Volunteered to Marry In, Then Regretted Heroine's Mother Awakened, Flipped Table

I fell into a book and woke up as the mother of a trophy-wife novel's heroine.

From that day on, the gears of the heroine's destiny started slipping off their chain.

I made sure she ate; she smashed the bowl and called me a hired maid.

I got my nails done; she said the sky was falling, that I was throwing away her father's money.

I caught her sneaking around with a boy; she said I couldn't appreciate the light that shone off a man.

So I stopped. I gave up.

She wasn't my flesh and blood anyway.

I was eighteen in my last life. Playing mom to this girl, how could I not be sick of it?

So the heroine, who was supposed to have brilliant grades, failed to get into college and missed her shot at the campus romance with the male lead.

But the gears of fate started turning again.

After the leads finally met, the male lead volunteered to marry into our family and take our name, and agreed that the first child would carry the mother's surname.

My husband was thrilled. He handed over a house, handed over money, threw a grand banquet.

Then the baby was born, and the heroine changed her mind again. "Mom, Dad, it's just a surname. Why are you so hung up on it?"

"The thing is, my mother-in-law says it's humiliating."

"Unless the two of you are willing to hand over fifty million!"

I didn't agree. She turned on me right there. "Fine. You two can sit there hugging your stinking money and grow old all alone!"

After she left, I nudged my husband.

"What are you sitting there dazed for? Hurry up and take your stinking money back."

"Wouldn't want the smell to bother her."

...

Reginald Clifford heard me. The hand pinching his own upper lip went still.

Then he picked up his phone and called his assistant. "Cancel Pansy Clifford's company dividends."

"And unlink her supplementary card from the bank account."

I glanced at him. "You're not taking back the house?"

Reginald was quiet for a long moment. "Let's hold off on that. Gunnar's only just been born. I don't want the child to suffer for it."

Gunnar is our grandson's nickname, and this banquet was the one-month celebration party we were throwing for him.

Pansy had left, and Reginald said the celebration would go on, just as a family dinner.

But the expressions on our relatives and friends turned delicate.

"I always said that Pansy girl couldn't be counted on. You can see the whole life at three years old. Even as a child she was never much of a daughter to you, and now..."

"If we'd known our daughter would turn out like this, you two really should have had another."

"If only Norman hadn't..."

Someone pinched the speaker, and the air went silent in an instant.

Reginald's face was awful to look at.

Half an hour later, Pansy, who'd sworn only moments ago that she was cutting all ties with us, came storming back.

"Mom, Dad, what is this supposed to mean?"

"You cut off my cards to force me to back down, is that it?"

"We can live just fine on our own. I couldn't care less!"

Reginald was so furious his face went white, his lips trembling with words that wouldn't come.

I set down my chopsticks. "If you couldn't care less, what did you come back to argue about?"

Pansy choked on that. She barreled straight past it and changed the subject.

"I just don't get it. I'm your only daughter. Isn't everything you own going to be mine someday anyway?"

"So what's the point of all this?"

"Even if Gunnar doesn't carry the Clifford name, half his blood is still Clifford. Is one surname really that important?"

I smiled. "If it isn't important, then why won't you let him carry it?"

Pansy clenched both fists and shot back like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Since the beginning of time, children take the father's name. Only you two have to be different!"

"Have you thought about how Gunnar will feel? When he grows up, people will look down on his father, and he'll suffer right along with him!"

I'd had enough. I sat up straight, ready to settle this with her properly.

"You're right. Fair or not, since the beginning of time most children take the father's name."

"But was marrying into our family our idea? Was the child taking the mother's name something we proposed?"

"Wasn't it your husband, Harold Manning, who brought it up himself, because he didn't want to pay a bride price and didn't want to provide a house?"

"We gave the house, we paid the gifts, the money was all there, and now the two of you have changed your minds."

"And suddenly it's about a man's dignity again. He's got dignity, does he? His knees bent easily enough when he was taking the money."

"I won't let you talk about my husband like that!"

Pansy's eyes went red as she jabbed a finger at me and shouted.

"Harold's family is poor, he's got three older brothers above him, he's had it hard enough as it is!"

"Choosing to marry into our family was a sacrifice for the Manning family. It's devotion. It's noble!"

"Mom, you're always like this. You will never see what shines in a man!"

I was losing the will to deal with her. Talking to someone as stupid as Pansy just wore me out.

But she took it as though she'd won me over with her logic, and got more righteous by the second.

"You two are just stuck in your ways. It's only a surname. What, does the Clifford family have a throne to pass down?"

I gave it right back to her. "The Cliffords don't, but the Mannings do?"

Seeing that Pansy couldn't budge me, Harold, who'd been standing behind her the whole time, stepped forward.

"Mom, we should be reasonable about all this."

The words had barely left his mouth when I hurled the teacup straight at his head.

"You hit my husband!"

Pansy screamed and came at me with her nails out.

Reginald caught her by the arm and slapped her hard across the face with the back of his hand.

"What? You want to hit your mother too?"

"Dad, you"

She started to snap back on instinct, then met a look in Reginald's eyes she'd never seen before, cold and hard, and shrank into herself.

Of everyone here, the man I despised most was Harold Manning.

No real talent to speak of, yet he wore that permanent look of a genius the world had wronged, the only sober man in a room full of drunks.

The instant Pansy lunged, a flood of scenes from the original story surfaced in my mind.

In the story, Pansy's real mother poured everything she had into setting her daughter straight.

Barely into her forties, and already her hair had gone gray, so she looked like an old woman.

Under her careful raising, Pansy was a top student and got into the college she'd dreamed of.

Then she met Harold, and it all fell apart.

She demanded her parents help him without limit or condition.

Money to start a business, then covering the debts when it failed, cleaning up his messes over and over.

After he'd worn her father down until the old man died of rage, Harold's mother was diagnosed with kidney failure.

Pansy dragged her mother off to get tested for a match, and they turned out to be compatible.

So she demanded that her mother, fifty-six by then, give one of her kidneys to Harold's mother.

Her mother refused, and with Harold egging her on, Pansy drugged her unconscious and took her to a private clinic.

That time, her mother died on the operating table.

Before she died, she screamed through gritted teeth, refusing to let go of it, "I hate this so much... so much!"

"Pansy, you'll die a rotten death!"

...

I turned my eyes back to Harold. "You want me to reason with you?"

"You knew perfectly well your family couldn't scrape together a bride price, that no one would marry you, so you volunteered to marry in. Isn't that right?"

"Who forced you? Who made you do it?"

"Now that you've got what you wanted, you're backing out. That's burning the bridge once you've crossed it. That's marriage fraud."

Harold's whole face went red. "That's not... my parents are thinking of Gunnar too"

"Thinking of him how?" I cut him off.

"Your parents would strip the food out of our mouths to fatten up those three brothers of yours."

"What plans could they possibly have for Gunnar?"

"Let me explain"

"Explain, my foot. You take the handout and act like you're too good for it. Quit playing noble, the whole lot of you are beggars."

The more I thought about how the real mother had ended up, the angrier I got, and I stopped bothering to be polite.

The veins stood out on Harold's forehead, his tongue pressed against his cheek, his face full of spite.

"My family has given Gunnar everything!"

At that, I laughed. "Everything, meaning what?"

"Gunnar's food, his clothes, where he lives, all of it is us. The prenatal checkups and the delivery, we paid for those too."

"I'm the one paying for the nanny and the postpartum nurse. Your mother stews Pansy one chicken and then comes fishing around to get the money back from me."

"So tell me, what is this everything you're talking about? Is everything just something you say?"

Harold was breathing hard, humiliated and furious. "You unreasonable shrew!"

He turned and walked off. Pansy started sobbing at me.

"Why are you all doing this to me!"

"Does a surname even matter? My husband is good to me, isn't that enough?"

"When I was little, when people said you only had one daughter, that no one would take care of you in your old age, it hurt me so much."

"So when people sneer at my husband for marrying in, it hurts just the same. I know exactly how it feels!"

"It's one small thing. Do you really have to make it this hard for me?"

"Say it plainly, you just favor sons over daughters!"

I couldn't be bothered to trade words with her. I pointed at the door. "Your husband's gone. Chase after him now, or he won't want you anymore."

Pansy froze at that. She stamped her foot and hurried out after him.

The whole celebration broke up on a sour note.

He'd just stepped out through the doors of the banquet hall when Reginald, who hadn't said a word the whole time, suddenly crashed to the floor.

I rushed him to the hospital, where the doctor said the high blood pressure had been triggered by the emotional strain and he needed to stay for observation.

He called Pansy. She didn't pick up.

Reginald followed with a text, telling her about his condition.

For three days straight he kept his eyes on the door of his room, waiting for Pansy to come see him.

I let out a quiet sigh and decided to go to the Manning house myself.

When Pansy saw me, she did at least manage to ask, "Is Dad all right now?"

I nodded. "But he'll have to take medication for the rest of his life to keep his blood pressure down."

The words were barely out when Pansy let out a cold laugh. "See? My husband was right. He's faking it!"

I looked at her, not following, and she went on, "High blood pressure is exactly what old people fake."

"The second something doesn't go their way, they say their pressure's up, they're dizzy, so their kids don't dare say one more thing that might set them off!"

I closed my eyes for a moment, then slapped her across the face.

"What are you doing!" Bernice Manning came out and pulled Pansy behind her.

"If you've got something to say, say it. Why raise your hand to her!"

"You don't love Pansy, but we do!"

"Mom..." Pansy looked at her, moved, her voice catching.

Bernice patted the back of her hand to comfort her, then turned and looked at me with those narrow, sloping eyes.

"Oh? I thought you'd given up on this daughter of yours. What brings you knocking now?"

"It's only been a few days, and you can't keep the act up anymore?"

Bernice had torn off the mask completely. She wasn't even pretending now.

I knew that in the Mannings' minds, Pansy was the only daughter Reginald and I had, so sooner or later we'd have to bow our heads.

That was exactly the card they were playing.

But...

"Pansy, go back inside, quick. Don't stand out here and let her hit you!"

Bernice's voice cut through my thoughts.

Harold chimed in too.

"You go on back. Your mother's got all sorts of ideas. Either she's got your father faking illness, or she comes making a scene, trying to use filial duty to squeeze you."

He leaned close to Pansy and lowered his voice. "Don't see her. Once she realizes she can't corner you, she'll come around on her own."

Pansy nodded, obedient at once. "I'll do whatever you say."

"But when you two talk to my mom, be a little more polite about it, okay?"

And with that, without so much as a glance at me, she turned and went straight back to her room.

Once she was gone, Bernice really let loose.

"If you still want a daughter to look after you in your old age, you'd better hurry up and sign every bit of property in your names over to Pansy!"

"I raised my son with my own two hands, and he's this capable, this talented. Why should he marry into your family and take your name!"

"If you're so able, why didn't you give birth to a son yourself?"

"The Cliffords are cursed with no son to carry the line."

"If you want a son to care for you in your old age, you'd better treat our Harold well. Otherwise..."

She made no effort to keep her voice down. I'm sure Pansy could hear every word.

But she never came out, not once, and simply let Bernice curse me to my face, chin in the air.

I didn't argue back. When she finished, I turned and walked out.

Bernice shouted after me, "Hey, hey, you haven't even said whether you agree!"

When Reginald saw me come back, he craned his neck at once to look behind me.

When he saw there was no one there, the light went out of his eyes again.

I said nothing. I only played back the recording I'd made at the Manning house.

Reginald listened with red eyes, and after a long silence, he picked up his phone.

I never expected that the day after he made that call, Pansy, who hadn't shown her face all this time, came hurrying to the hospital in a panic.

"Mom, Dad, are you trying to drive me to my grave?"

Pansy glared at the two of us, fire burning in her eyes.

Her whole face crumpled into a picture of grievance. "We've lived in that house for three years, and you just tell us to move out like it's nothing."

"I said no, and you sent the family's bodyguards to throw our things out. Who gave you the right?"

The bodyguards were mine. I'd sent them.

Because I knew Pansy. She leaned on being the young lady of the Clifford family, certain that as long as she made a scene, nobody would actually dare to force her out.

I spoke without hurry. "Is there a problem with me taking back my own house?"

"If you think I'm in the wrong, go to the police."

After I woke up in this book, I didn't know the whole plot, but I knew one thing: assets were only safe in your own hands.

So Pansy's card was a supplementary card off Reginald's account, and the name on the property deed was mine.

Honestly, the Mannings were both stupid and vicious. They wanted to bleed us dry down to the last heir, but they didn't have the patience to wait even a little.

I wasn't Amos. I had no real feelings for Pansy. It wasn't as if her throwing a tantrum was going to make me cave.

Pansy pressed her lips together, her chest heaving.

Bernice saw it, shot her a look, and stepped forward.

"In-law, what are you doing this for!"

She skipped right over me and smiled with startling warmth. "Oh, come on, we're all one family. What's there to fight about?"

"It's only the baby's surname. Such a small thing"

"The surname really is a small thing." Reginald cut her off, his face blank. "But money and the house are big things."

"And I think that's how you see it too, because every time I take back money or a house, you get very worked up."

"People I never see suddenly turn up right on cue."

He glanced at Pansy, mockery in his eyes.

"You" Bernice's face fell, and seeing that Reginald wouldn't budge either, she actually dropped straight down onto the floor and started wailing.

"Oh, rich people, that's what you are! Too good for us ordinary folk!"

"Just using your money to force my grandson to take his grandfather's name!"

The people in the hospital who didn't know the story started pointing and whispering about us.

Seeing everyone lean toward them, Pansy felt even more wronged. "Dad, do you really have to humiliate me like this?"

"Everything I've done, it's all for you two! Why can't you understand me!"

Pansy drew a deep breath and went on. "The Mannings have four sons. Add the wives, and that's eight people supporting two elders."

"Our family only has me. Harold and I are the only two taking care of you both. Do you have any idea how much pressure that is!"

"You need to give us more money so I can keep Harold happy and make him willing to look after you in your old age!"

At that, the accusations aimed at us stuck in everyone's throats, and they all stared at her in disbelief.

Pansy noticed nothing and kept venting her grievances.

"What did my mother-in-law say that was wrong? Isn't it true that the only one you can rely on is me?"

But right then, several officers pushed through the crowd and came in.

The one in front swept a puzzled glance over everyone, then still smiled and spoke.

"Mr. Clifford, you asked us to trace the whereabouts of your son, Norman Clifford. As of now"

"What!" Pansy cut the officer off like she'd lost her mind. "You were looking for Norman behind my back?"

I glanced at her. "We weren't doing anything behind your back. We've been searching ever since Norman went missing at ten years old."

"You just never cared enough to notice."

Pansy grew even angrier. "Searching since he was ten? Then how much money have you poured into him?"

"Ads in the papers, hiring reporters, buying ad space to post missing-person notices. All of that costs money!"

Hearing this, Harold got worked up too. "Pansy, I told you, didn't I? Your parents favor sons over daughters!"

"All that love they show you is fake. What they really want, deep down, is Norman, their son!"

They almost made me laugh. "Parents searching for their own lost childwhat does that have to do with son or daughter?"

Harold ignored me and kept working on her in a low voice.

"You can't let them spend any more money looking for Norman. That's your money they're spending!"

Pansy heard it, and her face went cold. "Mom, Dad, if you choose to keep looking for Norman, then we're cutting ties."

"I'd think it over carefully if I were you. Norman's been gone thirteen years. The odds of getting him back are next to nothing."

"But I'm the child who's actually here, right by your side."

"How you choose is up to you!"

The officer had seen his share of family squabbles.

One look at her, and he understood at once. He spoke with a faint, ambiguous smile. "Don't worry. There won't be any more money spent looking."

"Because we've found him."

The moment he said it, my eyes went straight to Norman in the crowd.

At his words, Pansy's face went pale before our eyes.