Nobody answered.
I read the next instruction aloud.
“Move Teresa into the nursery.
Say the room shouldn’t stay empty.”
Lily began crying.
“This was Mom’s idea.”
Teresa spun toward her.
“Don’t you dare.”
“You said he would never throw us out after the baby came,” Lily blurted.
“You said once Emily was gone, he would need us to help raise him.”
Emily put both hands over her stomach.
The movement was protective and instinctive.
It made the entire plan feel even uglier.
Teresa’s voice rose.
“I was trying to protect my son.
That woman has controlled him since they married.
Look at him.
He works himself to death while she sits here.”
Emily’s swollen feet were visible beneath the table.
Her wet sleeves clung to her arms.
Behind Teresa, the living room remained buried beneath the garbage my family had left for her.
I looked at my mother.
“You found her washing your dishes while eight months pregnant, and that is the story you chose?”
“She needs to understand sacrifice.”
“No,” I said.
“You needed her exhausted enough to leave.”
Teresa slapped her palm against the table.
“After everything I did for you, you owe me.”
I nodded slowly.
That answer surprised her.
“You raised me,” I said.
“You fed me when I was a child.
You worked hard.
I have never forgotten that.
It is why I paid your rent.
It is why I covered your prescriptions.
It is why I kept Brittany, Kayla, and Lily on my phone plan and paid bills they were capable of paying themselves.”
My sisters lowered their eyes.
“But gratitude is not a deed to my home.
It is not ownership of my paycheck.
It is not permission to abuse my wife.”
Teresa pointed toward Emily.
“She has poisoned you.”
“No.
Your notebook educated me.”
I picked up my phone and stopped the recording.
Then I opened the account for our mobile service.
Brittany’s phone chimed first when the service-change notification appeared.
Kayla looked at hers.
Lily stared at me in disbelief.
“What are you doing?” Brittany asked.
“Removing your lines from my account at the end of this billing period.
You’ll have time to transfer your numbers.”
Kayla stepped forward.
“You can’t just cut us off.”
“I can stop paying for adults who plotted against my wife.”
