I gave Tracy a glare. "Better get used to the idea. Your daughter loves me, I love her, I'm going to cherish her and be with her for the rest of our lives."
She gave me a glare back. "Vincent, you are not good enough to marry my precious Jenny. I had her too young and I'm gonna make sure she doesn't make the same mistake."
"That is not your decision," I informed her. "It is Jenny's. She is an adult. My $75,000-a-year job as a programmer doesn't compare with your husband's $100 million in inherited wealth, but unlike you, who merely married into it and never had to earn a dime in their life, I had to earn everything I got."
"True," Tracy growled. "Your parents were losers who left you nothing."
"And died when I was 12. I had to live on the couch of a friend's house for 5 years of school before going to college, getting an academic scholarship, graduating with a 3.85 GPA and getting a job with a major company."
"Vincent's right, Mom." My fiancee, Jenny, had snuck up behind us without being heard. "What he did is very impressive. He's a self-made man."
Tracy gave my belly a poke. "He put in too much yeast."
My job didn't allow much time for exercise, and living on Ramen in college hadn't helped, but I wasn't massively overweight. Just about 15 pounds or so. Tracy kept herself rail-thin, working out 2 hours a day at the gym on her husband's money, but Jenny had nice curves.
"I think he's very handsome," Jenny said. I leaned over and kissed her.
"I'll be watching him like a hawk," Tracy growled. "The second he fucks up, I'm making sure you get away from him."
Tracy didn't have a chance to carry out her threat, because a month after the wedding, upon our honeymoon's end, Jenny and I were on the other side of the country, with Jenny cutting off all contact from her overbearing mother.
***
[20 years later]
"It feels weird having our son move out and go off to college."
"I know, dear. But we did a great job raising him. He'll be a success in life."
Jenny's phone suddenly rang. She answered it.
"Hello... yes, this is she... WHAT?... you must be joking... what the hell happened?... I guess I have no choice... tomorrow afternoon, at the bus terminal?... I'll be there."
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Franklin just died. And he left a pile of debts behind, and nothing for Mom. Luckily, he never actually put her name on anything, just paid for everything with credit, but he ended up owing $400 million and had only $1.7 million in assets. The creditors took it all. She's broke and arriving on a bus tomorrow. We have to take her in."
When I got home the next evening, Tracy was sitting on the sofa, looking glum. We had given her what had been our son's room.
"That asshole!" she growled. "Why didn't he tell me?"
Jenny responded quietly, "I don't know, Mom. Maybe he didn't want you to worry."
"He ruined my life!"
"You can make a new one here with us," I suggested.
Tracy's arrogance had disappeared. It seemed to have sunk in that she was no longer one of the jet set, and no longer young. Her chances of finding a rich sugar daddy at her age were zero. She was angry at her dead ex, but that was understandable.
"And do what? Sit in my room, eat, knit and get fat?"
"There's a library four blocks south of here and a school five blocks west. You could try volunteering there."
"Maybe." I could see her thinking over the possibilities.
When I got up the next morning to go to work, Tracy told me she was going to volunteer at the school. I wished her luck.
I got home that afternoon and could smell the booze in the room when I walked in the door.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Mom's drunk off her ass," Jenny told me. "And furious."
An entire bottle of gin was sitting on the dining room table. Empty. Along with a shot glass.
"Some penis-breath told me I was an ugly old hag!" Tracy snarled. "Men! They can all die!"
I walked over to Jenny. "Have you ever seen her like this before?" I whispered.
"No," Jenny whispered back.
Tracy stomped angrily on the floor. She was snorting like an enraged rhinoceros. Thanks to her daily workouts while living with her ex, she was also about as strong as one.