- 16.
That afternoon. I went to get my hair done
<
then visited my mother–in–law.
We lived close, just a short drive away.
She’d bought me a ton of stuff.
“I saw this dress when I was shopping and thought you’d look great in it.”
“And these two purses. They’ll go perfectly
with that dress we bought together. Do you
like them?”
“I love them! Thanks, Mom!”
My mother–in–law and I had the same taste.
If she liked it, I usually did too.
Then we heard shouting outside.
<
“They’re here!”
It was Liam’s real parents and Liam.
I frowned.
Liam’s dad said, “Mr. and Mrs. Callahan, we
need to talk.”
My mother–in–law said, “We don’t have
anything to talk about.”
Out of politeness, my mother–in–law asked
them into the living room.
Liam’s mom said, “As you know, our Liam is
getting married soon, and we want to talk
about his wedding.”
“What does his wedding have to do with my
mother–in–law?” I asked.
My mother–in–law patted my hand and gave
me a look, then turned to them. “Go on.”
“We don’t have a lot of money. We just have
one house, and we can’t afford a dowry, the
fancy cars, or the wedding. So we need you
to pay for it. Liam called you Mom and Dad
for over twenty years. You’re rich, so it
wouldn’t be a problem.”
She said it like it was the most reasonable
thing in the world.
My mother–in–law asked, “Is there anything
else?”
“We don’t want you to plan the wedding or
anything. Just give us a few million dollars, or more, and we’ll take care of the rest.”
How could people be so shameless?
Liam kept his head down, agreeing with his
parents.
My father–in–law scoffed.
“It’s your son’s wedding. Why should we pay
for it? And you want millions of dollars? What
are you thinking?”
“I read that your company makes a billion
dollars every year. It’s no big deal for you.
You raised him, so just do the right thing.”
Liam finally spoke up. “It’s just this once. We
won’t bother you again.”
L
My father–in–law looked at him. “We’re not asking you to pay us back for all the money
you wasted. That’s enough. Get out. We’re not throwing any more money away on you.”
“You spent money raising Jake. He’s
successful because of you.”
“What did you do for him?”
I couldn’t help but interrupt. “I’ll ask you
again, what did you do for him?”
“You sent him to live with relatives and forced
him to work to pay for his education. You never gave him a dime, then you asked him for money. What kind of parents are you?”
Liam’s mom sputtered, “You have a nasty
<
mouth. We were just trying to teach him to be
independent.”
I smiled and said, “How about you let your
real son learn to be independent? He’s been a bum for twenty years. Isn’t it time for him to
work?”
They couldn’t say anything.
My mother–in–law said, “You may not know
this, but I called the cops.
They stood up. “Why are you calling the
cops? We just wanted some money!”
“If you stay here, we’ll sue you for extortion.
And you know why I called the cops.”
“We don’t know! We didn’t do anything
<
wrong!” She shook her head, but she looked
guilty. “We don’t want your money.”
Liam looked curious.
“Cops? What’s going on?”
Liam’s mom turned white. “We just came to
ask for some money. If you’re not going to
help, don’t accuse us of something.”
Just then, the police arrived.
My in–laws had called them about the switch
at birth.
Today, the police had found evidence that
Liam’s mom had done it on purpose. The
nurse at the hospital was her cousin.
く
The nurse had switched Jake and Liam.
It was a crime.
The police had found the nurse, and she’d
confessed.
Liam’s mom hadn’t expected to walk into a
trap.
The police took them away.
I was so angry at everything they’d done to Jake that when he came home for dinner, I
kept piling food on his plate.
My in–laws were smiling at me like crazy.
