Margaret paced nervously around her tiny flat in Manchester, clutching her phone as another overdue payment notification flashed on the screen. Her heart sankhow on earth was she supposed to feed her family now that her daughter and son-in-law were bleeding her dry? It all started when her eldest, Emily, just nineteen, announced she was expecting a baby and wanted to get married.
Back then, Margaret had worked alongside a sensible, kind-hearted colleague, Sophie, who was raising two girls single-handedly: Emily, nineteen, and little Lily, aged ten. Life hadnt been easy, but Sophie never complained. Emily was a diligent university student, Lily a star pupil at schoolboth well-behaved, model children. Sophie was proud of them, despite the grind of being a single mum.
Then, in her second year, Emily met her first love, James. The lad was from out of town, but after getting to know him, Sophie gave her blessing. James seemed decent, genuinenot the type to take advantage. Before long, the lovebirds decided to move in together. To save on rent, they squeezed into Sophies already cramped two-bedroom flat. She wasnt thrilledher daughter was only nineteen, for heavens sake! Shouldnt she finish her degree first, stand on her own two feet? But there was no talking them out of it.
Space was tight enough as it was, and Jamess arrival made it worse. Sophie bit her tongueuntil Emily dropped the bombshell: she was pregnant, and they wanted to tie the knot. Sophie felt the floor drop beneath her. Her baby, barely out of nappies, was about to become a mother herself.
James didnt have a job. Like Emily, he was a full-time student, and neither fancied switching to remote learning. Yet they planned a wedding straight out of a rom-combooking one of Manchesters priciest restaurants, inviting half the city, and Emily insisting on a designer dress fit for a red carpet. Sophie tried to reason with her, explaining she didnt have that kind of money, but Emily clutched her belly and burst into tears:
“Mum, dont you want your grandchild to have the best?”
Gritting her teeth, Sophie paid for everything. She drained her savings, raided the rainy-day fund, and even took out another loan. She hoped after the wedding, the pair would grow up, find jobs, stand on their own two feet. But her hopes crumbled like a biscuit in tea. Emily and James carried on living under her roof, jobless and clueless.
Jamess parents had gifted them a second-hand car. The couple breezed around town like they were on holiday, while his folks covered the petrolknowing full well their son was skint. But the restgroceries, bills, baby gearlanded squarely on Sophie. The two hadnt the foggiest idea what a loaf of bread cost. When Sophie mentioned expenses, Emily rolled her eyes:
“Mum, were studying! What do you expect us to do?”
Emily had no intention of budgeting. She proudly showed Sophie catalogues of prams and cotstop-of-the-range, eye-wateringly expensive. Sophie, on her modest salary, nearly choked.
“Emily, I cant afford this! Ive got your student loan, Lily to look after”
“Are you joking?” Emily huffed. “Youre going to be a grandma, and youre fussing over money?”
A slow-burning anger simmered inside Sophie. Theyd chosen to have a baby, but she was the one footing the bill? She was carrying the entire household, working herself to the bone, and still coming up short. Emilys student loan loomed over her like a storm cloud, Lily needed her attention, and the lovebirds swanned about like characters in a fairy tale.
One day, Sophie snapped. She trudged home from work, exhausted after a bollocking for being lateshed had to do the shopping for the whole lot of them. The scene that greeted her was the last straw: Emily and James, giggling over a baby magazine, picking out a cot that cost half her wages. Lily sat quietly in the corner drawing, while a tower of dirty dishes teetered in the sink.
“Am I supposed to do your washing-up too?” Sophie barked, slamming her bags down.
“Mum, seriously!” Emily gasped. “Were preparing for the baby!”
“Youre having the baby, but Im paying for it?” Sophie shook with rage. “Enough! Either get jobs, or get out!”
Emily burst into tears, James went pale, but Sophie stood firm. She gave them a month to find even a part-time gig.
“Otherwise, youre moving in with Jamess parents. Let them foot the bill.”
Emily and James tried the waterworks, but Sophie was done caving. She loved her daughter, but she knewif she didnt put her foot down, theyd bleed her dry. One evening, Lily hugged her tight and whispered,
“Mum, Id never do that to you.”
Sophie smiled through her tears. For her youngest, shed fight tooth and nail. As for Emily and James? Reality was waitingand Sophie wasnt their cash cow anymore.
