Chapter 1

When my husband Cornelius James broke his leg in an accident, my mother dropped everything back home in the countryside and came specially to take care of him.

A month later, he made a full recovery.

The day he was discharged, he took my mother's hand in front of every doctor and nurse there and thanked her.

"Mom, you've worked so hard. From now on you're my own mother. Next week I'll take vacation days and bring you to Miami."

My mother was as happy as a child.

But on the day we checked in at the airport, the staff stopped her.

"This lady doesn't have a ticket. She can't come through."

I went through his phone.

Only then did I find six tickets, six seats.

His dad, his mom, his sister, even a cousin so distant he barely counted.

Everyone but my mother.

I turned to Cornelius.

"Where's my mom's ticket?"

He frowned.

"I didn't buy her one. Your mom's just a country old lady. What's she going to do in Miami?"

"She won't be used to the hotel, she won't be used to the food. She'll just end up being a burden to all of us."

I looked at my mother.

A month of caring for Cornelius day and night, and her cheeks had gone thin, nothing left but bone.

Then I looked at my mother-in-law.

Nice clothes, gold bracelet on her wrist, bright and full of energy.

In that moment, I finally understood.

That "own mother" Cornelius had called her was just a name to coax her into working.

When they needed my mother's labor, she was family.

When they didn't, she wasn't even worth a single plane ticket.

Fine. Then none of them were going either.

Thirty minutes before boarding, I canceled every one of their tickets.

Then I booked two tickets to Aspen.

This time, I was going to make them understand.

The one left behind would never be my mother.

……

Beside me, Cornelius was still going on with his explanations.

"Babe, it's not that I couldn't stand to let your mom come. It's one plane ticket. How much could that cost?"

"I was really thinking of Mom. Miami's so far, the food and the lodging are nothing like the countryside. A country old lady goes all that way, what if the climate doesn't agree with her?"

He said it with such a serious face, as if he were being so considerate.

But I wouldn't believe a single word he said anymore.

A week ago, it was him, with his own mouth, in front of the doctors.

To thank my mother for a month of hard care, he'd take vacation days and bring her to Miami.

Yet today, six tickets.

Even his cousin he barely knew got one.

"Besides, your mom's not like mine."

Cornelius went on, sounding more righteous by the second.

"My mom loves to travel, she's used to long trips, she can go anywhere. But this is your mom's first time, right?"

"We can't ruin the whole trip for everybody just for your mom's sake, can we?"

I looked at that face of his, so sure it was in the right, and my heart went cold, bit by bit. I said nothing.

My mother-in-law jumped in.

"Exactly, Layla Summers, don't be difficult now. Your dad passed early, and you're your mom's only daughter. All the more reason you should be thinking of her."

My father-in-law nodded along.

"Right, she's getting on in years, no need to drag her around. Next time we'll pick somewhere closer."

"Somewhere nearby, take a little walk, stroll through a park. So much easier, and it doesn't cost a thing."

"Isn't that right, Adeline Summers?"

When her name came up, my mother was still clutching that little red suitcase.

Inside it was the cured bacon and dried vegetables she'd brought specially for everyone, along with a few new outfits she couldn't bear to wear herself.

She kept her head down, swallowing her disappointment, and said quietly to me,

"Layla, maybe just let it go."

"Cornelius and the others are right. I'm a country person, I really haven't been anywhere as far as Miami. If the climate doesn't agree with me, I'll hold everyone up."

"I'll just stay here, watch the house for you, do some cleaning."

Hearing that, my nose stung.

She was always like this.

Even when someone ground her face into the dirt, her first instinct was to think of them, afraid of being a burden to me.

But why should she?

This whole month, the one up at five every morning boiling bone broth for Cornelius was her.

The one running through every market nearby, picking out only the freshest pork ribs so he'd heal faster, was her.

The one sitting on the edge of the bed at night, massaging his aching leg over and over so he could sleep, was her.

And his parents never once showed their faces.

Now she was the one who'd given the most, and she didn't deserve a single ticket to Miami?

But I didn't argue with them.

Because people like this, their hearts are always slanted.

It's not that they can't understand. They just choose to pretend they don't.

But I would not let this go.

My father passed early.

It was my mother alone who raised me.

How much she'd endured, how much she'd swallowed, I knew better than anyone.

I would never stand by and watch her be trampled underfoot.

At that thought,

I lowered my head and moved fast on Cornelius's phone.

Before he noticed, I used the verification code to log into his travel account on my own phone.

Looking at those six tickets on the screen, I smiled.

If they didn't want my mother to go, then none of them would go.

Thirty minutes before they boarded, I would cancel every ticket, and let them find out for themselves what it felt like to be stopped at the gate by airport staff!