Im not your mother any more, you hear?
Well have to sell the flat, Simon said, staring at the floor, not daring to look up. The car, too. Those men wont leave us alone. It wont just be me who suffers; you and little Molly will feel it as well.
We could go to the police
The police? I owe them, finally he lifted his eyes. The interest is piling up every day, enough to drive a sane man mad. Youll have to stay with my mother for a while.
And what about you?
I have to get out of here. I wont be able to pay any of the debts; the companys already been seized. Ill head north; the temporary workers are getting decent wages now, and maybe things will settle down.
Natalie had known the trouble was coming when stern men with obvious criminal records began stopping by their house, summoning Simon for a word on the street. He would come back looking lost, sometimes angry, and started shouting at Molly for the slightest mischief. The girl was only four, not some welltrained pet.
Simons business was a mystery. Yes, his firm sold computer hardware online, but Natalie never saw where the laptops and monitors came from. Most of the gear was probably counterfeit, because whole batches had to be pulled from sale from time to time. After each pullback Simon was forced to borrow more just to stay afloat. He had managed to wiggle out before, but this time the net closed tightly.
Natalie had grown up in a small village and could have moved back to live with her parents in a modest cottage, but she didnt want to quit her job. She was deputy headmistress at an elite private school that specialised in teaching English, and the headteacher, Margaret Collins, had already announced she would retire in a year, leaving the directorship up for grabs. Walking away now would have been foolish.
Living under the same roof as her motherinlaw had never been a dream. From the first meeting the two clashed. At first Natalie was an unwelcome daughterinlaw because you can see the village from a mile away. Later, after she graduated with honours and took a post at the English specialist school, Margaret called her a foreign lady who shouldnt be whipping up stew. Yet Simon loved Natalies borscht and praised it, even if she sometimes ran out of time to cook at home because her afterschool clubs kept her at school until dusk.
Margaret was pleased with her granddaughter, but not so much with Natalie:
Good wives dont make their husbands run off to the north.
Hes not running from me; hes fleeing his creditors. His debts are huge.
Look at yourself. A good wife keeps the family finances in order. Back then we called that running the household. You havent even managed a decent dinner for your daughter.
I cook whenever I have the time.
Then why dont you have the time? What kind of school keeps you till night? Ill check it out. Youre probably already finding excuses for yourself instead of standing by your husband
One evening Margaret dropped by the school to inspect it herself. She left with even more complaints. Everything was written in foreign script; the cats roaming the corridors were unsanitary, she declared, this is a school, not a zoo. Respectable women wont work in such chaos. She also noted how the lanky, tall man kept eyeing Natalie, as if trying to strip her with his gaze.
That lanky man was David Sinclair, another English teacher. He seemed to like Natalie, but he never crossed the line, knowing she was married.
The cats were part of a British educational method. The school kept British Shorthair cats because research suggested that close contact with animals made children kinder. The cats were allowed to wander onto desks during lessons, though they behaved far better than the stereotype of mischievous felines.
Simon occasionally sent emails, vague about his whereabouts, and the same shady men who had once threatened him showed up again, asking after his location. Then the messages stopped. Natalie grew anxious, fearing the creditors had found him, but Margaret stayed oddly optimistic:
If theyd caught him, they wouldnt be bothering us now.
Then why has he gone silent?
You dont realise. Hes a good man; he wont stay alone forever
A year later, just before the school term ended, Simon wrote that he had met another woman and was now living with her. He didnt see it as infidelity because he and Natalie were never legally married. He said nothing about Molly, as if she didnt exist. Margaret immediately found a justification:
He must know that Molly isnt his.
How can that be? She was born while he was with us.
Born to him, but not from him that can happen.
Mother, stop this!
From now on Im not your mother. I might be a grandmother to Molly, but to you Ill be Elizabeth Marlowe, or perhaps nothing at all, which is better.
Now Natalie had to leave the flat shed been renting from Margaret. The thought of finding a new place in the city, paying rent, and raising Molly alone was daunting. She could try to scrape by, but with no relatives left in town besides her daughter, the city felt empty. Her own parents, hearing of her woes, invited her back to the village, promising a teaching job at the local school, where teachers were always in short supply.
Margaret put the matter on hold:
Girl, dont lose your temper. I intend to keep the school running, and the board isnt against that.
Where will we live now?
Ill speak with the board. They might fund a modest flat or give you a loan. In the meantime, you can move to my cottage. The academic year is ending, its May, and you wont need heating yet. My husband and I only use it on weekends. In the summer you can take a break and visit your parents.
David Sinclair offered to drive their belongings to the cottage. All they had left were a few sets of clothes and some dishes. On the way he asked:
Where will you stay in winter?
Margaret promised to find something to rent.
Why bother? Ive got a spare onebedroom flat. I stay with my mother most of the time; shes ill and cooks for me. Surviving on frozen dumplings and instant noodles forever isnt ideal.
Well see. Im heading back to the village in summer; maybe Ill stay there for good.
And what about the school? Youre being groomed for the headmistress role.
I was once being matched for marriage, too. Schools exist everywhere, after all.
At the cottage Molly thrived. Fresh air flushed her cheeks pink, and she quickly bonded with Margaret and her husband, becoming part of one big family.
Natalie thought less and less of her former life. It hurt, but perhaps it was for the best; Simon would have left her eventually anyway he never wanted to go to the registry office.
David drove them to the village. They lingered over a farewell dinner Margaret had prepared. Arriving at dusk, they unloaded the car. David began to pack up, but Natalies mother stopped him:
Stay the night, where else will you go? Ill bring fresh milk, and well have supper
Natalie followed her mother, replying:
Mother, youre treating David as if he were my fiancé?
Isnt that so?
No, theres nothing between us, no plans.
Youre wrong about the plans. I see the way he looks at you. And Molly would be happy with him
From a distance Natalie watched David and Molly laughing together. Why not let a little hope sprout?
In the quiet of that countryside evening, Natalie felt a calm she hadnt known since childhood. She realised that even when the world collapses around you, you can rebuild with the people who truly care, and that the only person you must never betray is yourself. The lesson lingered: resilience and selfrespect are the foundations of any future, no matter how shattered the past may seem.
