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On the morning my ex-husband was marrying my younger sister, our nine-year-old daughter stood in front of my bedroom mirror while I fastened the last button on her dress.
She had been unusually quiet.
Too quiet for Amelia.
Normally, getting dressed for anything remotely fancy involved twenty questions, three complaints about shoes, and at least one argument about whether brushing her hair was a human-rights violation…. Continue Reading ⬇️
That morning, she simply stared at herself.Family Law
“Mom?”
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
She smoothed the front of her pale blue dress.
“If Dad marries Aunt Lina today, is she still Aunt Lina?”
My fingers stopped on the final button.
“Of course she is.”
Amelia frowned at her reflection.
“Even if she keeps saying she’s going to be my bonus mom?”
There it was.
The phrase I had been trying very hard not to react to.
Bonus mom.
Lina had started using it shortly after she and Ryan became engaged.
I had never criticized her for it in front of Amelia.
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Whatever I thought of my sister, Amelia did not deserve to become the rope in a tug-of-war between adults.Marriage
“She’ll still be your aunt,” I said.
Amelia nodded.
Then came the harder question.
“And you’re still her sister?”
My hands dropped.
For several seconds, I couldn’t answer.
Biologically?
Yes.
Technically?
Yes.
Emotionally?
I didn’t know what Lina and I were anymore.Family
Amelia turned around.
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“Mom?”
“Yes, baby. I’m still her sister.”
She studied my face.
“Do you still love her?”
That one hurt even more.
“I’ll always love the sister I grew up with.”
Apparently that was enough.
Amelia turned back toward the mirror.
“Okay.”
She picked up the little white gift bag Lina had sent for her.
But something about that quiet “okay” stayed with me.
My mother arrived fifteen minutes later.
She took one look at me in sweatpants and frowned.
“You’re really not coming?”
“We’ve discussed this.”Weddings
“Annie.”
“Mom.”
She sighed.
“Lina is your sister.”
I stared at her.
That sentence had been repeated so many times over the previous months that it had almost lost all meaning.
Almost.
“She deserves happiness too.”
I glanced toward Amelia.
She was standing near the door, listening.
I didn’t want another argument in front of her.