When I came back from the fields, I found Dolores sitting on the ground, surrounded by scraps of paper. She was stuffing them into her mouth, one piece after another.
I ran over in a panic, grabbed her hands, and dug the paper out of her mouth.
"Mom! What are you eating?!"
Her teeth clamped down on my fingers, biting so hard I thought she'd sever them. Blood streamed from her mouth, all of it mine.
I fought through the pain and pulled every last scrap from between her teeth.
Then I saw the words printed on the paper. The name of the university Tyler had applied to.
My mind went blank.
With trembling hands, I pieced together the remaining scraps.
It was Tyler's college acceptance letter.
When Nathan found out his mother had destroyed our son's chance at a future, he was furious and helpless all at once. He screamed at Dolores, cursed her out, but she just grinned at him like an idiot, letting every word slide right off her.
The neighbors came crowding around, trying to calm Nathan down.
"Nathan, take it easy. This isn't all your mother's fault."
"She told you not to marry that woman, but you went ahead and did it anyway. And the second she moved in, your mother lost her mind."
"That woman ruined your family's luck. You can't blame your mother for that."
Nathan's face turned crimson. He threw every last one of them out.
Tyler broke down completely. He nearly took his own life.
After losing his chance at college, he drifted further and further away from us, his eyes vacant, his mind somewhere we couldn't reach. Nathan and I had to watch Dolores and keep Tyler from doing something irreversible, all at the same time.
To stop all of that from happening again, this time I made up my mind to send Tyler to my mother's house, where she could look after him properly.
The moment Dolores saw me packing Tyler's things, she realized her scheme had failed. She threw herself into a fit, wailing and thrashing.
She locked her arms around Tyler's legs.
"Don't go! Tyler!"
"Don't go!"
She sobbed so violently that the cuffs of his pants were soaked through with her tears.
I pried her fingers loose one by one and walked Tyler to the bus that would take him to my mother's.
Dolores wailed loud enough to draw the whole village. The neighbors gathered around, shaking their heads at me.
"Linda, the poor old woman is out of her mind, but she still knows Tyler's her grandson. She can't bear to let him go. You really have the heart to send him away?"
"That's right, Linda. She's lost her mind, but she still remembers Tyler. Why don't you just let him stay?"
I turned on them, letting my voice crack with frustration, playing the part of a devoted daughter-in-law pushed to her limit.
"What do any of you know? My mother-in-law is sick. She needs me more than ever. If Tyler stays, how am I supposed to take proper care of her?"
In my last life, these same villagers had whispered that I was a curse on Dolores. This time, I was going to build a different image: the loyal wife who sacrificed everything for her mother-in-law. I wanted their pity, not their blame.
The moment they heard I was doing this for Dolores's sake, their attitudes shifted, just as I knew they would. Sympathy softened their faces.
"Well, that's true. The old woman's lost it completely, and you're the one emptying her bedpan and cleaning up after her every single day."
"You really have had it rough, Linda. From the day you married into this family, it's been nothing but caretaking. You didn't even get to rest after giving birth. Straight back to feeding her, bathing her."
I smiled.
"It's nothing. She's family. But you know how she is when she's having her episodes. She says all kinds of nonsense. Don't take any of it to heart."
The villagers waved their hands, reassuring me.
"Of course, of course. We all see how good you are to her. She's been out of her mind for years now. We're used to the raving."
I allowed myself a faint smile. No matter how much Dolores screamed and carried on, not a single person had tried to stop Tyler from leaving.
Once the crowd scattered, I left Dolores sitting on the side of the road and walked home alone.
By the time dinner rolled around, she still hadn't come back.
I thought it was strange and was about to go check on her.
That was when I heard her voice, not far from the house, talking to someone on a phone.
