved. He didn't need to hear any of this.
"You really made your own mother leave the house?" Adam's uncle asked, arms crossed.
"Yes," Adam said.
"Over dolls?"
"No," Adam said. "Because of what she did to my son."
Diane let out a wounded little laugh. "There, you see? A ten-year-old tells his grandmother to get out, and somehow I'm the villain."
A few people exchanged uneasy looks. Then Adam's older sister set her cup down on the table with a firm clink.
"What actually happened, Adam? Mom said she just threw away some old dolls."
"It wasn't 'some old dolls,'" Adam said. "It was every single doll he'd collected and sewn clothes for over four years."
"She waited until we left the house," I added, "put them in garbage bags herself, and got them to the curb before the truck came."
Adam's sister turned to Diane. "Is that true?"
Diane didn't even hesitate. "Of course it's true. Somebody had to put a stop to it."
The room went silent.
"You waited until he was gone?" his sister asked.
"He would've made a scene."
"He's ten years old, Mom."
"And he's too old for dolls," Diane shot back. "That's exactly the point. A boy his age should be playing with something more appropriate."
An aunt shifted in her seat. "I'll be honest, I don't fully get the dolls either," she admitted.
Diane's face brightened. "Thank you."
"But that doesn't mean you get to humiliate a child and destroy his things behind his parents' backs."
Diane's smile vanished.
The uncle who'd confronted Adam earlier leaned back in his chair, studying Diane now instead. "You told us they threw you out for coddling him. For raising him wrong."
"They are!"
"No," Adam's sister said flatly. "They threw you out because they asked you to leave the boy alone, and you decided you knew better than his own parents."
"I was trying to help him."
"By making him ashamed of who he is?" she asked.
Diane looked around the room, waiting for someone — anyone — to back her up.
Nobody did.
Even the aunt who'd admitted she didn't understand the dolls wouldn't meet Diane's eyes anymore.
"You're all taking his side now?" Diane's voice cracked. "After everything I've done for this family?"
Nobody answered.
May you like
"You're all against me," she muttered.
"No," Adam said quietly. "We're for Milo."
