Chapter 4
I lay in bed, the first night I hadn’t slept at all.
Lynley no longer clung to me; he adored sticking with Keith.
Keith, in turn, showed more patience, picking him up from school and sleeping with him at
night.
And Acelynn was always involved.
Lynley’s eyes gradually lost sight of me as his mother. He ignored me and even refused my touch.
The pent–up emotions nearly overwhelmed
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- me.
I grabbed Lynley’s arm, crouched in front of him, and asked,
“Why are you so cold to Mommy? Lynley, do you want a different mommy?”
I was just angry, speaking without thinking.
But Lynley responded firmly,
“You’re a bad mom. I want Mommy to be my mommy.”
Mommy? Acelynn?
He still called her that, as if it wasn’t just a pretense in their activities.
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“Lynley,” I said sharply, “don’t call Acelynn
Mommy!”
I hated her.
Lynley struggled and cried, shouting, “I don’t want you. I want Mommy and Daddy!”
“You are a bad mom.”
He was like a bull, and I could barely hold
him.
When Keith came home, he saw Lynley struggling in my arms.
He pushed me aside, took Lynley into his own arms, his expression showing
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unprecedented concern.
“Lesley, if you’re going to lose your mind, go do it somewhere else. Don’t do it in front of
our son.”
He spoke through clenched teeth, his gaze cold and full of hatred.
I braced myself on the floor, watching the tender scene between father and son.
Lynley continued to cry in Keith’s arms, calling for Mommy, saying he wanted to go
to Mommy.
Keith patted his back, his tone gentle.
“Alright, we’ll go to Mommy. We don’t need
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this Mom anymore, okay?”
Lynley sniffled through his tears.
“No this bad Mom, just Mommy and Daddy.”
It was as if they had forgotten I was there.
As they left, they didn’t even spare me a glance.
I didn’t understand,
Keith’s lack of love, I could accept, but Lynley?
I had been so good to him, carrying him for ten months, never speaking harshly.
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He had once said he loved me very much.
Why had it changed so suddenly?
My mouth was salty, and my heart felt empty.
That night, Keith didn’t come back, along with Lynley.
Lynley had never been away from me.
I called Keith, and if he didn’t come back, I could accept it, but not Lynley.
The call connected, and Keith’s impatient voice came through.
“What do you want?”
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“Where’s Lynley? Bring him back. He can’t be away from me.”
I was anxious, only thinking about my Lynley.
After a moment, Keith seemed to light a cigarette and took a drag.
He scoffed, and the sound was like a sharp stab to my heart.
“Lesley, maybe you should see how happy Lynley is without you.”
Keith ended the call and then sent a video.
In the video, Acelynn was bathing Lynley.
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Lynley played with bubbles, calling her Mommy.
“Mommy, when are you and Daddy getting married? I want to come here every day.”
Acelynn smiled, pinching his nose.
“You little rascal, even if Daddy and I don’t get married, you can still come.”
“But I want to sleep with Daddy and Mommy. I want to live with you.”
“What about your mom? Don’t you want your mom anymore?”
Lynley frowned and huffed.
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“Mom is a bad person. Daddy and Mommy don’t like her, and I don’t like her either.”
Acelynn looked up and smiled at the camera, teasing, “Are you recording? Lynley’s childhood embarrassments are all in high definition.”
Keith chuckled, “What’s the worry? It’s his childhood embarrassments, not ours.”
In the video, Lynley was very attached to Acelynn.
He lay on the bed, naked, while Acelynn dressed him in pajamas and lay beside him, reading him a story.
The camera then panned to the head of the
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bed, where Keith also joined.
The video lasted almost an hour.
Yet the warmth in the video was something Lynley had never experienced before.
