I felt a pang of guilt.
But then I looked at Mikey in my arms, and
my resolve hardened.
If I hadn’t switched him back, Mikey might
have lived his whole life in that kind of
environment.
Back in Mikey’s room, the nanny was
frantically looking for him.
When she saw me with the baby, she rushed
over.
“Miss, where did you go? I didn’t see the
baby, it scared me to death.”
I kept my cool, saying, “Mikey was crying, so I
took him to feed him.”
Lately, I’ve been trying to keep other people
away from him, doing everything myself.
Luckily, Jake and Shelly don’t really care
about their baby, or they would’ve figured it
out by now.
The nanny didn’t suspect a thing, and took
Mikey, gently putting him in his crib and
humming him to sleep.
I watched Mikey drift off, thinking about what
Jake had said, and frowned.
“Make sure Mikey gets a full checkup in the
morning. Nothing can be skipped.”
The nanny looked puzzled, but didn’t say
anything.
2
I still felt uneasy, so that night I gave Mikey a
bath and replaced all of his things with new
ones.
I sat on the couch, finally feeling relieved, and
leaned back, exhausted.
When I was little, Uncle Frank’s family wasn’t
very nice to me.
Aunt Carol would snatch the bun out of my
hand at dinner.
143
“Girls don’t need that much food! You’re
wasting it! Eat less, and then your in–laws will
want you!”
L
Everyone else got to leave the table, but I had
to stay and do the dishes.
“I’m doing this for you! What girl can’t wash dishes? Are you gonna eat for free?”
I pointed at Jake, who was gnawing on a pork knuckle. “He doesn’t do chores, and he eats
more than me!”
Aunt Carol slapped my hand away. “You can’t compare yourself to a boy! They’re worth
their weight in gold! They don’t belong in the
kitchen!”
Did that mean I was born to wash dishes?
But seeing Aunt Carol’s angry glare, I
swallowed my words.
く
Later, my parents‘ business took off, and they
took me with them.
Uncle Frank saw an opportunity and gave me
a bunch of clothes and candy.
When I was in middle school, my parents‘
company started to get pretty big, Uncle
Frank came begging for help.
He got laid off, and Jake never went to
college.
Dad took pity on them, bought them a car
and a house, and even got them jobs at his company. He even planned Jake’s wedding.
Their family went from poor to living
comfortably thanks to us.
<
Now that they’re doing well, they want more.
My dad was kind and supportive.
And they thanked him by switching babies
and trying to steal everything we own.
Whatever.
Now that Mikey was back, what could they
possibly do?
I went to the hospital to pick up Mikey’s
checkup results.
