My wife had just given birth, and my mother had turned down her own work to come care for her.

The postpartum recovery period had barely ended before my wife moved her ex-husband's mother into our home.

"Honey, I've noticed how good your mom is at looking after people. This past month she took wonderful care of me and the baby."

"And Dudley Henson's mother isn't in great health. She needs someone to wait on her, but Dudley's too busy with work to have the time."

"So I figured, since I'm out of recovery now and your mom isn't as busy, one more person to look after shouldn't be a big deal. I went ahead and brought her over."

I stared at her, unable to believe what I was hearing.

"My mom came to take care of you because you're her daughter-in-law. She's not a hired nurse. Why on earth would she look after an outsider?"

Julia Fox's brows drew together.

"Dudley's mother used to be family to me too. How can you call her an outsider?"

And with that, she started assigning rooms as if it were all settled.

"His mother isn't well, she needs proper rest, so she should have the master bedroom."

"Dudley and I already agreed he'll come see his mother once a week, so we need to keep the second bedroom for him."

"I need the study for work, so that stays as it is. For now, you and I will just set up a floor bed in the living room with the baby and make do."

I asked before I could stop myself, "And where does my mom sleep?"

Only then did Julia seem to remember her.

She fell quiet for a moment, then shifted her eyes toward the balcony.

"How about we let Mom take the balcony? There's just enough room for a folding cot out there."

I stood frozen, looking at the faint guilt on her face, and my voice came out cold.

"And if I say no?"

"…"

Julia's expression darkened at once.

"Julius Swanson, when did you get so heartless?"

"She's old, she's not well, she's just staying with us for a while. Do you really have to nickel-and-dime it like this?"

I stared at her, almost laughing from sheer anger.

"Me, nickel-and-dime it?"

"You bring your ex-husband's mother into my home, make my mother wait on her, make me and our month-old baby sleep in the living room, and somehow I'm the one with no compassion?"

Julia's patience thinned.

"We're husband and wife. Aren't we supposed to share each other's burdens?"

"Besides, I've already worked everything out. Do you really have to make a scene and leave everyone with nowhere to stand?"

I was about to speak when the kitchen door swung open.

My mother came out carrying a pot of freshly stewed chicken soup, her forehead damp with sweat.

She'd clearly heard us arguing, and her eyes were full of worry.

"Julius, Julia just finished her recovery, she isn't back to full strength yet. Don't fight with her."

Then she turned to Julia.

"Julia, if you're really that worried, let Dudley's mother move in."

"I can stay anywhere, the balcony's fine. It's bright, and you can see the view outside."

A sharp sting rose in my nose.

My mother was doing this so I wouldn't be caught in the middle.

But Julia didn't see it as any kind of sacrifice. If anything, she looked relieved.

"See, Mom's the reasonable one."

"Honey, you could learn a thing or two from her. Stop thinking only about yourself."

My mother's face went stiff. She set the chicken soup down on the table.

"But you two and the baby can't sleep in the living room."

"The baby's only a month old, he can't catch a chill at night, and Julia's body still hasn't recovered. The master bedroom has to stay with your little family."

"Say what you will, Dudley's mother is still a guest. The second bedroom is fine for her."

"And Dudley's your ex-husband. Honestly, it isn't right for him to stay here at all. Have him find a place nearby."

Sitting on the sofa, Dudley's mother suddenly pressed a hand to her chest and let out two low coughs.

"This is all my fault."

"With a body as broken as mine, it hardly matters where I sleep. If it's this much trouble, I'd better just go."

She made to rise, and the moment she got to her feet, her knees buckled.

Julia rushed to steady her.

"Don't move around like that."

Dudley's mother waved a hand.

"I only worried I'd be a burden to you."

"I thought you were being kind, willing to look after me for a few days. I never meant to upset your husband."

Julia's heart went out to her in an instant. She spun around and glared at me and my mother.

"She needs peace and quiet. She has to have a room to herself."

"Dudley works hard. He comes over once a week. Surely he can't be left without even a place to sleep."

I let out a cold laugh.

"Doesn't he have a home of his own?"

Julia's face turned uglier still.

"It's only a few nights. Do you have to put it so cruelly?"

"Dudley didn't make a fuss about staying under the same roof as you. You're both men. How can you be this petty?"

The baby, startled by her voice, suddenly began to cry.

I quickly picked him up.

My mother dropped the argument too and came over to help me check his diaper.

The two of us fussed over the baby while Julia settled Dudley's mother down, bringing her a cushion, pouring her warm water.

I'd never once seen her that attentive.

After the baby was born, she refused to breastfeed to keep her figure, and she washed her hands of everything else too.

Every bit of the childcare fell on me and my mother.

There was one time I was burning up at a hundred and two, and I asked her to hold the baby for a minute.

Instead she complained that I was interrupting her show and nagged me about it the whole day.

Now Dudley's mother coughed twice and she was beside herself with worry.

I patted the baby, slowly forcing my emotions down.

"I won't give up the master bedroom."

"And my mother is not sleeping on the balcony."

"If you want to play the dutiful one, take her to a hotel. You pay, and you take care of her."

Just then the lock chimed with the sound of a code being punched in.

A few soft beeps, and the door opened.

Dudley wheeled in a suitcase and walked inside.

My heart dropped hard.

"How do you know the code to my place?"

Dudley raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

Julia took his coat off him like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"I told him," she said.

"He's coming to see his mother. It's easier if he has the code."

I let out a laugh with no humor in it.

"So you gave my ex-wife's — my home's code to your ex-husband, and didn't even mention it to me?"

Julia frowned at me.

"It's just a door code. Don't blow it out of proportion."

Dudley sat down next to his mother and glanced at the chicken soup on the table.

He immediately covered his nose and looked at my mother.

"My mother has high cholesterol. She can't have anything this greasy."

"Now that there's someone unwell in the house, the cooking should take the sick person's health into account."

"Ma'am, be more careful next time."

I said coldly, "That was made by my mother for my wife. If your mother wants something, she can make it herself."

Dudley turned to Julia.

"Your husband's got quite a temper on him."

Julia lowered her voice and scolded me. "Dudley's just worried about his mother. What's wrong with him saying a couple of things?"

"Since your mom's the one cooking, it wouldn't kill her to be a little more careful."

Dudley let it drop, turned, and scanned the living room, frowning again.

"Why's this place such a mess?"

"My mother's not well. She needs a clean space to recover."

"Julia, why haven't you hired a cleaner?"

Julia looked around, and then, unbelievably, she nodded.

"It is a bit messy."

"Mom, you're home all day with nothing to do. Couldn't you tidy up a little while you're at it?"

"Dudley's mother isn't well. Looking at this mess is bad for her state of mind."

My mother froze where she stood, at a loss.

That was it. I was done holding back.

"Julia, my mother isn't just taking care of you. She's taking care of the baby, cooking three meals a day, and getting up in the night to help. She's a person, not a machine. How is she supposed to do all of it?"

"And you? Since the baby was born, how many diapers have you changed? How many bottles have you made? The baby cries and all you do is call for me."

"If the mess bothers you so much, clean it up yourself."

Julia couldn't keep her face steady after that.

"When a mother-in-law comes to help through the postpartum period, isn't this exactly what she does? How does it turn into some huge favor the second it's your family?"

My mother quickly grabbed my arm.

"Julius, stop fighting."

"Julia's just out of her postpartum recovery. Don't get her upset."

She bent down and started gathering the baby clothes off the couch.

"It's my fault, I didn't tidy up. I'll clean it right now."

"It'll be spotless in no time."

Watching her bend down like that, something in my chest clamped shut until I could barely breathe.

My father died young. She was proud and stubborn, and she raised my sister and me on her own.

Now, for my sake, she was bowing her head in front of Julia and Dudley.

I caught the clothes out of her hands.

"Mom, leave it."

"Whoever thinks it's dirty can clean it."

Dudley laughed out loud against the back of the couch.

"Julia, looks like life hasn't been so great for you since you remarried."

He stood and came over to stand in front of me.

"Julius, don't get too pleased with yourself."

"If my job didn't keep me busy and traveling all the time, if she hadn't been so unbearably lonely at home on her own, do you think she'd have divorced me?"

"You were never anything more than a stand-in she found."

I turned to look at Julia.

"Is what he said true?"

She wouldn't meet my eyes.

"It's all in the past. Why bring it up now?"

Watching her, my throat went tight.

When Julia was chasing me, I knew she'd been divorced. And I'd told her plainly that I didn't want to step into a relationship that wasn't over.

She'd held my hand and said the divorce was because she and her ex had no feelings left, that there was simply no way to keep it going.

She said from then on she'd only ever be good to me, wholeheartedly.

So it turned out her so-called "wholehearted" meant making me give up my place to her ex-husband.

All at once I felt ridiculous.

"So you lied to me."

Julia shot me an impatient look.

"That was ages ago. Why keep dragging it up?"

"I'm married to you now, we have a child, and you insist on clinging to the past. What's the point?"

"The reason Dudley and I divorced is complicated. It can't be explained in one sentence. But my feelings for you—"

Janice suddenly clutched her chest and slumped onto the couch.

"Dudley, I don't feel right."

Dudley let out a cry and lunged over to hold her up.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

Janice gasped, struggling for breath.

"Julia, don't blame your husband."

"He's just become a father. The pressure's a lot. It's normal for his temper to be short."

"I'll go. I'll go right now. I can't have the two of you divorcing over me."

Julia panicked and rounded on me.

"Happy now?"

"If you push her into a real health problem, can you carry that?"

I picked up my phone.

"Since it's this serious, I'll call an ambulance."

"She should go to the hospital for an ECG and blood work. No sense delaying."

A flicker of alarm crossed Janice's eyes.

"No need."

"My condition is always like this. A little rest and it passes."

I opened the dial pad.

"That won't do."

"If something really is wrong, who takes the blame?"

"This is the perfect chance for a full workup, and the doctor can decide whether she truly needs absolute quiet."

Dudley snatched the phone out of my hand.

"Julius Swanson, what are you getting at?"

"Are you saying my mother's faking?"

"I didn't say it. You did."

Janice clutched her chest at once and let her body slide toward the floor.

"I don't want to live anymore."

"Living under someone else's roof, and getting humiliated like this on top of it."

"Julia, take me home. At least if I die in my own house it'll be clean."

Dudley raised his hand and swung it at my face.

"If anything happens to my mother, I'm not done with you!"

Before the slap landed, my mother caught his wrist.

"Don't you dare bully my son!"

Julia rushed over and shoved my mother.

"Mom, Dudley's just worried about his own mother. Can you stop making trouble!"

My mother lost her footing, and the back of her head slammed into the wall.

She didn't make a sound. She just dropped to the floor.

"Mom!"

I threw myself down and gathered her up.

Her eyes were shut, and no matter how I called her, she didn't respond.

Julia froze, then took a step forward.

"Is she—"

But behind her Dudley was sobbing:

"Julia, my mom's passed out!"

Julia turned back at once and propped Janice up.

"It's okay, I'll get you to the hospital."

I gripped the hem of her clothes and wouldn't let go.

"My mother's hurt too. Take her with you!"

Julia shook my hand off.

"Your mother does that much work every day, she's perfectly healthy. Don't take a page from other people and fake it for sympathy."

"Move, now!"

"If anything happens to her, neither you nor your mother can answer for it!"

With that, she and Dudley took Janice up on either side and hurried out of the house.