“I’m being honest.”
I moved between Vanessa and my daughter.
“You’re doing this because I confronted you about cutting her out.”
Mom stared at Vanessa. Dad put down his fork.
“What did you do?”
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“Basic editing. Audrey wants to turn it into cruelty.”
Nora looked at me.
“You knew?”
The hurt in her face hit harder than Vanessa’s words.
“I found out on the trip, baby.”
“And you still invited her here?”
“I thought I could deal with it without putting you through another fight.”
“But she’s hurting me again.”
“And you still invited her here?”
She was right.
Once again, I had tried to manage Vanessa instead of stopping her.
“I should’ve acted sooner,” I said.
Vanessa threw up her hands.
“You’re all turning photographs into a family disaster.”
Dad leaned forward.
“I should’ve acted sooner.”
“You’re insulting a child at her own dinner table.”
“I’m curating my own pictures,” Vanessa snapped. “I shouldn’t have to ruin every photo to protect Nora’s feelings.”
That’s when Noah stood.
“Nora didn’t ruin the pictures,” he said. “You’ve been cutting her out of them since she was 11.”
Vanessa’s face lost all color.
Mom looked at Noah.
“You’ve been cutting her out.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was making my family-history project. I found the originals.”
Vanessa had uploaded years of family photographs to the shared folder on my laptop. Noah found that some dates had two versions: the original and the copy Vanessa had cropped.
Vanessa’s chair hit the wall.
“He doesn’t know what he saw.”
“I found the originals.”
“I saw the dates and the copies,” Noah said.
“You little brat.”
“Don’t speak to my son like that.”
Vanessa grabbed her bag.
“This is ridiculous. Lily, we’re leaving.”
Noah looked at me.
“It’s on your laptop.”
