I looked directly at him.
“Your sister sent fake emails to Noah’s classmates telling them not to come.”
Ethan’s face darkened instantly.
“What?”
Victoria rushed toward him desperately.
“Ethan, she’s twisting this—”
“Did you do it?” he demanded.
She hesitated.
That was enough.
For the first time in our marriage, I watched Ethan completely lose patience with his sister.
“You tried to ruin my son’s birthday?” he said quietly.
Victoria opened her mouth again, but Ethan pointed toward the street.
“Leave.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“Get out,” he repeated coldly. “And don’t come near my wife or my son again.”
Victoria looked around desperately, but nobody defended her.
Not even her own husband.
Humiliated beyond words, she grabbed her purse and practically fled down the driveway, her expensive heels clicking frantically against the pavement.
The moment she disappeared, my father clapped his hands loudly.
“Well,” he announced warmly, instantly shifting the mood again, “I believe there’s a dinosaur piñata waiting to be destroyed.”
The children erupted into cheers.
Laughter filled the yard.
Music started playing again.
And for the first time that afternoon, my son looked truly happy.
I watched Noah running across the grass surrounded by friends, his crooked party hat bouncing as he laughed so hard he could barely breathe.
He wasn’t weird.
He wasn’t unwanted.
