Chapter 10 - Making Amends
"Grandma?" I gasped, covering my mouth with both hands. "What is that?"
Grandma Ruth chuckled, leaning on her cane with a triumphant smile. "Did you really think your old grandmother would trust that sneaky woman to actually buy your present?"
I picked up the heavy box, my hands trembling.
"Three weeks ago, when Dana called asking for the money, I already knew she was a snake," Grandma explained, smoothing my hair. "A mother always knows when someone is using her son. So, I sent the four hundred dollars via Venmo specifically so I would have a legally binding digital paper trail of her deception. And then, the very next morning, I drove down to the electronic store myself and bought the tablet you wanted with my own credit card."
Tears streamed down my cheeks, hot and unstoppable. "Grandma... you knew?"
"I suspected," Grandma said softly. "I wanted to give her the rope to see if she would hang herself with it. And boy, did she ever. Go on, open it."
I ripped the silver wrapping paper. Underneath was the exact drawing tablet I had dreamed about—a high-end professional digital drawing monitor with a pressure-sensitive pen, replacement nibs, and a full art software bundle.
"Thank you, Grandma!" I threw my arms around her neck, burying my face in her wool coat.
"You deserve the world, Natalie," she whispered into my ear. "Never let anyone make you feel like you belong in second place."
We carried the box back inside into the warm kitchen. When Mason saw it, his face lit up with genuine happiness for the first time all day.
"Whoa, Nat!" Mason exclaimed, rushing over to examine the screen. "That looks way cooler than the one in the catalog!"
"Here," I said, sliding the box toward him. "Help me hook it up to the computer?"
Mason looked at me with cautious hope. "Really? You're not mad at me?"
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"You stood up for me, Mason," I said honestly. "You're my brother. We're in this together."
Dad watched us from across the kitchen island, a faint, genuine smile finally returning to his tired face. For the first time in over a year, the house felt like a sanctuary rather than a battlefield.
