Well, your Emilys got above herself lately! They say money makes people unbearable! I didnt understand what they meant or why Id become the source of such upset.
Once, I had a marvellous marriage. My husband and two children. Then, one afternoon, it all unravelled. My beloved was driving home from work when an accident snatched him away. For weeks I felt smothered by sorrow I thought I couldnt survive, but my mother told me I must keep strong for the sake of the children. So I gathered what remained of myself. I threw myself into every job going and, when the children were grown, set off to earn a living further afield. I had no support at all, you see, and had to make sure my children could stand on their own two feet.
At first, I found myself in France, then later England, knocking about from one odd job to the next until finally earning enough to provide comfortably. Month after month I’d send money back to the children, eventually buying each their own flat. I managed a nice renovation for myself as well. I was proud. I began thinking of returning home to Liverpool for good, but a year ago my life somehow twisted again when I met a man. Hes English, though originally from Yorkshire, but has lived in London for the past twenty years. We started talking, and for the first time in ages, I thought perhaps something real could happen between us.
But doubts gnawed at me endlessly. Arthur couldnt move back to Liverpool and I longed for home. Just this week, I returned. Saw my children first, then my parents. But visiting my in-laws remained impossible my calendar so stuffed, the days just slipped away. Then one evening, my friend Alice, who works in a local grocer, popped round for a visit and told me something:
Your mother-in-laws really got it in for you these days!
Whatever gives you that idea?
I overheard her chatting to Mrs. Harper. She said youre awfully proud and that moneys gone to your head. She also reckons you never helped with cash, not even once.
I felt so raw hearing that. Over the years, I raised two children myself, did all I could for them. I couldnt spare much for my in-laws I had to keep something for myself, dont you see?
After hearing that, the thought of visiting them was unbearable. But I forced myself. Bought a basketful of groceries and went. At first everything seemed fine, though the memory of that conversation kept pulling at my mind. Eventually, I spoke up:
You do understand these years havent been easy for me. I did it all for the children because I had no help at all.
Weve been left out in the cold as well. Everyone elses children pitch in, but weve got no one now. Its like were orphans! You ought to have come back and looked after us.
My mother-in-law shamed me so much I couldnt even mention the man from London. I left their house heavy-hearted, shrouded in old wallpaper dreams and questions and not knowing what I ought to do. Am I really meant to support the parents of my late husband forever? I dont think I can bear it any longer.
