Ten Years Married, My Daughter-in-Law Wanted Three Hundred Thousand Back

Our old house back home was about to be demolished, and I was just getting ready to bring it up at the dinner table.

My daughter-in-law spoke first. Mom, my brother's getting married!

I'd watched her younger brother, Robert, grow up, and as an elder I certainly meant to help him out with his wedding.

But before I could even say a word, my daughter-in-law set down her chopsticks, her tone serious and a little resentful.

"Mom, why don't you make good on the bride gift you owe me? Robert's still a little short for the wedding."

Walter and I were both taken aback. "Make good on a bride gift?"

Hildegarde's family was a single-parent household. Her father had died in a car accident years ago, and her mother never really had a job.

When she married in, she didn't ask for a bride gift. Her only condition was that our family raise her younger brother, Robert, until he graduated from college.

Now that Robert was grown, she was asking us to make up the bride gift.

Once it sank in, I gave a self-mocking little laugh. "Making up the bride gift is fine, but then you can make up Robert's living expenses for these past twelve years too!"

...

"Mom, it's not fair of you to talk like that. You agreed to raise Robert yourselves back then!" Hildegarde was getting a little annoyed.

I set down my chopsticks too and looked at her evenly. "And you were the one who offered not to take a bride gift in the first place!"

"But now Robert's getting married, and his fiance's family is asking for three hundred thousand dollars. Where are we supposed to get that kind of money?"

"When I married into this family, I didn't take a single cent of bride gift. You and Dad have such big pensionswhat's the harm in making up a little for me?" she said, as if she were completely in the right.

I looked over at my son beside her. "Is that what you think too?"

Hildegarde's eyes turned sharp as she stared straight at Lucas. "We settled this last night. You promised you'd make up the bride gift for me! Three hundred thousand, not a cent less!"

Lucas glanced at her and coughed a couple of times. "Mom, well... I think, you know, making up the bride gift isn't wrong! After all, we didn't put down a single cent for it back then!"

Looking at my son in front of me, I could have strangled him.

Twelve years ago, he and Hildegarde had fallen in love on their own.

When they were talking about marriage, Hildegarde's father was in a car accident and died on the spot.

Crying, Hildegarde said to me, "Ma'am, I don't want a bride gift, I just want you to help my family raise Robert!"

I agreed without a second thought, but raising a child is never that easy.

Robert was only thirteen at the time, just starting seventh grade, right when he was hitting his rebellious streak.

After Hildegarde married in, he moved in along with her.

Everyone in the family had a jobonly I was retired, so the task of looking after Robert fell on me.

Dropping him off and picking him up morning and night, cooking nutritionist meals, and, worried he might feel like a burden, often sitting down to talk things through with him.

Through his three years of high school, I did it all myself, signing him up for tutoring classes based on how he was doing in school.

Over two hundred a session, and it went on for three full years.

Later Robert got into college, and Walter and I paid his tuition and living expenses too.

That money had long since passed whatever bride gift was owed to Hildegarde, to say nothing of all the years I'd given for free.

I'd finally had a few years' rest, and now they wanted me to make up the bride gift again.

Her scheming was so blatant it was about to jump right off the abacus into my face.

"I'm not asking for much, just three hundred thousand. This money's for Robert to get married, and after that I promise I won't ask for another cent!" Hildegarde said, like she was negotiating with me.

But she'd said the very same thing twelve years ago, and I didn't dare believe her anymore.

"That's right, Mom, three hundred thousand isn't that much. Your and Dad's pensions should cover it."

"You shut your mouth!" I glared hard at Lucas.

I turned to Hildegarde and sighed. "Hildegarde, you didn't take a bride gift back then, that's true, but I bought you a diamond ring set, a car and a home paid in full, and every one of your brother's expenses came out of our pockets!"

"Do the math yourselfhow much does all that add up to?"

Hildegarde's eyes dodged away and she turned her head, not looking at me. "Mom, those are two separate things! Don't go mixing them together!"

A chill welled up in me, and I decided I wouldn't bring up the demolition for now.

"And what if I just don't make up this bride gift?" I said.

Hildegarde looked surprised, like she hadn't expected me to be so blunt.

"So what you mean is you're just not going to give me the bride gift?"

"Your bride gift went to your brother a long time ago, and a lot more besides!" I said coldly.

"Fine! Good for you!" Hildegarde slammed her chopsticks down, got up, and headed for the door.

Lucas immediately went after her. "Honey, don't be mad, wait for me!"

As he chased after her, he turned back and sighed at me. "Mom, could you please stop stirring things up?"

Watching the two of them disappear from sight, Walter looked worried. "Ugh, here we go again!"

Hildegarde had gone home to her mother's; she'd pulled this once before, a few years back.

Back then Robert had just started high school and had somehow fallen in with some rough young guys from outside school.

He stole two thousand dollars I kept in a drawer, and it made me so angry that I told him off harshly for the first time.

Hildegarde couldn't stand it and had a huge fight with me, saying I looked down on them for being kids from a single-parent home.

That very night she took Robert back to her mother's and said she wanted to divorce Lucas.

Lucas panicked and dragged me over to her mother's place to apologize to her and bring her back.

After that, the allowance I gave Robert went from twenty dollars a day to fifty.

Because Hildegarde said the only reason Robert had the idea to steal was that his pocket money was too small.

This time she was running the same play, taking Lucas with her back to her mother's.

Walter sighed. "Honey, why don't we just cover it? After all, we're the ones who raised Robbie."

"Once the property demolition settlement comes in, we'll just transfer it to him!"

I shook my head. "No. Once we start down this road, then later when Robert has kids, raises them, even pays for their schooling, we'll probably be footing all of it."

"I'd actually been planning to give Robert some money, as a gesture from the two of us, but after the scene today, I won't be giving him a single cent!"

Right up until the holiday, Lucas and his wife never came back.

The whole time, Hildegarde kept posting on her social media feed, all snide and passive-aggressive, accusing my family of being unwilling to lend even the smallest hand.

She was always resharing articles from those public accounts, like: "On Getting Along Between Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law: Who Can a Mother-in-Law Count On in Her Old Age?"

"Old folks shouldn't cling to their money so tightly; helping out your children is what really matters!"

"A parent's boost is a child's confidence for life!"

I let out a scornful laugh. Lucas's mother-in-law, Davina, hadn't managed a single thing since her husband died.

She dumped her kids on us to raise while she just went shopping, played mahjong, and chased boyfriends.

Her own son gets married, and she can't put up a single cent; instead she expects her daughter's in-laws to pay. Absolutely laughable.

On the day of the holiday, I bought the groceries and called Lucas.

"Aren't you two coming back for the reunion dinner?" I asked.

"Mom, the second you promise us the money, we'll come right back!" Lucas said with a grin.

"Fine, then you don't need to come back!" I dropped that line and hung up.

But what I didn't expect was that, close to noon, Lucas and his wife showed up.

The moment she walked in and saw the seafood on the table, Hildegarde covered her nose and gagged.

While I was still puzzled, Lucas helped Hildegarde sit down.

Muttering, "Mom, hurry up and clear away all this meat and fish, your daughter-in-law is pregnant!"

"What! Pregnant? Is it true?" I froze.

"Of course it's true, just past six weeks!" My son beamed with joy.

Walter stood up from the sofa too, staring at Hildegarde's belly in delighted surprise.

"Old girl, we're finally getting a grandson! Oh my! This is truly wonderful news!"

Lucas and Hildegarde had been married for twelve years without a child.

At first, Hildegarde said Robert was still young, and she was afraid I wouldn't be able to handle a child on my own.

Later, when Robert went off to college, I gently brought it up once, hoping the two of them would have a child while they were still young.

But Hildegarde said she didn't want to be a breeding machine, that her career was on the rise, and told me not to pressure her.

After that, I never dared to mention it again.

Now that she was suddenly pregnant, Walter and I were both overjoyed.

"Is there anything you'd like to eat? Mom will make it for you!" I rubbed my hands together, looking at Hildegarde with hopeful eyes.

Lucas cleared his throat twice. "Mom, quit with the useless stuff. Hurry up and hand over three hundred thousand to your daughter-in-law!"

My face changed in an instant. So that was it they came back today for money after all, and this child was just the bargaining chip.

I gave a cold laugh. "You came back today just to ask me for money?"

Hildegarde said nothing, only stroked her belly.

Lucas started to get worked up. "Mom, Hildegarde is at least carrying our family's child now. Down the line she'll give you two a grandson how great is that?"

"She only wants the bride gift she's owed. What's wrong with that? Why do you have to be so overbearing?"

Overbearing, me? I don't want to hand over my own money, and that makes me overbearing?

Besides, Hildegarde didn't want this money for their little family, or to raise the child.

She wanted it as the bride gift for her younger brother to marry a wife.

This was flat-out treating us two old folks like suckers, a pure ATM machine.

"I've said it we are not paying this money!" My tone was firm.

"Mom! Hildegarde is pregnant!" Lucas's voice shot up.

Hildegarde also stared at me in disbelief. She had assumed that once she was pregnant, I would obey her every word.

She slowly rose to her feet and looked at me, stunned. "Mom, think it over carefully before you speak. If you won't give the money, then I don't plan to keep this child!"

Walter grew tense and tugged at my sleeve. "Louisa..."

I let out a long sigh. "Suit yourself. The child is the two of yours. Whether you keep it or not is none of our business!"

"Mom! Are you out of your mind?!" Lucas roared as he rushed over.

"This is my son, your grandson! How can you not want him?"

"I didn't say not to keep him your wife is the one who said it. Children and grandchildren have their own fate. Your father and I will never meddle in your affairs!" I said with a smile.

Hildegarde was breathing hard, her eyes blazing as she glared at me.

The next second, she grabbed her bag, turned, and left.

The door slammed shut, and Walter and I looked at each other.

The next day, Hildegarde posted a video on her social media feed.

The background was the fully paid-off wedding home I had bought for them, with the caption: There's nothing much your big sister can do to help you, so let me give you a house!

My blood pressure shot up in an instant.

She wanted to sign over the wedding home we'd bought to her younger brother!

I called Lucas right away, and he hung up on me again and again.

All I could do was get Walter and hurry over to the new place.

The moment the door opened, Hildegarde was sitting on the sofa eating fruit. She cut her eyes at us sideways as we came in.

Robert, at least, stood up and greeted us as "Uncle" and "Auntie."

I looked at Lucas and got straight to the point. "You two are going to sign the house over to Robert?"

Lucas pressed his lips together and looked at Hildegarde.

"That's right. The money's in your pocket, and there's nothing I can do if you won't hand it over, but this house is ours! I have the right to do what I want with it, don't I?" Hildegarde's tone dripped with the smugness of someone who had me right where she wanted me.

"This house is the wedding home I bought for you! How can you just give it away like that!" I demanded, raising my voice.

Hildegarde didn't back down an inch. "So what? The house is mine now, and it's none of your business! Robert isn't an outsider!"

"You're the one who flat-out refused to hand over that three hundred thousand! It's too late to regret it now!"

I was so furious my head went dizzy and I could barely stay on my feet.

Walter steadied me from behind. "Honey, are you all right?"

Lucas just stood there beside Hildegarde, telling her not to get upset, to be careful not to strain herself and hurt the baby.

Robert put on a righteous, high-and-mighty air too. "Auntie, my daughter understands if you don't want to pay, but this house is my sister and brother-in-law's wedding home!"

"If they want to give it to me, that's between us, and you have no right to interfere, do you?"

I clutched my chest, looking at the child I had raised, and my heart turned cold, piece by piece.

Robert makes good money. He'll regularly buy his mother a massage chair worth over ten thousand, and high-end cosmetics for his sister.

But I raised him for over ten years, and I never saw so much as a piece of candy from him!

The more I thought about it, the colder my laugh got. "I have no right to interfere? The deed to this house has my name on it, so how is it that I have no right to interfere?"

Hildegarde panicked. "So what? We agreed from the start that this would be our wedding home!"

"So what nothing. My name is on the property deed, so I have the right to decide what happens to this house!" I said sharply.

After it was renovated, this place had barely been lived in. Lucas had been living with us the whole time since the wedding.

Food, bills, everything under this roof, we covered all of it.

"Mom! If you keep making a scene, I really won't come back!" Lucas suddenly said.

I froze, staring blankly at him. "Lucas, are you saying you want to cut ties with me?"

Lucas wouldn't answer me head-on. "I just want the family to get along in peace. You're the one who insisted on turning it into this!"

"Unless I absolutely had to, I'd never cut ties with you!"

"Mom, don't hold on to the money so tightly. We're all family. What's wrong with helping each other out?"

Looking at the son I had raised all these years, the last bit of hope left in my heart went out with it.

"Fine. Have it your way. We'll cut ties!" I looked at him coldly.

"Mom! You"

"Then cut them! Lucas, you're their only son. Cut ties, and let's see who takes care of them in their old age!" Hildegarde broke in on Lucas's hesitation.

She patted Lucas on the shoulder. "Don't be scared. Even if you cut ties, once they're dead, you're the sole heir!"

"With just this old woman still around, how many years does she have left anyway? I really don't get it. She's got a perfectly good life and just has to stir up trouble!"

Hildegarde's expression was vicious, and there was a scheming look in her eyes I had never seen before.

With her assurance, Lucas stopped wavering.

"Fine! Mom, then let's cut ties! Your property still comes to me either way, so you'd better think this through!" Lucas's voice shook a little.

I was just about to agree when Chairman Doyle called, and I answered.

"Louisa, send me the bank account number where the property demolition settlement should go. The community needs to register everyone's."

You could have heard a pin drop in that room. Everyone heard Chairman Doyle's voice.

"Mom, what demolition settlement?!" Lucas cried out.