Mrs. Gertrude was waiting near the entrance.

This time, there were no fake tears.

“Because of you, my son is going to lose everything!”

“No.”

I opened my umbrella.

“He’s dealing with the consequences of his own decisions.”

“You brought bad luck into our family!”

I looked at her.

“You still believe that?”

Then she started insulting my parents.

That was where I drew the line.

“Do not talk about my parents.”

“Your mother raised a heartless woman.”

I stared directly at her.

“If you want to talk about character, then perhaps we should discuss what Brandon has been hiding.”

For the first time, she looked confused.

During the last months of our engagement, I had discovered that Brandon’s financial situation was far worse than he had admitted.

He had large personal debts.

He had borrowed money from coworkers.

He had taken financial advances he never told his mother about.

And there had been irregularities involving funds in his municipal department serious enough to trigger an internal review.

When he became frightened about the consequences, he came to me for help.

I paid a significant portion of his debts because he told me it had all resulted from an accounting error.

He promised he wanted to begin our marriage with a clean slate.

Later, I discovered messages proving he had not told me the truth.

I had stayed quiet because I still believed I could help him rebuild his life after we married.

“I still have the messages and financial records,” I told Mrs. Gertrude.

“I don’t want to use them against anyone.”

I paused.

“But if your family continues making false accusations about me, those documents will go to my attorneys and the proper authorities.”

For once, Mrs. Gertrude had nothing to say.

She walked away into the rain.

Three days later, Brandon called.

“We want to settle.”

From that point on, I let the lawyers handle everything.

No shouting.