Chapter 2

My eyes were sharp, but my voice was as level as ever.

"If they divorce, the marital property gets split down the middle, and Jason gets a thousand dollars a month in living expenses. If they refuse to divorce, then from this day on, the two of them can forget about getting a single cent out of me. Including the house and the car in their names. I'll take all of it back."

"Understood, Ms. Johnson. I'll see to it."

I set down the phone and found Tracey standing off to the side, dazed, tears welling in her eyes.

"Mom, are you making my brother and his wife get a divorce? Is it... because of me?"

I nodded.

"Yes. Since they dared to treat you like that, they're going to pay for it."

Tracey panicked. She came over and grabbed my hand.

"Mom, I'm really fine. It was so hard for my brother to marry her. How can you force them apart over me?"

I pulled my hand back.

"And what about you? Tracey, you were hard for me to have too."

Tracey opened her mouth, but no words came out.

I knew how soft her heart was.

Jason and Melinda's marriage had truly been an uphill battle.

Jason had been idle since he was a boy, and grew into a three-hundred-pound man.

Melinda, on the other hand, was a textbook beauty. What could she possibly see in a man who did nothing all day?

Back then I'd warned Jason that a woman like Melinda would turn the house upside down once she was in it.

But he'd set his heart on her and would marry no one else. What was a mother to do? For my son's happiness, I gave in.

I put up a million in wedding gift money and bought the couple a house to live in.

After the wedding, I paid their car loan and their mortgage. And not only that, every single month, without fail, I gave them a hundred thousand in living expenses. The water and power bills at their place, the two of them never gave a second thought to those either.

I poured everything I had into them, and this was how they treated my daughter.

Fine. Then I'll take back every last thing I gave you.

"All right, Tracey. You've suffered enough these past few days. Get some rest. You're still carrying a baby."

Half coaxing, half soothing, I finally got my daughter off to bed.

Watching her bedroom door close, the smile faded slowly from my face.

"Mom, Melinda had me bring you this pudding. She remembers this is your favorite."

I looked at Jason standing in the doorway and felt nothing at all.

He seemed not to notice the coldness on my face. Still talking, he let himself in, dropped the plastic cup of pudding on the table like it was nothing.

I shut the door calmly, walked to the couch, and sat down.

He came over wearing that grin, fawning, kneading my shoulders and rubbing my back.

"Mom, are you still angry? What happened today, Melinda went a little too far, sure. But you know how she is. That's just her temper."

"I'll have her apologize to Tracey, and we can put the whole thing behind us. We're all family. No need to talk like strangers."

Then he shifted his tone.

"And really, Mom, Melinda feels for you. Tracey's a married woman, and now here she is, back for you to support. It breaks our hearts to see you carry that."

Feels for me?

Spending my hundred thousand a month, spending it with a clear conscience, and never once a word of concern.

Tracey's been home barely six months and hasn't cost even a hundred thousand all together, and already they're aching on my behalf?

I said nothing. I looked at the pudding on the table, and the scale in my mind suddenly tipped.

After my son got married, every time Melinda did or said something that displeased me, he'd come scurrying over with a cup of pudding from the breakfast shop downstairs to make his apologies.

I did like that shop's pudding. In the past, every time Jason did this and rattled off a string of nice things about Melinda, I would give in. Afterward I'd even go out of my way to slip Melinda a little extra spending money.

But today, all at once, I saw it clearly.

A cup of pudding cost five dollars.

All these years, taking a hundred thousand a month, yet only willing to spend five dollars to make things right with me.

Was I really the one who couldn't afford this cup of pudding?

"Mom? Mom? Are you even listening to me?"

Jason waved a hand in front of my face.

"Oh, right, where's Tracey? How's her injury? It can't be that bad, can it?"

"She's asleep."

Hearing that, Jason nodded and asked nothing more.

My heart went colder still. That was his own sister.

"Mom, if there's nothing else, I'll head back. Melinda's waiting on me to bring her a crawfish boil. When I get home I'll tell her you told me to buy it. She'll be thrilled."