Chapter 7 - Diane Preferred Believing Lily Was a Thief
When Diane learned Michael had taken the jewelry, I expected rage.
I got denial.
“That’s ridiculous.”
Michael stood several feet away from her.
“Mom, I took it.”
She looked straight at him.
“No.”
“I did.”
“Ethan probably misunderstood.”
“I asked him to help me move the case.”
Diane shook her head as if rejecting an unpleasant medical diagnosis.
Then she looked toward Lily.
“She was the one with the pouch.”
That was when I finally understood the depth of Diane’s favoritism.
The truth was standing in front of her.
Her adult son was confessing.
Her favored grandson had confirmed part of the story.
And she still found it emotionally easier to blame the four-year-old girl.
I asked:
“Why are you so determined for it to be Lily?”
Diane bristled.
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“She’s always touching things.”
“She’s four.”
“She needs boundaries.”
“You dumped food over her head.”
Diane looked away.
I continued.
“And you let Ethan humiliate her because you believed one empty pouch mattered more than anything she said.”
Then Ethan spoke.
“Grandma, Lily didn’t do it.”
Diane turned toward him.
He looked terrified.
But he continued.
“Dad told me to put the pouch there.”
For the first time, Diane had no answer.
Ethan crossed the room and stood beside Lily.
Not touching her yet.
Just choosing where to stand.
That simple movement seemed to hurt Diane more than Michael’s confession.
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Her favorite grandchild had stepped away from her version of the family.
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