2: 2
Three days after I ran from my wedding, I collapsed on the bathroom floor of my rented apartment.
By the time they got me to the hospital my hemoglobin was in the fifties. The doctor said another half hour and it would have turned dangerous.
Severe iron-deficiency anemia, caused by long-term malnutrition.
Growing up, whenever there was any tonic or nutritional supplement in the house, my mother took it and gave it to my cousin.
The reason was always that Wallis was frail.
But in truth she didn't catch so much as a cold from one year to the next. I was the one who got dizzy spells every time the seasons changed.
I lay in the hospital bed for two days. On the third day, my mother came.
She carried a pot of chicken soup in an insulated container, wrapped in three layers of towels.
She sat down beside my bed and fed it to me spoonful by spoonful, blowing each one cool first.
"You poor child, how did you wear yourself down to this?"
She wept as she fed me.
The woman in the next bed sighed. "Your mom really loves you."
The nurse who came in to change my dressing said the same. "She's so good to her daughter."
I drank the warm soup, and somewhere inside me, a corner loosened.
Maybe. Maybe she really did love me.
Maybe she just wasn't good at showing it. Maybe my uncle's family had backed her into a corner.
When the soup was nearly gone, my mother took hold of the hand with the IV in it.
"Maud, there's something I want to talk over with you."
I set down the spoon and looked at her.
"Your sister's in-laws are upset the dowry didn't include a car. They've been making things hard for Wallis."
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, her voice trembling.
"There's an old rule back in Willow Creek. If the elder sister's marriage falls through, that's bad luck, and she has to put up money to break the curse for her sister and set things right."
My hand went stiff.
"Mom was thinking, the three hundred thousand dowry the Delgados gave you, you take that out first and buy your sister a car. Once Mom's saved up enough, I'll pay you back, little by little."
I looked at her tear-streaked face, and the warm soup in my stomach turned over.
"That's the dowry," I said. "If it's given back, it's given back to the Delgados."
"But you and Brad haven't officially called it off yet, have you? Just use the money for now—"
"Why should I?"
My voice rose. The other patients turned to look.
My mother startled, and the tears came harder.
Just then the door opened.
My cousin Wallis walked in, carrying a fruit basket in a plastic bag, her eyes rimmed red.
"Sis, I came to see you."
She set the basket on the bedside cabinet and stood there biting her lip.
"Sis, don't put your aunt in a hard spot. If it comes to that... if it comes to that, I'll just go die, so I stop dragging you down."
At those words my mother stood and grabbed Wallis's hands.
"What is this nonsense you're talking!"
Then she turned and glared at me, her voice shifting to pleading.
"Maud, back then your uncle lost a leg pulling your father out of that river. Our family owes them a life. How can you stand by and watch your sister be driven to her death?"
"Fine. If you won't give it, you won't give it." She let go of Wallis's hands and headed for the door, wiping her eyes.
"Mom will go sell her blood, sell a kidney, and scrape the money together for your sister. I'll just pretend I never had you for a daughter."
Wallis followed her out, glancing back at me as she went.
The door closed.
I lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling.
The warmth of the chicken soup still lingered in my mouth.
But I felt cold all over.
She had come all this way to see me, not because she felt for me.
It was because I had three hundred thousand in my hands.
I turned over and buried my face in the pillow.
My phone screen lit up. A message from Brad.
"Your mom says you're in the hospital? I'm away on business these couple of days. We'll talk when I'm back."
Not even one word asking what was wrong with me.
I laid the phone face down on the bedside cabinet and closed my eyes.
