Chapter 2

Hildegarde looked surprised, like she hadn't expected me to be so blunt.

"So what you mean is you're just not going to give me the bride gift?"

"Your bride gift went to your brother a long time ago, and a lot more besides!" I said coldly.

"Fine! Good for you!" Hildegarde slammed her chopsticks down, got up, and headed for the door.

Lucas immediately went after her. "Honey, don't be mad, wait for me!"

As he chased after her, he turned back and sighed at me. "Mom, could you please stop stirring things up?"

Watching the two of them disappear from sight, Walter looked worried. "Ugh, here we go again!"

Hildegarde had gone home to her mother's; she'd pulled this once before, a few years back.

Back then Robert had just started high school and had somehow fallen in with some rough young guys from outside school.

He stole two thousand dollars I kept in a drawer, and it made me so angry that I told him off harshly for the first time.

Hildegarde couldn't stand it and had a huge fight with me, saying I looked down on them for being kids from a single-parent home.

That very night she took Robert back to her mother's and said she wanted to divorce Lucas.

Lucas panicked and dragged me over to her mother's place to apologize to her and bring her back.

After that, the allowance I gave Robert went from twenty dollars a day to fifty.

Because Hildegarde said the only reason Robert had the idea to steal was that his pocket money was too small.

This time she was running the same play, taking Lucas with her back to her mother's.

Walter sighed. "Honey, why don't we just cover it? After all, we're the ones who raised Robbie."

"Once the property demolition settlement comes in, we'll just transfer it to him!"

I shook my head. "No. Once we start down this road, then later when Robert has kids, raises them, even pays for their schooling, we'll probably be footing all of it."

"I'd actually been planning to give Robert some money, as a gesture from the two of us, but after the scene today, I won't be giving him a single cent!"

Right up until the holiday, Lucas and his wife never came back.

The whole time, Hildegarde kept posting on her social media feed, all snide and passive-aggressive, accusing my family of being unwilling to lend even the smallest hand.

She was always resharing articles from those public accounts, like: "On Getting Along Between Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law: Who Can a Mother-in-Law Count On in Her Old Age?"

"Old folks shouldn't cling to their money so tightly; helping out your children is what really matters!"

"A parent's boost is a child's confidence for life!"

I let out a scornful laugh. Lucas's mother-in-law, Davina, hadn't managed a single thing since her husband died.

She dumped her kids on us to raise while she just went shopping, played mahjong, and chased boyfriends.

Her own son gets married, and she can't put up a single cent; instead she expects her daughter's in-laws to pay. Absolutely laughable.

On the day of the holiday, I bought the groceries and called Lucas.

"Aren't you two coming back for the reunion dinner?" I asked.

"Mom, the second you promise us the money, we'll come right back!" Lucas said with a grin.

"Fine, then you don't need to come back!" I dropped that line and hung up.

But what I didn't expect was that, close to noon, Lucas and his wife showed up.

The moment she walked in and saw the seafood on the table, Hildegarde covered her nose and gagged.

While I was still puzzled, Lucas helped Hildegarde sit down.

Muttering, "Mom, hurry up and clear away all this meat and fish, your daughter-in-law is pregnant!"