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3
I carried the silver lock over to Jayden.
I asked him quietly,
"Jayden, Grandma made this for you. Do you like it?"
Jayden's eyes went bright, and he nodded hard. "I like it!"
I unfastened the clasp and reached to put it around his neck.
But Sabina yanked him back.
"Silver? Even a dog wouldn't wear that."
"What century do you think this is? You want my son wearing junk like that, so his classmates can laugh at him?"
"Mom, let's be honest. The first time I met you, weren't you wearing a gold bracelet on your wrist?"
"What, you're dying and you still can't bear to part with the gold bracelet? Saving it to take into the grave?"
A flicker of unease crossed my mother's face.
"That… that was…"
She couldn't get the words out.
Sabina took in every bit of her expression.
She folded her arms and gave a cold laugh.
"You won't leave the gold bracelet to your own grandson, just a cheap little silver lock. The way I see it, you don't love him much at all!"
"In that case, Jayden, we're leaving!"
And with that, she grabbed her son by the hand to go.
"Don't! Please!"
My father hurried to stop her.
"Your mother's gold bracelet was sold off a long time ago. Look, I've still got a little money here, you take it. Just let Jayden stay a while with his grandmother!"
As he spoke, my father fished out a card and pressed it into Sabina's hand.
"There's two hundred thousand in here. It's all the money Michael sent us over the years. We couldn't bring ourselves to spend it, so we've been saving it for him!"
I thought that would make Sabina happy.
Instead she gripped the card and rounded on me, her face full of fury.
"Michael, are your parents bloodsuckers? You've got a wife, a kid, your own family now, and they're still clinging to your back, sucking you dry?"
My cousin couldn't stand it anymore.
"What kind of thing is that to say?"
"So marrying someone means cutting all ties with your own parents?"
"Besides, my uncle and aunt paid to put your husband through college. Now that he's made something of himself, shouldn't he pay them back?"
Sabina shot her a glance.
"What would a girl like you understand?"
"Giving birth is appetite. Raising is duty. Lifting a child up in life, that's the only real kindness!"
"Did your uncle and aunt ever lift your husband up? And you come talk to me about paying back. What nerve!"
"You…" My cousin was so angry her face and neck flushed red.
My face darkened, my fists clenched tight.
Sabina glanced at me, then made her concession.
"All right, here's the deal. You want me and my son to stay, fine."
"Sign this document to sever family ties! We'll let it slide this time, but from now on, any of you relatives has a birth, a death, an illness, a wedding, a funeral, whatever, none of you is allowed to tell us!"
My cousin took the document and brought it over so the relatives could read it together.
The longer they read, the more their faces changed.
My cousin stepped forward, hesitating.
"Fine, forget about the rest of us. But my uncle can't even come to you if something happens?"
Sabina folded her arms, chin high with contempt.
"We live in Baytown. Coming back here takes two hours. That's pretty far."
As she said it, her eyes raked my father from head to toe.
"And your uncle here isn't exactly clean, is he? Look at his hands, the dirt under his nails. And those clothes, mud spattered all over them…"
"My own parents are wealthy, important people. My mother runs an art studio and teaches painting herself, and my father works at a state utility company, makes over twenty thousand a month."
"I really don't want them knowing I've got in-laws like this. It's too embarrassing!"
