Martha interrupted.
“Because she always has before.”
“That was not permission,” I said.
Penny sighed loudly.
“You don’t understand what it’s like with three kids.
Everything costs money.”
“I understand that children cost money.
I have a one-week-old daughter in the room with me.”
“That’s different.”
I looked at the hospital bracelet still lying near the bassinet.
“You’re right.
It is different.
I gave birth alone, and the first message I received from Mom was an invoice for your children.”
Neither of them spoke.
For one brief second, the silence felt like recognition.
Then Martha said, “That is a cruel way to describe helping your family.”
“It is exactly what happened.”
Penny’s voice sharpened.
“So you’re punishing my kids because Mom forgot to congratulate you?”
“No.
I’m refusing to buy three phones.
Those are not the same thing.”
“They’re going to be devastated.”
“Then you need to explain that their mother promised something before she had the money for it.”
Penny gasped as if I had insulted the children themselves.
Martha snatched the phone off the table and took Penny off speaker.
“I’ll call you back,” she said, then ended the call.
She turned toward me with a look I recognized from childhood.
It was the expression she used when she believed embarrassment would succeed where anger had failed.
“You humiliated your sister.”
“You called her from my living room.”
“Because I thought hearing her voice would remind you that she is a human being.”
“I know she is.
I am one too.”
Hazel began fussing again.
I lifted her carefully, supporting her head against my shoulder.
Martha watched me, but she did not soften.
“One baby and suddenly you think the world revolves around you.”
I felt the words land, but I did not let them decide what happened next.
“Give me the spare key.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“The key you used to enter my house without knocking.
Give it back.”
Her hand moved instinctively toward her purse.
“I am your mother.”
“That is not permission to walk into my home.”
“I came because you were ignoring everyone.
For all I knew, something was wrong.”
“You walked in shouting about money.”
“I was worried.”
“You did not ask about Hazel once.”
Martha looked toward the baby for the first time since entering.
The glance lasted less than a second.
“Of course I care about the baby.
Don’t be dramatic.”
