We were on the couch after Ellie went down.
I turned off the TV and said, “Nat, I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest. Not diplomatic. Honest.”
She looked at me with that expression nurses get when they know something’s about to hurt.
“How do you feel about the way your family treats me?”
She didn’t answer right away.
She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them and looked at the blank TV screen.
“I feel ashamed,” she said quietly. “I’ve felt ashamed for a while. I just didn’t want to say it out loud because saying it makes it real, and if it’s real, then I have to do something about it, and I don’t know what to do. They’re my parents, Brandon.”
“I know.”
“But what Kyle said in that text, and Mom with the thumbs-up, and the way they talk about you when you’re not there…”
She wiped her eyes.
“You’ve given them everything. Everything. And they act like you owe them more.”
I told her what I was thinking.
Not the details yet, just the shape of it.
I was going to stop the financial support.
All of it.
Not as punishment. As reality.
I was going to let them see what their life looked like without the money they didn’t know was coming from me.
“They’re going to lose the house,” she whispered.
“No, they won’t. They’ll have options. Glenn can take out a home equity line. He’s got enough value in the property. But he’s going to have to deal with it himself, and he’s going to have to know that the reason he has to deal with it is because I was the one holding it together this entire time.”
Natalie sat with that for a long time.
Then she said, “Okay.”
“Okay, you understand, or okay, you’re with me?”
“Both. But Brandon, when this blows up, I need you to let me handle my parents. Not because I don’t trust you. Because if it comes from you, they’ll just say you turned me against them. If it comes from me, they can’t hide from it.”
Smart woman I married.
Well, the third thing I did during those two weeks, I called my bank and spoke to a customer service rep about the autodraft setup.
I explained that I wanted to cancel the recurring payment to the mortgage company effective immediately.
I also asked about the most recent payment, which had already processed for February.
The rep told me that since the payment had been made within the last 5 business days, I could request a reversal.
It would take 24 to 48 hours, and the mortgage company would be notified.
I didn’t pull the trigger yet.
I just confirmed that the option existed.
Then something happened that almost made me change my mind.
Almost.
Glenn called me on a Tuesday evening.
He sounded cheerful, which was rare.
Glenn usually communicates in grunts and nods, like a man who was told at some point in the 1980s that real men don’t talk about feelings and took it extremely literally.
“Brandon, hey, listen. Donna and I have our 35th anniversary coming up in April. We’re thinking about having a party at the VFW Hall. Nothing too fancy, but we’d like to make it special.”
“That sounds nice, Glenn.”
“Here’s the thing. The hall rental is $800. Catering would be another $1,200, $1,300, plus decorations and all that. Donna’s got her heart set on a photo booth.”
I waited.
“We were thinking maybe you could help out with the costs. You know, pitch in. It would mean a lot to Donna.”
Pitch in.
That’s the phrase he used.
Like I’d be tossing a 20 into a jar.
I knew exactly what “pitch in” meant in Aldridge language.
It meant pay for the whole thing.
I paused just long enough for the silence to mean something.
Then I said, “Sure, Glenn. Let’s talk numbers.”
He sounded relieved.
“Great. I’ll have Donna put together a list, and we’ll go from there.”
“Sounds good. And Glenn, let’s sit down in person. I’d actually love to go over everything. All of it.”
“All of what?”
“Everything I’ve been helping with. Just so we’re on the same page.”
He laughed a little nervously.
“Sure, sure. Whatever you need.”
I hung up and looked at the calendar.
The next mortgage payment was due on February 20th.
Glenn’s anniversary party would be in April.
The timeline worked perfectly.
By the time they’d want to talk about the party budget, they’d already know the truth about the mortgage.