Romance

The Replaced Mother

by Hibiscus Dawn

My son, Yale Foster, had what they called school-pickup anxiety. Every afternoon before dismissal, he needed to know I was home waiting for him.So when he called from his smartwatch yet again to tell me not to come get him, Yates Foster looked genuinely troubled."Winnie, don't come to the school."If Yale sees you at the gate, he will start panicking that you're going to leave him. Once he starts crying, no one can calm him down."I stood there with my car keys in my hand, unsure what I was supposed to do.Yates sighed. "Mom's already gone to pick him up. Just stay home and wait for him."That was how three years passed with me almost never picking up my own son from school.Helen Foster handled pickup in my place and went with him on the school's family field trips. Whenever I wanted to go myself, someone always had a reason why I shouldn't."The entrance gets so crowded. You'll only make him more anxious.""His teacher says Yale's finally getting used to the routine. We shouldn't keep changing who picks him up.""Winnie, you already work so hard. Leave little things like pickup to us."I believed them.Until today, when I happened to see a group chat on Helen's phone.Buried in the group's photo album was a password-protected folder:[Yale's Growing Up]I opened it and found everything I'd missed: school performances, parent-teacher conferences, family field days, graduation photos.Three hundred twenty-seven pictures.In every one of them, Yates, Yara Xavier, and Yale stood together.I wasn't in a single shot.In one photo, Yara even had a name tag pinned to her chest that read:[Yale Foster's Mom]The last file was a video.Yale was holding up an award when he asked, "Dad, why isn't Mom here yet?"Yates smiled and corrected him."Mommy Yara is already here, isn't she?"Everyone behind the camera burst out laughing.And just like that, I understood.For the past three years, while they kept finding reasons to shut me out, they'd been letting another woman take my place throughout Yale's entire childhood.

Loading your library and reading data…