Again I had to go buy groceries. Again I had to cook breakfast.
Then it was back to housework, changing diapers, feeding the baby, rocking him to sleep. Over and over and over.
For a full month, I hadn't slept a single decent night. I'd lost ten pounds from sheer exhaustion.
My body was wrecked, and my wallet wasn't far behind.
Groceries alone, plus formula and diapers, had cost me at least twenty thousand.
And after all that, I was the one being accused of freeloading?
I stared at my daughter, unable to believe what I was hearing.
"Ginny, go ahead and tell me—how exactly have I been taking advantage of you?"
Virginia's brow creased slightly, a flicker of impatience crossing her face.
"Oh, enough, Mom. So you stayed here and looked after me for a month. So what?"
"Even if you spent money and did the work, you did it because you wanted to."
"Either way, you lived in this house for a month. That's a fact."
"If you won't pay for your stay, what is that if not freeloading?"
Because you wanted to.
Three little words, and thirty days of backbreaking work were wiped clean.
Right then, I felt something inside me just—break.
I looked at my daughter for a long moment. Said nothing.
I took out my phone and scanned Jeffrey's payment code.
Transferred the fifteen thousand.
The second it went through, Jeffrey grinned.
"There you go, Mom. Was that so hard? You're the elder here—you ought to put your kids first."
"Don't be so stingy about every little thing."
The irony was breathtaking.
When they were billing me, they'd calculated every last cent.
Three hundred a day for the room. Two hundred for utilities. Not a penny negotiable.
Now the money was in hand, and suddenly I was the stingy one.
Looking at Jeffrey standing there like it was the most natural thing in the world, I couldn't help thinking back to three years ago, when he and Virginia first came to discuss marriage.
Back then, he'd been rubbing his hands together, awkward and ashamed, barely able to meet my eyes.
"Ma'am, I know the custom is to pay bride price, but I just bought our apartment and I really can't put together much. Would it be possible to, um, lower the amount?"
I was never about the bride price when it came to my daughter.
All I wanted was for him to treat her well.
They seemed genuinely in love, so I told him outright: "I don't want a single cent of bride price. Just take care of each other."
Jeffrey froze. His eyes went red almost instantly.
"Ma'am, I swear, I will be good to Ginny for the rest of my life."
Later, Virginia came to me looking miserable, saying they'd sunk everything into the apartment and couldn't even afford a wedding.
Seeing my daughter that worried broke my heart.
So I emptied my savings. Gave them three hundred and eighty thousand.
"Use eighty thousand for the wedding. Keep the other three hundred as your nest egg."
Virginia cried when I handed it over.
Jeffrey seized my hand, voice shaking, and swore:
"Mom, everything you've done for us, I'll carry it with me for the rest of my life. I will never forget."
"I'll treat you like my own mother. Ginny and I will bring you to the city and take care of you properly."
When he said it, his eyes looked so sincere. And I believed him—believed every word, all the way down to my bones.
Three years had passed since then.
The day they brought me to the city to live the good life never came.
What came instead was a bill for fifteen thousand in lodging fees.
When I didn't speak, Lucia looked down at me from across the room.
"Now, now. Don't go feeling sorry for yourself."
"People our age, we're supposed to give. That's our job."
"While we can still get around, helping the young ones out, pitching in some money—that's just what's expected."
