Chapter 2

Back at the office, I had Lawyer Chavez amend the will right away.

Everything I'd once signed over to Melissa, I transferred back into my own name.

At four that afternoon, my family doctor brought the old naturopath.

The old man wore a dark navy robe. After taking my pulse, he stroked his white beard and gave a satisfied nod.

"Ms. Dickerson, the first half of your life carried a lot of worry. It's drained your energy and your blood. But your foundation is strong. With acupuncture and herbs together, having another child won't be a problem."

"Only, have you really thought this through? Carrying a child is no small thing. There are risks. And you are forty-four."

I met his concerned eyes and nodded, firm.

"I've thought it through. I'm going to have a son."

And leave everything I own to him.

I had my secretary take the old naturopath out to the villa on the edge of the city,

and arrange all the herbs and equipment he'd need.

After the first bowl of wellness bone broth, I finally slept easy for once.

I used to worry endlessly about Melissa's future.

Afraid she'd skip class and fall behind, afraid she was picky and undernourished, and most of all afraid she'd fall into some early romance at school and end up needing an abortion.

Every day I wore myself thin over her every move,

pouring myself into cleaning up the trouble she wouldn't stop stirring,

spending huge amounts of energy and money getting the press to bury her scandals.

For twenty full years, I lived every day in anxiety and dread.

I was only forty-four, but I'd aged like a woman of sixty-four.

Now, at last, I could go quiet and live one time for myself.

I slept straight through to nine the next morning.

The floor manager of the Baltimore bar called me.

"Ms.— Ms. Dickerson. Miss Swanson came in last night with a group of them and ran up eight hundred eighty thousand. When it came time to pay, the card wouldn't go through."

I rubbed my bleary eyes.

I'd frozen every one of Melissa's black cards.

Of course they wouldn't go through.

But it hadn't crossed my mind.

She knew perfectly well she was seven months pregnant, and she'd still stayed out all night partying at the bar with Sanjay's whole family.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and told the manager,

"Manager Whitney, whoever spends it pays for it. From now on, you don't need to check any of Melissa's charges with me."

Every word carried through the manager's phone, straight into Melissa's ear.

She came clicking over on her heels, snatched the phone away.

"Carolyn Dickerson, what game are you playing now?"

Same as always. Every time she was angry, she called me by my full name.

As if I'd never been the mother who bore and raised her,

just a nanny to summon and dismiss at will.

Even Sanjay, beside her, let out a scoffing laugh and said in his broken English,

"Baby, she's just trying to scare you. Who in all of Baltimore doesn't know you're her only daughter? Never mind eight hundred eighty thousand. The whole Swanson Group is going to be yours one day."

"Of course it is." Melissa smiled, pleased with herself. "She's a master at manipulating people. Every time I don't do what she wants, she uses money to control me."

"Just wait. Three days, tops, and she'll be crawling to me, begging me to spend her money."

With that, Melissa slid the bracelet off her wrist, handed it to the manager, and said with her chin high,

"This bracelet is one Carolyn Dickerson bought at auction overseas. I hear it went for thirty million. Even after scuffs and depreciation, it's worth at least ten million now. Put it toward the tab. Keep the change."

The manager didn't dare decide anything on his own. He called out to me, nervous,

"Ms. Dickerson, about this—"

"Let her."

I hung up, got up, and washed my face.

To keep Melissa safe overseas, I'd made a point of taking that bracelet to a temple to have it blessed.

Three full days of chanting and prayer over it.

I'd begged and coaxed her a hundred ways before she'd grudgingly put it on.

Since she didn't value it,

I'd treat it as money lost, gone for good.

Once I'd finished up, I thought about it and sent Melissa a text anyway.

【That bracelet is the last money you'll get from me. After this, there won't be any more.】

For a whole week, Melissa didn't answer me.

Her social feed, though, kept updating.

Day one, she took Sanjay to buy a bright yellow sports car.

Day two, she gave every older woman in Sanjay's family a designer bag.

Day three, in the photos, more than half her jewelry was gone,

but she'd opened a trading company for Sanjay.

I looked at the business license, at the three words "Melissa Swanson" in the line for legal owner,

and, without a ripple, went through a round of gentle stretching and breathing.

After a week of tonics and acupuncture,

the old naturopath told me I could go to the hospital for IVF.