Chapter 4 - MASON KNEW MORE THAN I EXPECTEDMason had been quiet all evening.
I assumed he was too young to understand.
I was wrong.
Later, when Vanessa was removed from the house pending the immediate safety plan, Mason asked to talk to me.
He sat on the stairs.
“Is Noah leaving?”
“No.”
He looked relieved.
That surprised me.
“Did you think he was?”
“Mom said maybe.”
My heart sank.
“What else did she say?”
Mason hesitated.
“That if Noah went away, we’d be a real family.”
I closed my eyes.
This wasn’t only about Noah.
Vanessa had been poisoning Mason too.
Teaching him that his place depended on another child losing his.
“Did you want Noah gone?”
Mason started crying.
“No.”
Then:
“But Mom said the house would be mine.”
There it was.
A ten-year-old being turned into a beneficiary before he even understood property.
I sat beside him.
“This house is not a prize.”
He stared.
“And Noah is your brother in this family whether or not money exists.”
“He’s not my real brother.”
“That depends what real means.”
Mason looked confused.
“You live together.”
“You fight over games.”
“You steal his fries.”
He almost smiled.
“That sounds pretty real to me.”
Then he whispered:
“Mom says blood matters.”
I thought about the trust.
Ironically, legally, blood did matter there.
But morally?
I refused to let financial language define the boys.
“The trust can have rules.”
I said.
“Our family has different ones.”
May you like
Mason nodded slowly.
That became one of the most important conversations we ever had.
