He was so angry he downed two cups of tea in a row.
"You were the one who refused to marry him, and now you're jealous? Too late! If you ruin this marriage alliance, every one of those credit cards gets cut off. You can starve for all I care!"
"Dad! Can't we just switch back? I'm willing to marry Mr. Sanchez!"
Jennifer never expected Ronnie to be that magnetic. On top of that, the way he'd spoken up for me had pushed her over the edge.
"You think a marriage alliance is some kind of game? That you can just swap in and out whenever you feel like it?"
Dad let out a long sigh.
"It's not happening."
"But Mr. Sanchez said himself that he doesn't care who the bride is! So just let me go register the marriage instead!"
Jennifer had completely lost it.
Dad couldn't be bothered to entertain her anymore.
She turned to Mom. Mom ignored her too.
So she came back to me, looking for somewhere to dump her rage.
Jennifer kicked my bedroom door.
"You better never come out!"
"What did you do to Mr. Sanchez? Why would he speak up for you?!"
"Open the door, Minnie! I want to switch back! You don't even want to marry him, so let me do it!"
No matter how loud she screamed, there was no response.
Jennifer really thought marriage was like playing house, something she could trade around on a whim.
She didn't stop until her voice gave out. Then she finally went back downstairs.
"Mom, can you do something? She's completely ignoring me!"
"Stop bothering her. The last thing we need is some disaster before the registration."
"Mom, we really can't switch back?"
Jennifer's face was twisted with resentment.
"She just lucked into this!"
"The wedding is set. You were the one who refused. Now you want to switch? You think the Sanchez family is that easy to fool?"
"Fine."
There was still a week until next Tuesday.
When that day came, I wanted to see how everyone planned to handle it.
Mom walked into the kitchen and said a few words to Nora. I couldn't hear what she was saying.
I drifted closer to them.
"Minnie likes chicken nuggets. Save some for her. When she gets hungry, she'll come down and eat."
So Mom had asked Nora to set aside food for me.
Mom still loved me after all.
My eyes stung with tears.
But the moment I remembered how she always favored Jennifer, the warmth that had just flickered to life was snuffed right back out.
"Of course, ma'am. I'll bring a plate up to her later. You go rest now. I've got everything handled here."
"All right. I'll leave you to it."
Mom headed off for her afternoon nap, yawning as she drifted lazily back to her room.
Dad followed her.
That left only Jennifer. Curiosity got the better of her, and she tracked down Nora.
"What did my mom just say to you?"
"Ma'am asked me to save a meal for Minnie."
"Save her a meal? She doesn't deserve it!"
Jennifer was seething.
"Don't you dare save her anything. Not a single bite. I'd rather feed it to the stray dogs outside than leave her a crumb!"
Nora looked deeply uncomfortable.
"Miss Jennifer, those were your mother's instructions."
"So what? I'm Mom's favorite. Minnie is nothing."
"Just do what I say. If anything goes wrong, I'll take the blame. Missing one meal isn't going to kill her."
Nora kept her head down and said nothing.
Jennifer started yawning too.
"Take care of it yourself. I'm going to my room to rest."
I watched from a distance as Jennifer disappeared upstairs.
Only then did Nora spring into action. She didn't listen to Jennifer at all.
"They're sisters, for heaven's sake. How can you deny someone a meal?"
"Same mother, same blood. How did Minnie end up so gentle while the other one turned out like that?"
Nora packed up a plate of food, carried it upstairs, and knocked softly on my door.
