Connor froze. Clearly he hadn't expected me to take it that far.
He sighed and reached over to pull me toward him.
“Babe, don't be angry.”
“You funded Mamie all these years, so I figured you actually liked the kid.”
“I had no idea you couldn't stand her.”
“Fine, fine, fine, I promise I won't contact her again. Just stop throwing around the word divorce every time.”
I dodged his hand, not even bothering to look at him.
Connor cleared his throat twice.
“So, uh, babe, the company just put me on a business trip for a few days.”
“You rest up at home, and I'll bring you back a present.”
I thought that without Mamie Fox around to stir things up, this family could still hold together, at least barely.
After all, it would be too pitiful for our daughter to end up in a broken home so young.
I didn't expect that the next afternoon, when I got off work and went to pick her up from her enrichment class,
the teacher came hurrying over the moment I reached the door.
“Nina's mom, what are you doing here?”
“Nina already got picked up by her dad and a young woman a little while ago.”
A bad feeling surged through me, and I quickly called Connor.
The phone rang a long time before he picked up.
“Connor! Where did you take our daughter?!”
Connor's cheerful voice came through the line.
“Off work already, babe? I've already brought our daughter home.”
“There's a surprise waiting for you here too, so hurry back!”
I didn't care about any surprise. I hit the gas and drove home as fast as I could.
I pushed open the door, and there was Mamie Fox, sitting on the couch.
A glass of milk in her hand, lifting it to my daughter's lips.
In my last life, Mamie Fox waited until I wasn't there.
She mixed a heavy dose of sleeping pill powder into the milk and coaxed my three-year-old daughter into drinking it down.
By the time I found her, my daughter's body had long gone cold.
Terror flooded through me in an instant.
I rushed over like a madwoman and swung my hand, knocking the glass clean out of Mamie Fox's grip.
“Get away from my daughter!”
A sharp “crack.”
The glass shattered to pieces on the floor, white milk splattering everywhere.
My daughter burst out wailing in fright.
I pulled her tight against me, my whole body shaking.
Mamie Fox let out a startled cry, staring at the milk all over the floor, her eyes reddening as if she'd been wronged.
Connor heard the commotion and came running out of the kitchen.
He saw the mess everywhere and our crying daughter, and roared at me.
“What is wrong with you?!”
I kept my eyes locked on Mamie Fox and demanded of Connor through gritted teeth,
“I'm asking you, why is she in my house?!”
Connor quickly pulled Mamie Fox behind him, shielding her.
“My trip got canceled, and Mamie had just gotten to the station, so I swung by and picked her up on the way.”
I looked at him coldly.
“Connor, did everything I said just go in one ear and out the other?”
“What did I tell you yesterday? You contact her again, and we're getting divorced!”
The moment Connor heard that, his temper flared too.
“You are completely unreasonable!”
“I went out of my way to bring Mamie here just so you could see what an outstanding kid she is!”
“Spend a few more days around her and you'll definitely change your mind!”
“I was trying to do the right thing so your ten years of support wouldn't go down the drain, and what do you do? You not only refuse to understand me, you threaten me with divorce!”
Mamie Fox peeked out from behind Connor, tears dripping down one after another.
“Auntie, don't blame Uncle. It's all my fault.”
“You've both been so good to me. I don't want you fighting because of me.”
“I'll go right now, so I'm out of your sight.”
She made a show of going for her luggage, then stopped at the door and turned back to wipe her tears.
“As for tuition and living expenses, Auntie, don't worry, I'll figure something out myself.”
“Even if……even if I have to sell my body at a nightclub, I'll come up with the tuition somehow.”
Connor grabbed Mamie Fox by the arm, his face full of heartache.
“Mamie, don't say such foolish things!”
“Don't you worry. Even if she won't fund you, Uncle will put you through college!”
Then he turned and glared at me viciously.
“Look at what you've done!”
“I actually thought you were a kind woman. I never imagined your heart could be this cruel!”
“You're trying to push a young girl straight into the fire!”
