My Daughter Snapped, “Please Step Back For Now!” So I Went To My Local Branch And Paused Every Card I Had Given Her. I Updated The Wedding Arrangements I Had Been Covering. The Next Morning, She Kept Calling. But Me? I Was Too BUSY TO ANSWER.

Her fingers were cold despite the morning warmth, and she wore a new ring that sparkled with an ostentation that made me blink. Daniel officially proposed to me, “Mom, we want a wedding like the one I always dreamed of, like the one you never got to have.”

That last phrase stuck in my chest like a splinter. It was true my wedding had been simple, almost austere, but it had been beautiful because it was filled with genuine love.

Now I wonder if that comparison was intentional, if even then she was planting the seed of guilt she would later use to manipulate me. Daniel settled into my couch as if he owned it, stretching his arms over the back with a familiarity that made me uncomfortable. “Emily has told me so much about you, about everything you’ve done for her.

A mother like you deserves to see her daughter get married in style.”

His words sounded rehearsed like a speech he had practiced in front of the mirror. Every compliment came wrapped in an implicit request. Every smile was a bill piling up somewhere in my future.

“We’ve been looking at reception venues,” Emily continued, pulling out her phone and showing me pictures of luxurious halls with crystal chandeliers and tables covered in linens that look like they cost more than my monthly salary. “This one is perfect, Mom. It can hold 200 people.

It has a garden for photos and the menu.”

Her eyes sparkled as she described dishes with names I couldn’t pronounce, wines I had only seen in luxury magazines. The number 200 hit me like a silent slap. I knew at most 20 people from her current circle.

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