4:

The wedding went ahead anyway, but the only guests who stayed were the ones determined to eat back the cash they'd handed over in envelopes. So it didn't even rise to the level of a joke. At best it was a group dinner.

I heard Stacy cried her makeup right off her face.

I didn't care. But on their wedding night, I went straight to the newlywed apartment I'd bought for Stacy.

Just as I'd expected, Stacy and the three Jameses had already moved in. With no passcode and no key, they'd simply pried the lock open, and since there was no way to buy a new one in the middle of the night, the door was only pulled shut without latching.

I pushed it open and walked in.

Right in time to see the three of them coaxing Stacy to stop crying.

The moment she saw me,

Stacy's tears cut off instantly.

"Well?"

"You were pretty full of yourself at the wedding. What are you here for now?"

"Don't tell me you think you can turn my wedding into a circus and then swing by in the middle of the night to apologize, and I'll just forgive you?"

Before I could say a word,

Wanda Fox took my hand and started smoothing things over.

"We're family now. Stacy was only joking at the wedding today, she didn't mean anything by it. Since you can see where you went wrong, don't fight with her anymore. Just talk to her nicely."

Roy James joined in.

"That's right. Stacy is a rare, good girl. If you fall out with her over one joke, you're the only one who'll regret it."

I nodded along.

"You two aren't wrong. Stacy really is good to you. Much better than she's ever been to her own mother."

I said it calmly, but Stacy still rolled her eyes in fury.

"If you're going to apologize, then apologize properly. Don't stand there being snide."

I shook my head and said, smiling,

"I'm not here to apologize today, and I'm not here to make peace. I'm here for money."

5:

"Money?"

The four of them frowned and exchanged looks.

Stacy caught on first. Her eyes lit up.

"You mean you're here to work out how much you'll give me every month?"

"I've already thought about that. Fifty thousand a month works for me, because I—"

I had no interest in hearing Stacy's plans for my money.

I waved a hand and cut her off.

"I'm not here to give money. I'm here to collect it."

"I only drank one mouthful of tea at that wedding, but I paid for half of it, which comes to three hundred and thirty thousand. And back then the Jameses gave me two hundred thousand in betrothal money. So you still owe me a hundred and thirty thousand."

"Don't tell me you don't have it. You collected today's cash gifts yourselves. I came at night on purpose, so you couldn't cry poor on me."

The second I said it,

all four of them were stunned.

The first to recover was Robin.

"Aunt Priscilla, what's that supposed to mean?"

"We agreed the betrothal money was just a formality. You'd return double after the wedding and add a million for the dowry. What's this now, going back on your word?"

My smile widened.

"The answer's right there on the table."

"The betrothal money and the dowry I promised to return were for my daughter and son-in-law. You call me Aunt Priscilla. Why on earth would I give it to you?"

"If one 'Aunt' from you were worth that much, you'd have been the richest family in the country long ago."

Stacy, of course, wasn't going to pay. She started raving again, all mindless fury and no logic.

I didn't want to disturb the neighbors, and I wanted to get to bed early, so I took out my phone right away.

"If you won't pay, I'll call the police right now. If that doesn't work, I'll sue. One way or another, I'm seeing this through to the end and getting my money back."

I clearly wasn't joking.

And all three Jameses had respectable jobs. If I really called the police and blew this up, the embarrassment would be one thing, losing their jobs would be another.

So after a brief standoff,

Roy pulled out his phone, face like a storm cloud, and transferred the hundred and thirty thousand to me.

Stacy tried to stop him and was too late. But she grabbed hold of me.

"Since you've taken the money, you have to sign this agreement."

Six:

I took it and looked it over.

Just as I'd guessed, it was a disownment agreement. The wording was vicious, twisting her tantrums into me demanding too much, painting me as someone who'd pressured her for years.

And the date on it was a few days before the wedding.

I couldn't tell whether they'd dug up some template on short notice and backdated it a few days just to spite me, or whether they really had been planning to cut ties with me all along.

If I'd stayed at the wedding today instead of leaving, they probably would have pulled this out near the end of the ceremony and forced me to sign in front of everyone.

Seeing that I said nothing, Stacy took it for reluctance and let out a few smug, cold little laughs.

"What, not signing now? Weren't you the one who wanted to be done with me for good? Weren't you the one who came to settle accounts?"

"Don't tell me you're planning to take the money and still cling to me afterward?"

"You can't have it both ways. Is that really too simple for you to understand?"

"If you don't want to sign, then give the money back."

Robin put on his little act of trying to stop her.

"Aunt Priscilla, don't sign it. Once you sign, there's really no going back."

"You're getting on in years, and Stacy's your only child. You can't stoop to her level."

"You're all on your own anyway. What good is all that money to you? Besides, you earned that money for Stacy in the first place. Don't act tough when your heart's soft."

Then he turned and started working on Stacy.

"Stacy, quit making a scene. Aunt Priscilla's been so good to you. She's just pushing you right now, pushing you to apologize. Just say sorry. She'll forgive you for sure."

I watched the two of them, the perfectly matched couple, one playing the kind one and one playing the harsh one.

I simply took the agreement, pressed it against the wall, and signed. Then I ran my index finger over the lipstick on my mouth and pressed a fingerprint down in place of an ink stamp.

"There. Signed."

Seven:

The three of them snatched up the disownment agreement, and when they saw I really had signed and pressed my print on it, they froze.

The one who cracked worst was Stacy.

The way she saw it, how could I, the mother who'd always given in to her every whim, possibly agree to cut ties?

In her book, no matter what she did to me, an "I'm sorry" and two tears afterward would always be enough to earn my forgiveness.

But she never imagined I wouldn't say a single word back. I just signed.

The three of the James family got flustered.

They kept saying I was being too rash, that the agreement didn't count, that blood ties couldn't be voided just by signing a piece of paper. As they said it, they made a grab for the agreement in my hand and Stacy's, trying to tear it up.

I knew they were only doing it to give me and Stacy a way to back down.

But Stacy took it as me making her lose face in front of her in-laws and her husband.

She snatched the agreement and clutched it hard against her chest.

"It counts. Why wouldn't it count?"

"From today on I have no mother. I only have my in-laws and my husband."

"From now on, even if you kneel at my door begging me to open it and die right there, I won't lift a finger for you, and I won't shed a single tear!"

The three of the James family kept telling me Stacy was just talking out of anger.

But having died once, I knew better. This wasn't anger talking. This was the truth.

So I nodded along.

"Fine. I'll give those exact words right back to you."

Seeing how lightly I brushed it off, Stacy was furious.

"Get out. Get out of my house right now. And if you ever dare come back, I'll call the police on the spot!"

I laughed harder.

"If all I wanted was the money, one phone call would have done it. Why would I go out of my way to come here in person just to look at your ugly faces?"

"So I didn't come today only for the hundred and thirty thousand. What matters more is that I came to throw you out!"

Robin blinked.

"Aunt Priscilla, what's that supposed to mean?"

I pointed at the house.

"Because this is a house I paid for. I've got no reason to let a few strangers live in it. Wouldn't you agree?"