The day I, Margaret, went back to my hometown, my daughter Lily Miller quietly slipped $20,000 into my bag.
Just after I got off the plane, my son-in-law, David Miller, called to berate me:
“Mom, how could you accept the $20,000 Lily gave you? Don’t you know we’re raising a child right now? If we need money we can have my dad or I find another job — you can’t be bleeding your own daughter dry. Return that money right now!”
I was stunned and furious. He even served my daughter with a paper and dragged her to court — demanding that the three of them move out of the marital home I bought for them immediately!
“If you won’t get a divorce then don’t call me ‘Mom’ — I have no daughter who takes from her own family!”
The day we left Los Angeles to return to my hometown, Lily had escorted me to the airport and slipped $20,000 into my bag. When I later dug in my bag for my phone, I discovered the money. I was just about to take a photo to show Robert and say Lily finally understood when my son-in-law rang.
“Mom? Did Lily give you twenty thousand?” he asked.
Huh? Wasn’t that something they’d agreed on between them? I froze for a second and then replied, “Yes — Lily secretly put it in my bag; I only just noticed.”
David immediately freaked out. “Lily and I agreed that the money was just a token. How could you actually accept it?”
His words hit me like a punch; a nameless anger swelled up. Holding myself back I asked, “What do you mean by a ‘token’?”
“Don’t you get it? It was just for show. We’re raising a kid — expenses are brutal. Twenty thousand could feed our whole family for three or four months. How could you take it?”
I drew a deep breath and reminded him, “I’m Lily’s birth mother.”
“So what? Shouldn’t a birth mother be thinking of her daughter? You just accepted twenty thousand like that — aren’t you afraid you’ll spend it and end up in the hospital?”
Good heavens — is this the same man I treated like my own son? How could he curse me to get sick over twenty thousand dollars? I went cold and answered without mercy:
“The money was given to me by Lily. Since she gave it, I’ll treat it as her offering of filial piety. If you don’t like it, keep it to yourself. If you want it back, have her ask in person — and if she dares open her mouth, I’ll break her legs!”
David was furious at that. All his insults about freeloaders, sucking blood from his wife, curses about cancer — everything came pouring out. I opened the voice recorder and captured every vile word, then forwarded the recording to my daughter as a text message.
When he saw I was silent, he panted down the line and threatened: “Return the money or I’ll come over and make a scene in a few days so the whole neighborhood knows — that you’re lazy and relying on your daughter to support you!”
Ha! I laughed at him through my anger. “Come on then. I’d love it if everyone judged whose son-in-law behaves like yours — who asks their mother-in-law to return a gift of twenty thousand!”
“Beep…beep…beep…”
A busy signal. He’d hung up on me. How infuriating — not an ounce of decorum.
I dialed Lily right away, pinched my brow, and forced my voice calm. “Did you get the recording I sent?”
She answered softly through the receiver, “I heard it…”
“And what does that mean?”
“Mom, please don’t get angry. I’m at work right now. Let me ask him when I get back and I’ll get back to you, okay?” Her voice was low — she sounded like she was in the office break room.
