His Niece, His Problem

My husband brought his sevenyearold niece to our house again, and again he said it was only for a few days.

Same as every other year: the kid's parents were off traveling, my motherinlaw said her back hurt and went home to her own town, and my husband said he had to work late into the night.

Every year I ended up raising that child by myself for months. They assumed that this time, like every time, I'd clean up the mess. Funny thing.

I'd just gotten word that I was going out of town for a month too. Chapter 1 "Nerissa, look who's here." I had just finished cooking when the front door opened.

Derek had his niece Portia by one hand, her backpack on his back, and a big duffel bag in his other hand.

I frowned. "What's going on?" Derek saw my face and immediately shot me a look — don't do this in front of the kid. Then he scooped her up into a chair. "There you go, Tia.

Uncle Derek's getting you a plate. Time to eat." The kid acted like I wasn't there at all and reached straight for the platter of shrimp. "I want shrimp!

And I want mac and cheese!" Derek came back smiling with a full plate. "Okay, okay. Whatever our Tia wants is what we make.

Eat up." Then he turned to me. "Tia says she wants mac and cheese. Do you have macaroni in the house?" I took off my apron. "There's cheese.

There's macaroni." Derek's face lit up. "So go make it. Didn't you hear her say she wants it?" I sat down, amused. "Derek, did you forget what I said last year?" His face froze.

Last year, Derek's brother and his wife decided to go backpacking on a shoestring and couldn't bear to put their daughter through the hardship. So they dumped her on us.

At first it was the same story: a week, ten days at the most.

They were gone more than a month, and I wasn't just taking care of her — I drove her to school every morning and picked her up every afternoon.

I could have gotten through all of that. But the kid was rotten. There was perfectly good food on the table and she wouldn't touch it.

Every meal came with a new demand — like just now, ignoring everything on the table and insisting on mac and cheese.

At first I thought it was sad, a child dropped off by her own parents like that, so I gave her whatever she asked for. Portia only got worse.

Every day she screamed for restaurant food, and she kept getting into my room. She painted on my bed, and the paint ruined a threehundreddollar bedding set.

She liked drawing pig faces on the mirror with my lipstick. I came home from work to find seven or eight of my lipsticks destroyed.

The reason I sent her home on the spot last year was that she poured toilet bowl cleaner into my toner. That one nearly ruined my face.

It took months of dermatology appointments to clear up. Even so — the day before she left, she snuck watermelon out of the fridge, and the next day she had diarrhea.

When her parents got back, they dumped the whole thing on me: they said I'd resented Portia for her little stunts, so I'd fed her cold watermelon on purpose to get back at her.

Chapter 2 And they put the whole thing in the family thread, where everyone who didn't know what had actually happened decided it was my fault — that I was petty, that I couldn't make room for one child.

It ended with Derek sending his brother and his wife two thousand dollars for "doctor's bills," and that finally put it to rest.

Last year Derek promised me Portia would never set foot in our house again. And this year, right on schedule, he brought her over. Derek looked uncomfortable.

He could see I was angry, and he hurried to get ahead of it. "Nerissa, that was over a long time ago. Don't be mad, okay?" "Besides, she's just a kid.

Why do you have to keep score with her?" "Fine, fine, fine. You don't want to make the mac and cheese, I'll make it.

Does that work?" He started for the kitchen. "Hold on." I looked at him. "I suggest you take her home right now. You know I have a job.

I'm not taking care of her again." Derek stopped. His face darkened. "My brother and his wife are already at the train station.

You want me to call them back?" I let out a cold laugh, took out my phone, and sent his brother a voice memo in the family thread. [Brandon, I have work.

I don't have time to watch your kid. Come get her right now.] I'd barely finished before Derek's eyebrows came down. "Nerissa, what kind of sisterinlaw does that?

Unsend it!" "You say it like that and they'll think we don't want to help.

How are we supposed to face them after this?" I smiled, cold. "They dumped their kid on us, had us feed her and clean up after her, and took two thousand dollars out of us on top of it.

You weren't worried about facing them then." Before Derek could answer, Brandon's wife, Lindsay, posted a voice memo. [Nerissa, we're already at the airport.

Now you want us to come back and take care of her? What about the hotel and the flights we booked? That's over two thousand dollars, and it's nonrefundable.

Are you going to pay us back?] Their nerve made me laugh. [In your dreams. Did I tell you to go on vacation and leave your kid with me?] [You two don't have to come back.

I'll drop her at the police station in a little while and report you for child abandonment. Your choice.] "Nerissa!" He yanked the phone out of my hand before I was finished.

His face was ugly. "Nerissa, how can you do that? That's my brother!" "He's been worn out all year. He finally gets to go somewhere with his wife and relax.

What's wrong with us helping out? Why do you have to keep score over everything?

That was over a long time ago — why can't you let it go?" I gave a cold laugh and took my phone back.

In the thread, my motherinlaw, who hadn't shown her face yet, finally spoke up. [Nerissa! What a thing to say! The police station?

That is my granddaughter!] [Derek, your wife talks like that and you just sit there?

That is your brother's child!] [Nerissa, I know you're still angry about last year, but that was over a long time ago. Can't you be the bigger person? And Tia is seven.

She eats on her own, she plays on her own, she takes no effort at all.

Putting food in front of her is nothing — don't you have to eat and drink yourself?] [Derek and Brandon only have each other. They've always been close.

Do you really have to push it until the two of them turn on each other?] Look at that. Look at that.

Last year they dropped her on me and I fed her, watered her, played mother and father both.

Chapter 3 It cost me close to a thousand dollars, nearly wrecked my face, and then they smeared me in front of the whole family and squeezed two thousand dollars out of us on the way out.

This year I didn't feel like being the sucker, and somehow that made me the one in the wrong. Open my mouth and I'm keeping score. Say no and I'm petty.

I'm not being the bigger person. I'm wrecking a bond between brothers. So there it was. All of it was my fault.

In the thread, Lindsay sent another message. [Derek, I hate to say it, but you're the man of the house.

Your own niece stays two days and you have to tiptoe around somebody's moods?] [You're the older brother and we respect that.

If you're telling us to come get her, we'll come back right now. We'll skip the trip. We'll come pick Tia up.] [Only, Derek, that's where our two families will stand from now on.

Go ahead. Say it.] Derek read it and his face changed. He turned on me, shouting. "Nerissa! Happy now?

You won't stop until there's no peace left in my family, will you?" "What is it you actually want?" Seeing Derek like that, I felt like I didn't know him.

Derek and I met in college. We dated two years there and got married two years after we graduated. Four years together.

He once stood in line four or five hours for a bubble tea I liked. He once drove across most of the city to bring me cupcakes from a bakery I loved.

And he once worked half a month straight, no break, just to free up enough time to take a trip with me. When we got married, I thought I'd married the right man.

Now it was time to think hard about what the two of us were going to be.

I took a step back. "Derek, don't yell at me." "I told you last year that this child was never getting dumped on me again.

You agreed." "And now you've brought her here without asking me." "So I'm asking you one thing. I want you to take her to your brother. Will you do it?" Derek's mouth moved.

He looked helpless. "Nerissa, she's one kid, she's just—" "Derek, I'm asking you one thing. I want you to take her back.

Can you do it or not?" "Nerissa, don't push me!" he shouted again. I shook my head, got up, and picked up my bag to go. That panicked him.

He came after me and caught my hand. "Nerissa, where are you going?" I pulled free. "I'm not the one who brought her here. She's not my problem." "Besides — look at the table.

Who's eating that?" Derek turned to look. Portia was stuffing shrimp into her mouth with her bare hands, and two of the other dishes had been knocked over across the table.

The whole thing was a wreck.

And now, with grease all over her hands, she was climbing down from her chair and making a run at the lightcolored couch. "Tia, wash your hands first!" Derek went after her.

And I used the moment to open the door and close it behind me. While I was eating, Derek asked where I'd gone