There was a pause. Laura, usually quick with sharp words, stumbled. “I—I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought… it would be easier. But I didn’t think through how much you’d already done.”

Ellen’s heart ached. She wanted to believe her, but the wound was deep. “Laura, easier for you meant cutting me out. That’s not family. And if that’s the way you see things, then you’ll have to find another way to pay for it.”

Laura’s silence was telling.

Later that evening, Mark showed up at Ellen’s door.

His shoulders were hunched, his face pale. He didn’t even knock, just stood there like a boy again, not a grown man with two children.

“Mom,” he whispered, “I don’t know what to do. Laura’s furious. Her parents are blaming me. And I… I feel like I betrayed you.”

Ellen softened at the sight of him. For all his mistakes, he was still her son. She guided him inside.