6
444words
“She’s pregnant and working hard all day.”
I jumped in.“Sir,don’t say that.My mother-in-law’s our family’s baby.My husband ran twenty miles last night to get her egg tarts.Hard work’s normal.”
“I locked the door by mistake and slept too deeply—my fault.Won’t happen again.”
Diners paused.“Twenty miles?”
“What kind of mother-in-law makes her son and pregnant wife do that?”
Dorothy,hearing this,collapsed,rolling on the floor.“Don’t talk about Baby like that!You’ll make Baby cry so loudly!”
She clutched her chest and sobbed.
Someone asked,concerned,“Is it her heart pain?”
“No, she needs her little burps patted.”
I laughed.“See how cute my mother-in-law is?All thanks to my husband’s doting.”
If diners were indignant before,now they looked nauseated.
“This is gross.I can’t eat.”
“She’s so old,acting like that?Disgusting.Little burps?I’m gonna puke.”
I stepped forward.“Alright,honey,the restaurant’s busy.If I weren’t pregnant,I wouldn’t sleep so heavily.It’ll be fine after I give birth.”
James is angry but no comeback.
As they left,Dorothy eyed my belly,biting her nail.
Using pregnancy as an excuse,I shifted my past life’s burdens onto James.
He grew haggard.
My daughter was perfect,never fussy.
I'm happy about so much profit, but I dare not neglect it.
Delivery day arrived.I called my mom,heart pounding.
After intense pain,I heard a loud cry.
The nurse placed my daughter in my arms.
Her warm and soft touch proved she was alive.
Recalling her cold,stiff body in my past life,I hadn’t cried during labor but now I am cried loudly.
As my mom took my daughter to be bathed and have her cord cut,I never took my eyes off Dorothy.
She’d gotten into gaming,trying to team up in the hospital room.
A guy asked if she could use voice chat.She cooed,“Little brother!”scaring him off.
Dorothy pouted.“You are so rude to me.”
The woman in the next bed,fed up,snapped,“You’re so old,acting like a kid.You’re bizarre.”
Dorothy spat toward her bed.“Think everyone’s as pathetic as you?My family treats Baby like a child.You wouldn’t get it.”
The pregnant woman gagged.
I stared at my mother-in-law..While my mom handled my daughter,I ensured Dorothy stayed put.
Near evening,my mom’s calls flooded in.
Her voice seethed.“Emily,your damn husband tried to put weed killer in your daughter’s bathwater!He is even worse than a beast!”
James’s voice roared.“Emily should stay home with Mom!A daughter’s useless.If she dies,we can sue the hospital for a fortune!”
It hit me—Dorothy was just the tool.
James was the mastermind.
As I was wheeled over,he was still arguing.“The kid’s fine!Why call the police?If I go to jail,what good does it do you?”
“If I’m locked up,she’ll be a criminal’s daughter!”
“Kill her now,and we’ll get a big payout!”
