4: 4
4
The next day, Lucia moved the family meeting into the HOA office.
Her parents came, and so did my brother-in-law's family and the community mediator.
Livestream gear was set up on the table.
She spun the eighty grand as money I'd handed over on my own, a gift toward the second baby's car.
Then she pulled out a copy of the "Rules for Living With the Elderly" and told me to sign.
Rule one: while residing here, you will defer to the woman of the house.
Rule two: housework and childcare are acts of family affection, and no payment may be demanded for them.
Rule three: each month, eighty percent of your pension goes to supporting your children and grandchildren.
Rule four: you will not interfere with your son and his wife's finances.
Rule five: you may not move out without permission, so as not to affect the child's mental and physical health.
I finished reading and pushed the paper back.
"Is this a set of rules, or a servile contract?"
Janet Lawrence, my daughter-in-law's mother, slapped the table.
"Don't you know a good deal when you see one! You eat and sleep in your kid's home. What's wrong with doing a little work? Our Lucy is carrying a Whitney baby, and you're the mother-in-law. Shouldn't you be waiting on her?"
"She's carrying Abner's child, not mine."
Someone in the room let out a laugh.
Janet's face went dark.
Lucia wiped at her eyes and spoke straight into the camera. "You all heard that, right? That's what my mother-in-law just said. She won't even claim her own grandson."
I looked at Abner.
"The eighty grand. When are you paying it back?"
"Sign first."
"No."
His face darkened.
"Then don't ever come home again."
"Fine."
I took out my phone and canceled the auto-payments for water, electricity, gas, and the HOA fees.
Abner thought I was bluffing.
"It's a few hundred bucks. Who can't cover that? All you know how to do is throw your weight around over pocket change."
Lucia got even more worked up.
"Starting today, the lock code is changed. Whenever you come to your senses, that's when you can come back. I already had your bags put out in the hallway, so don't go saying I kept your things."
Outside the HOA office, my clothes, my medicine, and my old photo albums were dumped across the floor.
One of the plastic bags had split open.
The only photo I had of me and my late husband had fallen out, half a shoe print stamped across it.
Abner saw it.
He didn't pick it up.
I bent down and wiped the photo clean.
Lucia was still livestreaming.
The comments were all praising her for having principles.
My brother-in-law's wife came over, pretending to talk sense into me.
"Come on, if the kids want you to sign, just sign. A woman gets old, who's she got to lean on if not her son? Act tough now, and the day you're really flat on your back, don't come crying."
Janet jumped in even faster.
"Of course she has to lean on a daughter... oh, that's right, she doesn't have one."
A few of them laughed.
Abner stood off to the side, still saying nothing.
I asked him, "You think I can't survive without you too?"
He pressed his lips together.
"Mom, just back down a little and things can go back to how they were. You have to go and offend every last person, and one day when something really happens, who's going to sign your surgery consent form?"
"I signed yours for thirty years."
I slid the trampled photo into my pocket.
"Never once saw you learn how to be a decent person."
Lucia shoved the camera up close to my face.
"Look, everyone, she's guilt-tripping again. Having a kid was her own choice. Why should the kid owe her gratitude for it?"
The comments flew past.
Someone told Abner to cut ties with me right there.
He glanced at his phone, like he'd finally made up his mind.
"Mom, once you walk out that door today, don't ever say I didn't give you a chance."
I held the box tighter.
"That line, I'll give right back to you, word for word."
I lifted the box and started for the door.
Janet called after me, "You can't spoil a mother-in-law like that. Let her stew a couple of days, and she'll come crawling back to beg you."
The elevator doors opened.
A woman with gray-streaked hair stepped out.
Behind her came a lawyer, a real estate agent, and two workers from a moving company.
The HOA manager hurried over to greet her.
"Teacher Smith, what brings you here in person?"
Lucia's sobbing stopped.
She looked at the HOA manager, then at the woman.
"Who are you?"
Maud Smith took out the property deed and set it on the table.
"I'm here to take back my house."
The real owner had come home.
