Chapter 3
My heart just kept sinking.
I thought Richard, of all people, would be on my side. Instead, he was trying to smooth it over.
"Alright," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "This is not worth a huge fight. It's a house. It got Maggie excited, and it made Emily anxious.
"Emily, your aunt didn't mean it like that. Of course she cares about you. When the time comes for you to get married, your aunt and I will make sure you get a very generous wedding gift."
As he spoke, he shot Emily a pointed look.
She caught it immediately. Hiding behind Richard, she started sniffling again, "Uncle Richard, I know, I was wrong. I shouldn't have talked back. I'm just... I'm just jealous of Maggie."
The whole performance made me sick to my stomach.
I sneered, "A generous gift? How generous are we talking? Are you going to buy her a house, too? Or are you planning on writing her a check for a few hundred grand?"
I turned my gaze on him and snorted, my voice dripping with sarcasm, "Richard, I'm just now realizing what a saint you are."
His face darkened as he snapped, "Linda, what's with the attitude? We've raised her for nine years. Did we do all that just to turn her into an enemy?
"Her mother entrusted her to us. We have a responsibility to take care of her! How are you going to explain this to your sister?"
Again, he was using my sister against me.
My irresponsible sister had tossed her daughter to me like a piece of luggage.
I was shaking with rage. I pointed a trembling finger at Emily, but my words were for Richard.
I yelled, "Explain it? How should I explain it? I gave her a good life for nine years. I sent her to the best tutors and bought her designer clothes. She went on more vacations than Maggie!
"I have bent over backwards to make sure she never felt like an outsider! And for what? I raised an ungrateful wolf!
"Today she's demanding her marriage fund. What's next? Is she going to demand to know why her name isn't on the deed to this house?"
"Mom!" Maggie said and rushed to my side. Her own eyes were red as she took my ice-cold hand. "Don't be angry," she said softly. "She's not worth it."
But then she looked at Emily, and her whole face changed. I had never, ever seen her look at anyone with such cold disappointment before.
"Emily, I always felt sorry for you, so I let you get away with everything. But you're not pitiful. You're just a user. This family owes you nothing. And my mom definitely owes you nothing. You want your marriage fund? Go ask your own mother."
"My mom..." Emily started to argue but choked on the words.
She bit her lip, glaring at me and Maggie with an expression of pure, venomous resentment, as if we were the villains in her story.
The tension in the room was a physical thing, thick and suffocating.
Just then, Emily's phone rang.
She snatched it up like a lifeline and answered on speaker.
From the other end came the all-too-familiar, grating voice of Julia.
"Sweetie, are you home? How was the house tour? I bet the place your aunt bought for Maggie is amazing, huh?"
Her tone was laced with a smug, prying curiosity.
Emily let out a theatrical wail.
"Mom! Aunt Linda doesn't want me anymore! She's kicking me out!" she complained.
There was a beat of silence before Julia let out a sharp shriek.
"Linda! Is that you? How dare you bully my daughter? I left her in your care for nine years, and this is how you treat her? Do you have a conscience?"
Even through the phone, I could picture her face, twisted in self-righteous fury.
I snatched the phone from Emily's hand.
"Julia, how dare you talk to me about conscience? Your daughter just demanded to know how much I've saved for her wedding!"
The line went dead quiet.
A good ten seconds of silence hung in the air before Julia finally deigned to speak, drawing her words out in that infuriatingly smug way of hers.
"And what's wrong with that?
"You're her aunt. She grew up in your house. You've treated her like a daughter. Shouldn't you give her a lavish wedding gift?"