Get Yourself a New Mom

Chapter 1 Letting Go As I stood outside the fondue restaurant, I felt a rare sense of calm and relief.

Groups of smiling people kept walking past me, looking youthful and at peace with each other. They looked really lively.

I cast one last glance at Nancy Boseman, my daughter, inside the restaurant.

She was happily video chatting with someone, and based on her lip movement, I could read the words “Dad” and “New mom”.

My gaze involuntarily fell on the reflection in the glass. If it weren’t for the fact that I was standing still alone, I wouldn’t have believed that this bloated, greasy, disheveled woman was me.

I still remember clearly what Nancy looked like when she was born. She was like a soft, warm, tiny bundle.

Just like that, 16 years flew by, and my 16 years of widow-like marriage had worn me down.

Still, I could honestly say that I never neglected Nancy—not for a single day or matter, and not even if she lost a strand of hair or chipped a nail.

I didn’t know when Nancy became the way she was now, and I didn’t think I had done anything wrong. The ones to blame were her absent father, her overly indulgent grandmother, and her grandfather, who was verbally abusive toward me.

“It’s fine! It’s just puppy love, isn’t it? That boy seems nice. My granddaughter’s got good taste, unlike your dad, who married a wench and ruined the whole family.

“In the future, don’t be like your mom, who ruins our peaceful life and makes everyone feel uncomfortable.

“What else do you do at home every day besides getting angry? You’re such a downer.

“Another new outfit? Didn’t we just buy you one last year? You only stay home to cook and don’t even go out, so why buy new clothes? Who are you dressing up for?”

“It’s your fault. If not for you, would I be paralyzed? What kind of punishment is this for my son to have married you? Get out!”

I had heard these words for the past 16 years.

Nancy thought of me as a petty, fussy, ignorant, and bad-tempered failure of a woman as a result.

One side was a nagging, ill-tempered mother who always tried to discipline her, while the other—a tender, loving father and grandmother—provided her with love and freedom.

When we were under the same roof, the comparison was starkly different. Still, I always thought Nancy knew right from wrong.

As I looked back on the past 16 years, I realized I truly had nothing.

Outside the restaurant, the wind blew my hair across my face, and inside, three people were gathered laughing around the fondue pot.

Just then, my phone rang. It was my mother-in-law, Petra Boseman, calling.

I rejected the call immediately, but I still couldn’t help feeling disgusted.

Back then, when I was eight months pregnant, my father-in-law—Gary Boseman—became a paraplegic. Petra claimed she couldn’t take care of Gary and that the hired caretaker was unreliable, so she just moved in with us.

But ever since Petra moved in, she had been out every day playing poker or going dancing and was barely home at all. Meanwhile, my husband, Jack Boseman, disappeared from the picture completely after only two days of caring for Gary.

Thus, the burden of caring for Gary fell squarely on my shoulders. I suggested hiring a caretaker, but the whole family opposed it.

Gary had only moved in for less than half a month when he pushed me, causing me to go into premature labor.

The memory of that pain still made me shudder, even 16 years later.

I finally left the restaurant completely shortly after that.

Of course, turning away still made me feel a little sad. After all, Nancy had been my emotional anchor for the past 16 years.

However, I told myself it was okay and that I’d be fine soon, considering Jack had long been cheating on me, and she fully supported it.

As I turned around, a gust of wind blew past, and I took a deep breath.

Who would’ve thought that on such an ordinary night, I would give everything up and stand alone on a crowded street? For the first time in a long time, I felt the sense of peace I had longed for these past 16 years.

The darkness of night, the breeze, and the neon lights… Everything felt so wonderful.

I felt my nose sting at that moment. I seemed to see the me from 16 years ago, standing in the wind and waving at me.

16 years ago, I majored in tourism management and had just graduated from university.

When Jack proposed to me, the travel agency my roommate and I had started was just hitting a growth peak. For the sake of love, I gave up a promising future and confined myself to a life of cooking daily and a tiny apartment.

…

After snapping out of my reverie, I felt hungry.

I didn’t have enough money, and I had only ordered what Nancy wanted at the fondue restaurant.

When I took out my phone to check my bank balance, sitting at just over a hundred dollars, my hands trembled slightly.

My phone rang again at that moment.

I couldn’t suppress the disgust I felt. No one but that family would call me.

I planned to turn off my phone, for I was too tired to argue with them. Yet, when I saw the name flashing on my phone, I became dazed for a second.

I patted my head, and the coldness of my hand woke me up slightly.

I answered the call. “Shannon?”

When I heard that familiar voice on the other end, it felt like I was dreaming. As soon as I said her name, I couldn’t hold back anymore and burst into tears.

On the other end, Shannon panicked immediately. “D-Don’t cry! Where are you? I’m coming to find you right now.”

Shannon Lane was my university roommate and the only one who still remembered my birthday after all these years.

I wanted to tell her where I was, but I couldn’t stop crying. I felt extremely guilty about getting married when I shouldn’t have back then.

…

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

Once I finally stopped crying, Shannon asked me again where I was. I simply told her I wanted to go to her place and that I’d go by myself.

She laughed coldly and asked if I even had money.

I had never told her anything about my life, yet she could see my hardship at a glance. Thus, I promptly gave her my location.

“Half an hour,” she simply mentioned before ending the call.

Right after I hung up, I got a notification. It was a transfer of 20,000 dollars from Shannon.

I was stunned, since I hadn’t seen that much money since I got married.

Just as I was about to send her a message, she followed up with another text. “This was always your money. Take it for now, and we’ll talk when we meet.”

The message came with a photo of a hand on a steering wheel.

Suddenly, I recalled the day I was discharged from the hospital after giving birth. Jack had said he would pick me up, but even as I waited until noon, he never showed up.

I held my baby and handled the discharge paperwork myself before going home alone. As soon as I opened the door, all that greeted me was Gary’s yelling and cursing.

…

Half an hour later, Shannon appeared. A red G-Wagon stopped right in front of me, and the window slowly rolled down to reveal her face.

I laughed, knowing we could both still be our past selves from 16 years ago.

“I knew you’d end up like this. You just had to marry that scumbag!” Shannon snorted.

She waved for me to hurry up and get into the passenger seat.

When I got in, I felt the heater blasting comfortably.

“Save the emotional talk for later. Let’s get your livelihood in order first,” Shannon said firmly.

All my tragic thoughts instantly vanished when I heard that.

She kept driving while explaining to me what the 20,000 dollars was about.

Chapter 2 Leaving 16 years ago, not long after I resigned from the travel agency, the agency received an investment of 200,000 dollars.

Although logically, the money had nothing to do with me, Shannon still counted my share.

I felt like crying again as I said, “I can’t take this money.”

“You can,” Shannon responded firmly.

She said that if I hadn’t insisted on marrying Jack back then, she would’ve given me the money then. However, she felt uneasy when she thought about him, so she invested all the money in the agency instead—all these years, she had been splitting the earnings equally with me.

She had been keeping my share for me, and after 16 years, it had grown into a significant sum.

Once again, I felt like I was dreaming.

“Alright. Let’s move on to the next topic,” Shannon commented with a dramatic wave of her hand. “Our company is expanding to include some new routes. You’re flying to Jermand next Wednesday to talk about a partnership with the travel agency over there.

“I’ve worked so hard all these years, and finally, I can take a break.”

She smiled proudly, and I did the same. After 16 years, I could finally see my future in sight again.

I sat in the passenger seat and tilted my head to look at Shannon. Streetlights passed one by one, and the light flickered in the car.

That was when I could see more clearly—Shannon’s eyes shone with tears. I thought she was taking me to her place, but when the car stopped, I saw disco lights.

“A karaoke bar?” I asked, shocked.

I hadn’t been to a place like this since I started dating Jack.

Shannon had a look of utter disdain. “Don’t look so shocked. Did you really not know it’s your birthday today?”

As I looked at her back, I felt like crying again. Still, I held the tears in.

However, a few minutes later, I ended up bursting into tears anyway. There was a big cake on the private room’s table, with writing on the cake’s surface—”18 years old, Version 18.0”.

The room could’ve just been booked, but the cake clearly wasn’t a last-minute thing.

Shannon didn’t give me the chance to keep crying. She shoved the microphone right in front of my face and yelled, “Sing!”

16 years ago, I was quite popular in school because I sang well. I had also won countless singing competitions during my university days.

…

By the time we left the karaoke bar, it was already midnight.

I checked my phone and saw not a single message.

Upset, Shannon asked, “You’re not thinking of going back to them, are you?”

I replied somewhat dazedly, “I haven’t even taken my stuff out.”

Shannon wanted to go back with me, but I wouldn’t let her. She had always hated Jack and often told me he had ambiguous relationships with multiple women.

Back then, I thought she was exaggerating the stories because of her bias. Now, I really wanted to slap myself.

…

The apartment building was noisy when I arrived home.

Jack’s singing echoed through the night, and he was bad enough to scare a few children into crying. He was tone deaf and hated singing, so it seemed he was in high spirits today.

As I stood at the door looking for my keys, the song—and the singer—changed. It was a woman’s voice.

I knew it was Jack’s mistress.

I had yet to find my keys when my neighbor, Marie Hall, opened her door angrily, saying, “Don’t stop me! I’m going to see what’s going on at her place to—”

She abruptly paused the moment she saw me, and her tone softened a notch.

Since there were usually just my two elderly neighbors at home, I often helped them out, and we were on good terms.

“Natasha, did your relatives come over?” Marie asked.

I shook my head. “No, my husband’s cheating on me.”

At this point, I no longer cared about not causing Jack’s family any embarrassment. Besides, I didn’t want my kindness to the neighbors to become his family’s excuse for acting without consequence.

Marie said nothing. She simply looked at me with pity and sighed.

I smiled at her. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Watson. I’m preparing to get a divorce. I’m just back to pack my things.”

My voice was calmer than it had ever been as I spoke. The moment I heard that woman singing, the last invisible thread binding me had snapped.

Just then, Marie’s husband, Roy Watson, stepped out too. He told me to pack without worrying and that he and Marie would wait at the door.

He even asked whether I had somewhere to go and offered to get his son to help if I needed it.

I smiled and declined his offer. After all, there were some things I had to face myself.

When I entered the house, the apartment’s surroundings seemed to have finally quietened down—even earlier, I had to shout when talking to the neighbors.

Everyone, except Nancy, looked nervous when they saw me. She clung sweetly to the mistress’ arm and said, “Yvonne, I told you there’s nothing to be nervous about.

“Look at Mom. She’s fat, old, and most importantly, she won’t do anything except get mad. Compared to her, you’re like a fairy.”

I could hardly believe these were the words spoken by my 16-year-old daughter.

Jack coughed twice before saying, “Don’t get mad. Nancy’s not wrong. Honestly, you should thank Yvonne. I’d have no one to bring if it weren’t for her.”

My steps faltered for a moment.

Petra chimed in from the side, “Exactly. You didn’t take care of yourself, and now look, your bad genes have ruined my granddaughter. If not, that boy in her class—that Sam whatever—wouldn’t have broken up with her.”

Whatever little anger I had instantly disappeared when I heard that. Nancy would eventually pay the price.

Back then, I insisted on not having a second child because I was afraid it would be a boy. The Bosemans’ preference for sons was deeply ingrained in them, and I didn’t realize it until I married into their family.

During my postpartum recovery, I overheard Jack whispering on the phone. That was when I found out he had an older sister.

I then heard she was a very capable graduate student. However, she was tricked into coming home and married off to a rich businessman in town, who was as old as her grandfather.

The three-million-dollar wedding gift all went to Petra, whereas his sister only received a cheap quilt from a department store for her wedding.

It seemed that Nancy’s fate wouldn’t be much better.

I said nothing and went straight to my room to pack my luggage.

…

I finished in just a few minutes. After all, my things only filled half of a 20-inch suitcase.

As I closed the door, I heard Nancy cheering with the microphone. “The crazy woman finally left! I can finally get a new mom!”

The neighbor’s door was still open, and Marie was standing there panting with a broom in her hand. When she saw me, she suddenly became flustered.

Roy apologized, saying that the house was too crowded for Marie to come in and help me earlier.

I felt a sting in my nose. There were good people everywhere in this world, yet I had been struggling in a cesspit of scum for 16 years.

I told Roy and Marie not to get angry, for those people weren’t worth it.

…

When I got downstairs, Shannon’s car was already waiting at the gates. Her eyes widened when she saw my tiny luggage bag.

I smiled as I told her that having less stuff made it easier for me to leave.

Shannon echoed my sentiments and added that everything in that house was bad luck anyway.

I asked her if we were going back to her place now, but she told me there was still a surprise.

I felt a glimmer of anticipation rise in my heart. I had finally come to life again!

…

When we arrived at Shannon’s house, she stopped me. She pointed at the house across the street and told me it was mine.

Years ago, she had used the dividends from the travel agency to buy it for me.