Chapter 185

VALERIE: I should have known something was terribly wrong when Jo woke me up so early to talk about feeding my sweet nephew, Lucian. I should have known something was off and I should have asked what it was. But I did not. I did not because I believed that if anything was wrong, she would tell me. But I was wrong about that too. What could a ten year old possibly understand, right? Right. I held baby Lucian in our room and pressed his head on my chest, I tapped his back gently, trying to stop him from crying. But he would have none of it. I looked towards the empty bottles on the table. The one with the breastmilk had already been emptied, it was only the formula left. I bet Jojo did not know Lucian ate so much whenever she was not around him, because that was the only way I could explain her leaving only two bottles behind when she knew she was going to be away for this long. Lucian could sense the absence of his mother, and it caused him to cry out loud. His shrill screams and wails