Chapter 6 - I ASKED MY MOTHER TO LEAVE
The next morning, my mother was sitting in the living room with coffee.
As though nothing had happened.
Her suitcase sat beside the stairs.
I had packed nothing.
She had.
That told me she knew.
“You’re really throwing your mother out?”
“Yes.”
“For Hannah?”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“For what happened.”
“She turned you against me.”
“No.”
“She’s weak, Matthew. You know she is.”
I sat down across from her.
“No.”
“She can’t handle a household.”
“It’s her household.”
My mother laughed.
“She couldn’t even carry a pot.”
That sentence ended whatever patience I had left.
“She told you it was unsafe.”
“She should’ve poured some out.”
“You told her not to.”
Silence.
“You told a woman with recently burned hands to keep serving your guests.”
“I didn’t know it was that bad.”
“You knew enough.”
She stood.
“You’re choosing her over your own mother.”
There it was.
The oldest trap.
As though marriage required one woman to defeat another.
I shook my head.
“I’m choosing what I should have chosen months ago.”
“What?”
“My responsibility.”
She stared.
“This is my home.”
Her expression changed.
Not much.
Enough.
I continued:
“Hannah is my wife.”
“Sophie is my daughter.”
“You are my mother.”
“All three relationships matter.”
“But you are the only one who seems to believe yours gives you authority over the others.”
She picked up her suitcase.
Then said:
“You’ll regret this when Hannah falls apart without me.”
I opened the door.
“Then that will be ours to handle.”
For once, my mother had no final argument.
May you like
She left.
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