Chapter 5 - Aunt HelenDavid drove across town the next morning.
His destination was his aunt Helen's apartment.
His mother had spent years telling him that Helen was jealous.
Bitter.
Toxic.
Dangerous.
But when David told Helen what had happened, she didn't look surprised.
She looked devastated.
Her hands trembled around her coffee cup.
"She tried again," Helen whispered.
David stared at her.
"Again?"
Helen closed her eyes.
"There was a baby before you."
The room seemed to shrink.
"A girl."
Her name was Emily.
She had died when she was barely a month old.
The doctors had called it SIDS.
But Helen told David that his mother had never recovered.
Something inside her had broken.
When David was born, that brokenness turned into obsession.
"He became everything to her," Helen said.
"Not her son?"
Helen looked directly into his eyes.
"Her possession."
David felt sick.
Helen continued.
"Your mother couldn't accept you growing up. Then you married Leah."
She paused.
"And now you're having a daughter."
David's heart sank.
"A daughter?"
Helen nodded.
"Your mother lost Emily. Now she's terrified of losing you to another little girl."
The truth was horrifying.
His mother wasn't simply jealous of Leah.
She wasn't simply controlling.
She was trying to recreate a past that had destroyed her.
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And David suddenly realized who was standing between her and that obsession.
His unborn daughter.
