03
That was when the message came through: both sets of parents had booked a private room to celebrate our wedding anniversary for us.
I didn't want to throw their kindness back at them, so I went on my own.
When my mother-in-law saw me arrive alone, she asked, puzzled,
"Charity, why isn't Max here with you?"
I didn't want her to worry, so I made up something on the spot.
"Mom, he's got work today. He might not be able to make it."
At that, her face fell a little, but she didn't press.
Then someone knocked at the door.
Max pushed it open, with Ivy right behind him.
He said, a touch apologetic,
"Sorry I'm late. I had to pick Ivy up from the airport."
The moment she saw Ivy, my mother-in-law rushed over and pulled her into a hug, eyes brimming with tears.
"Ivy, it's been so long. Don't tell me you've stopped thinking of me as family?"
Ivy shook her head, then held out the bag of apples in her hand.
"It's not like that. You've always been family to me."
"I saw someone selling apples on the way over. I know how much you love them, so I got some."
My mother-in-law took the apples and heaped praise on her.
"Ivy, you're the one with a good heart. Not like some people."
And with that, she wiped at her eyes.
But that wasn't how she'd treated me when we first met.
She'd always found fault with everything I did.
"You can't measure up to Ivy in a single way. I have no idea what my son ever saw in you!"
Later, when I went to their place for the holidays, she mentioned her shoulder was hurting.
I scrimped and saved for a whole month to buy her a shoulder-and-neck massager.
She still picked at me over it.
"What did you waste money on this thing for?"
"Money's hard to come by these days. You don't even know how to save a penny!"
I thought she was worried about how hard we worked for our money, and I even talked her around.
Yet here she was, moved to tears over one bag of apples Ivy brought.
So her sharp tongue was only ever aimed at me.
Maybe, in her heart, she had never once counted me as her daughter-in-law.
At those words, my parents' faces changed all at once.
My mother was the first to lose her patience, and she rounded on him.
"What's that supposed to mean? Where does that leave my daughter?"
My mother-in-law froze for a second, then scrambled to smooth things over.
"Now, don't be upset. I speak before I think sometimes."
"You know how sentimental Max is. He probably just hasn't quite let go yet."
Her little speech left me laughing in disbelief.
"If he still hasn't let go, then why did he marry me?"
"Do you really think our family's an easy mark? Something you can squeeze whenever you please?"
My parents were shaking with anger too. In an instant they were on their feet and heading for the door.
Watching it happen, a flicker of panic crossed Max's eyes.
"Charity, hurry, help me explain it to your parents."
Right then, Ivy suddenly started wiping at her tears.
"Max, this is all my fault. I should never have come and stirred everything up."
"If it weren't for me, none of you would have ended up fighting like this."
Max couldn't stand to see her looking so wronged, and he rushed to comfort her.
"Ivy, it's not your fault. Don't read too much into it…"
I didn't look at them again. I went after my parents.
