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After two months at the recovery center, I finally headed home.
As soon as I walked in the door, I spotted Clarissa and Eleanor sitting by the entrance,
holding the baby, waiting for me.
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Eleanor looked like she was about to blow a gasket. “What’s the deal with the code? Why did you change it without telling me? I’ve been standing out here forever!”
Honestly, why on earth would I tell her?
Clarissa, holding Cedric, flashed a smile that looked more like a grimace. “Nadia, there’s construction next door to our place, and it’s just chaos. We’ll stay with you for a while, alright? Once the noise settles down, we’ll head back home.”
now.
Reginald and I both said no, not this time.
“Eleanor, Clarissa, this isn’t right. If you need a place, I can find you somewhere to stay for
Having both babies in the same space is going to mess with Nadia’s rest. You know that.”
But Eleanor and Clarissa weren’t having it. They had already made up their minds.
Eleanor took it to the next level, dramatically flopping down on the ground. “Fine, but you don’t need to find us a place. We’ll just camp out right here in front of your door. Your building’s got a big enough hallway, doesn’t it?”
Clarissa wiped away a fake tear, sobbing just enough for effect. “If your brother were still around, he’d never let me and the baby sleep out here. I thought about terminating the
pregnancy, but I couldn’t bear the idea of him not having a kid to pass on the family name. And
anyway, it’s your family’s bloodline. How could you just turn your back on us?”
Eleanor’s voice grew even louder, a mix of indignation and melodrama. “Ungrateful!
Cold–hearted! I’m just asking for a place to stay temporarily, and this is how you treat me? Fine. Maybe I should just die now, while I can still get around. I’ll hang myself on your doorstep. Maybe then you’ll see!”
When I first got this second chance at life, I thought that if I could just get away from Eleanor
and Clarissa, I could protect my child and preserve my brother’s legacy.
After all, my brother had always treated me so well, and I could never bring myself to harm
an innocent child.
If I could, I still hoped for a peaceful solution. I might even be able to forgive their past
mistakes and help them financially if need be.
But watching these two throw themselves into a full–on meltdown, talking about suicide and
threatening to jump off buildings, made me see things clearly.
No matter what I did, they were going to cling to us like parasites!
Even if the whole baby–switching issue was over, they would find a way to suck us dry, and
worse, they might hurt my child.
After all, I’d just had a C–section, so I couldn’t have another baby for three years.
If anything happened to my baby, Clarissa and Eleanor would certainly push me to adopt Cedric, or even worse, just drop him at my doorstep, expecting me to take care of my brother’s
child.
The only way my family and I would ever have peace was if these two were out of the picture.
I stood at the door, took a deep breath, and said, “Fine. Stay as long as you need. You can
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help with the kids”
That night, I went over the footage from the security cameras.
As expected, it was just as I had imagined.
Clarissa couldn’t figure out why Eleanor was so insistent on staying here, and she scolded her for messing up the baby swap. Apparently, it was Eleanor’s mistake.
Eleanor tried to defend herself, but with the truth staring them in the face, there was nothing left to say. Finally, she sighed and said, “I’ve made up my mind. We’re staying here. It’s perfectly normal for a baby to die in some accident. If Nadia’s baby doesn’t make it, she’ll shift her
attention to our child.”
The two didn’t continue discussing how they would handle things, but I knew they weren’t done yet.
