Margaret remembered all too well the argument with that insufferable woman who had married her beloved son, Daniel. She had fought tooth and nail to stop the wedding, but in the end, it had happened anyway. And now thisthis provincial nobody thought she could speak to her like this?
*”Listen, Margaret. Why do you pretend to be the wise mother? I can see right through you. You despise me because I wont bend to your will. And what gives you the right to barge into our flat every evening uninvited? We dont live off your money!”* The audacity of the girlEmily, was it?was staggering.
*”Excuse me? You dare lecture me? Wait until youve lived as long as I have”* Margarets facade of civility crumbled. The polished veneer of middle-class respectability peeled away, revealing the trutha narrow-minded woman who had clawed her way up, stepping on whoever she had to, just to keep her comforts.
*”Margaret, Daniel and I love each other. And Ive noticed how your little chats poison him. Wasnt it enough that you drove out his father and swindled his share of the flat? Must you ruin his happiness too? If you wont love him, at least let someone else try.”* Emilys defiance was infuriating.
*”Oh, so thats your tune now, is it? Let me tell you something, you little gutter rat! Who do you think you are? Some backwater nobody who washed up in London? Youre nothing! One bad month, and youll be sleeping rough. And you have the nerve to tell me how to raise my son?”*
*”So thats how you measure decencyby how much youve taken? If you swindle a flat and kick everyone out, youre a lady of society? But if I earn my keep honestly, thats shameful? Not all of us had the luxury of marrying into property and bleeding men dry!”* Emily struck where it hurt most. *”You werent born in London either, were you?”*
The barb landed. Margaret had, in fact, come from a tiny village decades ago, penniless and uneducated.
*”Youll never be with my son! A mothers love is sacred! Get out!”* She had nothing left but empty authority.
Emily only smirked and walked away. The argument changed nothingshe and Daniel married anyway.
But Margaret didnt relent. When Emily gave birth to their son, James, she worked tirelessly to turn Daniel against his wife. Eventually, it workedthey divorced. James was just four.
***
Still, Margaret couldnt shake the fear that Daniel might crawl back to that brazen little actress. She knew he still saw her. Paid child support, too.
What she didnt know was that Daniel and Emily had never truly separated. They still lived together, raising James, while Margaret believed her son worked in Manchester.
This brilliant deception wasnt just because of his meddling mother. Years before the wedding, Daniel had gotten himself into deep troubledebts, bad business deals. Emily had warned him.
*”Dan, dont be a fool. That bloke, William, hes a shark. Youre just a lamb to him. I saw it the moment I met himhell chew you up and spit you out.”*
*”Wills solid, Em. Men have to stick togetherthats how we survive.”*
*”Decency isnt about gender, Dan. When will you learn?”*
He hadnt listened. William made him director of a shell company, vanished with the money, and left Daniel drowning in debt.
***
Theyd have been better off on his modest civil service wage. So they hatched their plankill two birds with one stone. Margaret gloated over the divorce, oblivious. Meanwhile, creditors stopped hounding them.
Officially, Daniel lived in company housing. In reality, he came home every night to Emily and James.
But once a month, he played the dutiful son, returning from his “business trip” to endure Margarets matchmaking.
*”Why not just tell her the truth? About the debts, about us?”* Emily asked.
*”I cant. Itd destroy her. There has to be another way.”*
*”What way? We cant hide forever, Dan. This isnt living!”*
They were penniless. Most of his wages went to repayments. Emily scraped by with odd jobs. Sometimes, he begged her to leave him. She never would.
***
*”Em, how long can you keep this up? Youve got nothingrenting that shoebox, feeding him. Why? Youre not even married anymore!”* Emilys mother, Helen, was a schoolteacher. Shed take them inbut not Daniel.
*”Mum, I love him. We have James. And I wont abandon him.”*
Helen had raised Emily alone. Shed hoped an ultimatum might break this madness. But no. So she concocted a plan.
***
*”Well, Margaret, heres the truth.”* Helen had come to London for this very conversation.
*”Hes in debt? And hes stillwith her? Lying to me?”* Margarets outrage boiled over.
*”Yes. And my daughter is scraping pennies to feed him. So I thought we should talk. Though Emily forbade it.”*
*”Pretending to work in Manchester! The little worm!”*
*”So what do we do? Were the elders. We must help them.”*
*”How?”*
*”Contribute. Ive some savingsnot much, but for my daughter and grandson.”*
*”Are you mad? Hes a grown man! I raised himthats enough! No help! I disown him!”*
***
*”Well then youll all move in with me. Cramped, but better than nothing.”* After Margarets refusal, Helen softened. Shed do anything for Emilys happiness.
*”Fine,”* Emily sighed.
*”Ive no choice. Sorry, Helen I was awful at the wedding.”* Daniel remembered sneering at her familytheir working-class manners. Now he knew better.
***
*”Frankly, I couldnt care less about you. But my daughter needs help.”* Helen called her ex-husband, Robert.
*”Helen, of course Ill help. Ems my only child. Whats needed?”*
*”A home. And money”*
Robert had done well in construction. She expected refusalhed always been tight-fisted.
*”How much?”*
*”Whatever you can spare.”* She named the debt.
*”Ill help. On one condition.”*
*”What?”*
*”Dinner. Just us.”*
*”If you behave,”* Helen said, laughing like a girl again.
***
Years later, James turned eighteen. The family gatheredHelen and Robert, holding hands. Love had returned.
Daniel and Emily had remarriedthough Helen insisted they wait until Emily owned the flat Robert bought for her.
A knock at the door. James answeredand there stood Margaret.
*”You invited her?”* Emily glared.
*”Mum, she kept calling. Said she was sorry!”*
*”Took you long enough to apologize,”* Helen said.
*”Leave it, love,”* Robert chuckled. *”If not for her, we wouldnt be here.”*
*”Mum, why this act?”* Daniel frowned.
*”I just wanted to say sorry,”* Margaret whispered. Shed waited for them to beg. Now, alone, regret gnawed at her.
Silence. Then someone poured her tea. Passed the biscuits.
The family still ate with their hands sometimes. But here, there was kindness. Forgiveness. And, above all, love.
