A Marriage Money Can't Save

I heard a heavy sigh. "That little shit. Who would've thought he'd be the end of me…"

Her voice faltered, then disappeared. Instead, I heard paramedics shouting, "The patient isn't breathing! Resuscitate her, now!"

I withdrew every cent I had in savings and rushed to the hospital, but it was too late. My mother-in-law had lost too much blood.

My fingers tightened around what little cash I had managed to scrape together, and my throat constricted with tears. In the end, all I could do was authorize her transfer to a funeral home.

…

I went home. I had to tell Adam. He was her son, so he would want to take charge of her funeral.

I opened the door and found strangers in our living room.

A bloody-faced Zack Sharpe sat on the couch with one leg crossed over the other, grimacing. "Next time, he's dead. He thought he could beat me just by bringing a bunch of grunts into our fight. Who the hell did he think I was? I'm Rockwell City's Sharp King of Brawling!"

A concerned Yolanda dabbed medicine on his injuries. "Can't you just listen to me for once? Stop going out and getting into fights like this. Money might not be a problem, but your body's not made of steel. If anything happens to you, I'll feel terrible."

Zack gave his sister a matter-of-fact look. "What are you afraid of? It doesn't matter how much money it'll take to settle things if I screw up. You've got the Big Man himself to clean up after me every time."

He snickered. "I think he's fallen for you, Yol. You two should just get married."

Yolanda blushed. "What are you yammering about? Mr. Locke's already married. There's no possibility of us being together."

Adam, who had been sitting nearby, stirred. He patted Zack on the shoulder and said, "Listen to your sister, Zack. Stop causing so much trouble for her."

No one had noticed me at all. The only one who did was my son, who came out of his playroom and called to me.

Yolanda was the first to approach. "Stephanie? You look pale."

I pushed her hand away and marched toward Adam. "Mom didn't make it. You need to handle her funeral."

Adam stared at me as if I'd just told him some ridiculous joke. "Stephanie, holy shit. You're making up a lie like that just because I told you that you couldn't withdraw any more money this month?! Dead, my ass! Mom only has high blood pressure! She can't just die from that!

"Besides, I'm just a son-in-law. Why the hell should I be in charge of her funeral… even if what you said were true?!"

He dropped back onto the couch without a trace of guilt.

My hands shook. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. If the woman who had died had been my own mother, how could he possibly have been this cruel?!

Furious, I flung my mother-in-law's death certificate onto the coffee table and screamed at the top of my lungs, "So you're not even gonna feel anything about your own mother's death?! Christ! If you think I'm somehow lying to you for whatever stupid reason, open your goddamned eyes and look!"

Adam's gaze fell on the certificate.