The House Ethan Still Missed
Chapter 13 - The House Ethan Still Missed
Ethan was moved to a neutral foster home while the court ordered a transition plan.
The foster parents were kind. They had a yellow dog named Benny, a room with glow-in-the-dark stars, and rules posted on the refrigerator in cheerful blue letters. Ethan thanked them for dinner and asked permission before opening the bathroom cabinet.
On the third night, he cried because Vivian always cut the crusts off his toast.
Laura sat in her car outside the foster home after visits and fought the urge to blame him for missing the person who had taken him from her.
Robert reminded her that love did not obey court evidence.
“He can know what she did and still want her,” he said.
“I know.”
“Knowing and surviving it are different things.”
During a supervised session, Laura brought the toy airplane from the old visitation center. Ethan held it carefully.
“Grandma said Dad gave that to me after my first flight.”
“He did.”
“Why didn’t she throw it away?”
“Because she loved your father.”
Ethan’s eyes filled with anger. “Then why did she lie about what he wanted?”
Laura did not answer for Vivian. “Sometimes people confuse being needed with being loved. When they are afraid of losing one, they destroy the other.”
At Vivian’s supervised visit, Ethan refused to hug her.
She sat across from him in the child center wearing the same cream coat from the airport. Without her house, her assistants, or her attorneys, she looked older.
“I would never hurt you,” she said.
“You hurt Mom.”
“I protected you from chaos.”
“You changed the papers.”
Vivian’s jaw tightened. “Adults made difficult decisions.”
“Dad said I was supposed to be with Mom.”
“Your father was dying.”
Ethan stood so suddenly the chair scraped backward.
“He was still my dad.”
The visit ended early.
That night, Ethan asked his foster mother for paper and wrote two letters. One was addressed to Laura. The other was addressed to Vivian.
He gave Laura’s letter to Dana the next morning.
He hid Vivian’s beneath his mattress.
Two days later, the foster mother found the bedroom window open and Ethan’s black suit missing from the closet.
May you like
On the pillow was a note:
I have to finish what Dad started.
