She was right. I had managed Vanessa instead of stopping her.
Then ten-year-old Noah stood.
“Aunt Vanessa has been cutting Nora out since she was eleven.”
Vanessa went pale.
While preparing a family-history project, Noah had found original photographs and Vanessa’s edited copies in a shared folder.
She tried to leave, but I blocked the doorway.
“Noah, show us.”
He connected my laptop to the television.
One image showed eleven-year-old Nora beside my mother at a birthday party. In Vanessa’s copy, Nora was gone. Another holiday picture ended at my father’s shoulder, erasing her again.
More followed: birthdays, picnics, holidays, and vacations. Year after year, Vanessa had removed my daughter from our family history.
Nora stared at the screen, crying.
Vanessa reached for the cable.
“They’re my pictures.”
“They are pictures of my daughter.”
Vanessa claimed she was protecting the family image. Then Lily spoke.
“That isn’t true.”
