My Son and His Wife Took Their Son on a $20K Cruise, Leaving Their Daughter Home — By Noon, I Was Standing at Their Table

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Chapter 36

THEME:
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They were both abused just in different ways. Mia was starved of food. Leo was fed a diet of materialism and emotional blackmail. I realized then that my mission had changed. When I boarded this ship, I came to rescue Mia. I came to take her away and leave Austin and Monica to rot in their own mess.

I thought I would leave Leo with them. I thought he belonged to their world. But looking at him now crying in his sister’s arms, I knew I could not leave him. If I left him, he would be destroyed. Monica would punish him for this betrayal for the rest of his life. She would crush his spirit until he became just like Austin.

A spineless man ruled by fear. I could not let that happen. I stood up and walked to the small bathroom. I wet a washcloth with cold water. I came back and knelt beside them. Wipe your face, son. I handed the cloth to Leo. He took it and wiped his eyes. He looked at me with a mixture of fear and hope. Are you going to send me back there, Grandpa? He asked. To their room.

No, I said. But mom said I have to. She said she is calling the lawyer. Let her call, I said. Let her call the pope for all I care. You are not going back to that room. You are staying here with me and Mia. But where will I sleep? Leo looked around the tiny cabin. There is only one bed. I smiled.

It was the first genuine smile I had felt in days. Have you ever built a bunker soldier? Leo shook his head. Well, you are about to learn. I stood up, grabbed the pillows. Mia grabbed the blankets. We moved the furniture. We pulled the mattress off the frame and put it on the floor. We took the cushions from the armchair.

We built a fortress of pillows and sheets right there in the center of the room. It was not a luxury suite. It was not the icon of the sea’s royal loft. It was a pile of bedding on the floor of a guest cabin. But as the three of us crawled into it, huddled together under the duvet, it felt like the safest place on earth.

Grandpa, Leo whispered in the dark. Yes, Leo. Are you going to take us home? I am, I said. Both of us, he asked. I reached out in the darkness and found his hand. I found Mia’s hand with my other one. I squeezed them both. Listen to me, I said, my voice fierce and low in the quiet room. I am not just your grandfather anymore.

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