1: 1

On the morning of my sixtieth birthday, my daughter-in-law told me she'd prepared a big gift for me.

"To thank you, Mom, for all the help over the years. Ever since I married into the Lambert family, I've never had a single worry."

Hearing her say that, I felt everything I'd given had been worth it.

Looking at the beautiful gift box, I said what was really in my heart. "Just hearing that from you is enough, dear. This gift looks expensive—take it back, or bring it to your own mother."

Right there in front of everyone, Celeste Fox turned on me.

"You old hag, my mother is perfectly fine. Who exactly are you cursing?"

She swung her hand and slapped me across the face.

The motion was so violent it knocked the box over, and a burial shroud spilled out.

1

Walter Abbott was quick on his feet and kicked the shroud out of the private room, but I'd already seen it clearly.

Even holding my emotions back, I was shaking with anger.

After a long moment to steady myself, I called my son, who was on his way over.

"Curtis Lambert, are you late on purpose today?"

He gave a dry little laugh.

"If you don't get here soon, your wife is going to bring the roof down—"

Before I could finish, he cut me off. "Almost there."

Walter saw what was happening and grabbed the phone. "Curtis, if you're not here in five minutes, I'll pretend I never had a son!"

He finished shouting and hung up.

Once I came back to myself, I understood the way Curtis had dodged the real question. He clearly knew all about it.

Once that sank in, most of my anger drained away.

Celeste, my daughter-in-law, folded her arms across her chest and looked coldly at Walter and me.

"You can't blame Curtis for this."

"The kids are all grown and married now. Your focus should be on your son."

"You feed and clothe your daughter's whole family day in and day out. You think your own flesh-and-blood son wouldn't feel hurt by that?"

Now that Celeste had said what she really thought, I decided to explain after all.

I said, "There was an accident. My son-in-law died. He left behind two children still too young to fend for themselves. My daughter couldn't put food on the table. Were her father and I supposed to just watch the three of them starve to death?"

"And we've helped you two plenty. What little money we gave her wouldn't even cover half a month of your fancy tonics."

Sure enough, Celeste's face fell.

In all the years they'd been married, every expense had come out of my pocket and Walter's. They never paid a cent toward living costs, never mind that they were two more mouths to feed. Even the car loan I'd been paying off with my pension.

For the last six months, the young couple had been trying for a baby, and the supplements and health products came out of my pension too.

The few hundred dollars I slipped my daughter now and then loomed in their eyes as big as a mountain.

Celeste said with a cold smile, "There's no need to get so worked up over it. Your son doesn't have money, so he was just trying to save a little and bought a burial shroud by mistake. It's not like he did it on purpose."

Her words were like a stone lodged hard in my chest. Even though I'd already warned myself not to get angry, I felt my chest clench, and I nearly couldn't catch my breath.

"Mom, if you took better care of us day to day, you wouldn't be having a simple meal in a place like this. Curtis and I would have thrown you a proper, grand celebration."

Every word out of Celeste was a complaint, but all I felt was the urge to laugh.

This birthday dinner had been booked by my daughter. Not only did Celeste contribute nothing but her mouth, she'd bought me a burial shroud.

Even if we did help my daughter out, that hardly made us monsters beyond forgiveness!

I didn't want to keep fighting. I drew in a deep breath. "The palm and the back of the hand are both my own flesh—"

"Mom, blood is blood and outsiders are outsiders. Can't you tell the difference?"

Faced with Celeste's accusation, I couldn't help letting out a cold laugh.

Walter was a blunt man who couldn't stand to let anything slide, and he fired back.

"Who's blood, and who's the outsider?"

Afraid he'd blurt out the secret we'd buried for years, I quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

"You're both our own children. There are no outsiders here!"

2: 2

Celeste couldn't hold back after hearing me say that, and she shot me a nasty look.

"Mom, stop playing the saint."

"The truth is, Curtis and I both know you're planning to leave everything to your daughter!"

She paused there, and when I said nothing, she went on.

"How much can your son and I really eat or spend? The property is the real money, and giving all of it to your daughter—is that fair to us?"

Once Celeste laid it out, Walter said, "The money is ours, and how we divide it is our business. If you two think it's unfair, then go earn your own, or grit your teeth and live with it!"

Celeste rolled her eyes at him.

"Dad, so you're dead set on favoring your daughter and abandoning your son, is that it?"

"Then don't blame us for a gift that brings bad luck! On Mom's birthday, that precious daughter of yours doesn't call or show up. But when you're sick someday, when you're gone, who else will you count on besides me and Curtis?"

Celeste's real feelings landed cold as hail. Walter couldn't stand up to it, shaking with rage.

I quickly gripped his hand.

I spoke slowly. "Your dad and I aren't counting on anyone!"

"You sure?"

"Of course."

"Your body's still strong now, so it's easy to talk pretty. But when you're sick and can't move, that tune will change!"

Watching the smug look on Celeste's face, I didn't answer.

It was my son's voice that came from the doorway instead.

"Right, easy to be tough when you can still eat and jump around."

"If you don't believe us, we can have it notarized!" I said.

Curtis came into the room and pulled Celeste into his arms.

The wronged look Celeste turned on me now carried more than a little resentment.

"Your son's here now. Take it out on him if you're upset."

Then she went to wipe her tears.

Curtis wiped his wife's tears away, aching for her. "Mom, you've got so many clothes—can you even wear them all? I just figured, a few bucks for something cheap, I never thought it'd be a burial shroud. Go through the motions and toss it out after, that's all. You don't need to hear thunder every time there's a breeze!"

My son thought Walter and I were making a mountain out of a molehill. Walter and I looked at each other and neither of us said a word.

"Mom, should I have the waiter start bringing the food?"

I lifted my eyes and gave my son a flat look.

He deliberately tried to change the subject. "Didn't Gabriella say she was too busy to come?"

I said with a sneer, "Good thing she's not. Less aggravation!"

Walter picked up on my sarcasm. "If we'd known you two would turn out like this, we'd have been better off raising a couple slabs of barbecue."

Curtis brushed it off. "Barbecue can't take care of you in your old age, can it? Nothing's more reliable than me and Gabriella."

The words nearly made me laugh. He kept trotting out the line about raising a son for your old age, meaning to needle Walter and me. Even buying a burial shroud for my birthday this time was his way of getting a jab in.

But I wasn't buying any of it.

Everything I gave to this family, I never gave expecting to collect a return from anyone.

Otherwise I wouldn't have raised him for thirty years.

I said, "Your dad and I don't need you worrying about our old age!"

3: 3

The old man was thinking exactly what I was thinking.

He kept right on tearing into our son. "You'd have starved us both to death by now!"

"Dad, don't talk like that."

"You're not worth a slab of barbecue. Would a slab of barbecue sit around hoping its mother would die?"

"If you can't wait, we can be laid in the coffin right now and hauled off to the crematorium!"

"Dad..."

"Right, me too."

"Might as well plant us both up on the hill while you're at it!"

"Cash in our pensions all in one go."

I had never seen Walter this angry before. The words came out of him like a machine gun.

Our son opened his mouth and couldn't decide which line to argue with first.

Walter, still shaking with it, muttered under his breath, "Should've known he was an ungrateful stray you can never feed full. Never should've taken him in."

He said it low, but Curtis caught every word.

"Dad, Gabriella's the one you raised for nothing. On Mom's sixtieth birthday she brushed it off, said work was too busy. I didn't even stay late at the office that day, and you dump all your anger on me!"

"Do you have to play favorites this openly?"

Walter was about to fire back again, and I was afraid he'd work himself into a heart attack, so I grabbed his hand fast.

So our son thought we played favorites?

Fine. Then we'd tell him exactly why we favored her, and put an end to that pitiful little fantasy of his.

Mind made up, but it was Celeste who jumped in first.

"Mom, Dad, Curtis and I are more than willing to take care of you. Since we're all here today, I won't dance around it. Give us a straight answer. Does the estate go to us, or to Gabriella?"

The whole family's eyes turned to me.

I didn't answer right away.

"Walter, call Gabriella and see how far out she is."

The hope on our son's face and the smile on Celeste's both froze.

Curtis especially. He blurted out, baffled, "Mom, you're really going to side with an adopted daughter? Over your own son?"

I ignored him and steered Walter toward the door of the private room.

Curtis was no fool. He caught on to what I meant, and it lit him up instantly.

He rushed over and blocked his father in the doorway.

"Dad, even you're taking the adopted daughter's side?"

"Mom's lost her head, and now you're joining in the nonsense!"

I cleared my throat and said, cold, "You gave me such a generous gift. It's only right I give you one back."

With that I pushed Curtis aside and sent the old man off to call our daughter.

Watching Walter's back as he walked away, I said to my son, "One of you two really isn't ours by blood. You and Gabriella."

"Today I'm telling you both where you came from. She has to be here for it."

Once he heard that, Curtis finally let out a breath of relief.