I Couldn’t Attend My Daughter’s Wedding In Paris – The Same Wedding I Helped Pay For. She Told Me By Email: “If You Want To Be A Part Of It, You Can Watch Online.” So I Just Said, “Sure. Enjoy Your Big Day.” The Next Morning, She Kept Calling Me.

“That’s quite a statement. How does it feel?”

The question caught me off guard. No one ever asked how I felt.

They asked what I thought, what I planned to do, what I could offer. Never how I felt. “It feels…”

I searched for the right word.

“Necessary.”

He nodded slowly. “Sometimes we have to set boundaries—even with, especially with, the people we love most.”

He reached across the table and briefly squeezed my hand. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing the right thing.”

When I returned to the office, there were three more missed calls and a text from Justin.

Natalie is hysterical. Please call her back. I put my phone away and immersed myself in work.

It wasn’t until I was driving home that I allowed myself to think about what would happen next. The catering deadline had passed hours ago. By now, Natalie and Marcel would be frantically calling vendors, making excuses, perhaps begging his parents for more money.

Part of me—a small, still motherly part—ached at the thought of her distress. But the rest of me, the part that had been silently screaming for decades, felt nothing but cold satisfaction. My house was dark when I pulled into the driveway.

But there was a figure sitting on my front steps. As I got closer, I recognized Natalie’s best friend since childhood, Sophia. “Mrs.

Brown,” she said, standing as I approached. “I’m sorry to ambush you like this.”

“It’s fine, Sophia.”

I unlocked the door and gestured for her to follow me inside. “Would you like some tea?”

She nodded, following me to the kitchen.

I filled the kettle and set it to boil, hyper-aware of her eyes on me. “Natalie sent you,” I said finally, not bothering to phrase it as a question. Sophia sighed.

“She’s a mess, Mrs. Brown. The venue’s gone and now they’re scrambling to find somewhere else to hold the ceremony.

Marcel’s parents are talking about calling the whole thing off.”

“That sounds stressful.”

I kept my voice neutral as I placed tea bags in mugs. “It is.”

Sophia leaned against the counter. “Look, I get that you’re hurt.

Being told to watch your daughter’s wedding online is… well, it’s awful. But is this really how you want things to be between you two? Do you want to blow up your relationship forever?”

The kettle whistled.

I poured hot water into the mugs before answering. “What relationship, Sophia? The one where I give and Natalie takes?

Continue reading…