My Husband Declared Caring for His Mother to Be My Duty, but After One Answer from Me, His Mother Covered Her Face with Her Hand

That evening my husband returned home with his mother and two suitcases, as if our marriage had already ended and I was the only one who did not know about it.

“From today, my mother will live here,” Mauricio said, placing the suitcases by the living-room door. “You will take care of her.”

Elena leaned on a cane. A small silver clasp on her dark-green bag trembled because her hands were shaking. Surprise and shame were written in her eyes.

I came out of the kitchen then. For four years I had almost alone cared for my father, whose left side had been paralyzed after a stroke. I traveled from Atlixco to Puebla several times a week, bathed him, fed him, took him to doctors, and spent the nights beside his bed. Mauricio saw all of this.

But he had never helped.

“You told me this would only be temporary,” I said quietly.

“What was temporary?”

“Bringing your mother here.”

Mauricio knitted his brows.

“We already talked about this.”

“You talked. I told you no.”

Elena lowered her head.

“Mauricio, I did not ask you to bring me to your house unexpectedly.”

“Mother, you cannot live alone now.”

“Being alone and being helpless are not the same thing.”

Such firmness sounded in her voice that for the first time I saw that Elena was not merely a quiet, guilty mother-in-law. She was hiding something.

In the first days of my father’s illness, I asked Mauricio to help even for one week. He did not lift his eyes from his phone.

“You decided yourself to take care of your father. Do not involve me in this problem.”

I left my job. At home I did administrative work, my income decreased, while Mauricio reminded me every evening that he himself paid the household expenses.

Once, when I had cared for my father all day and prepared only bread and cheese for lunch, he dropped the plate on the table.

“Is this food?”

“I could not manage anything else today.”

“Then try harder. I do not live in this house for free.”

That was the first time I thought about divorce. When my father found out, he squeezed my hand.

“Do not destroy your life because of me, Nino.”

I smiled at him as if everything were fine. In reality, something in me died that day.

My father died several months later. On the last night I held his hand and looked at the small copper key lying on the windowsill. A small red-enamel bird was depicted on the head of the key. Father told me it was the key to the old lock of his house and that I should always keep it with me.

At the funeral Mauricio hugged me.

“I am very sorry,” he told me.

A thirty-second hug cannot heal four years of loneliness.

Several months after my father, Elena’s husband died. That was precisely when Mauricio began talking about moving his mother into the house.

“If she goes to a nursing home, the money will be lost,” he told me. “Here you will take care of her, and the property will remain in the family.”

“Are you talking about your mother or her money?”

Mauricio laughed.

“You always turn everything into drama.”

I clearly told him that I would not agree under those conditions. I thought the conversation was over.

But now Elena stood in my living room, while Mauricio was locking the door.

“You are her daughter-in-law,” he said. “It is your duty.”

“Then you take care of her. I am leaving.”

I picked up my bag and went toward the bedroom. Mauricio followed me.

“Where are you going?”

“Where my life is still mine.”

He grabbed me by the arm. Elena struck her cane against the floor.

“Let her go!”

Mauricio stopped.

Elena’s face had turned pale.

“Nino, I did not know that he had not helped your father at all,” she said. “And there is one more thing you must know today.”

A knock sounded in the hallway. The door opened and an unfamiliar woman appeared on the threshold, holding a dark-brown folder. She extended her hand directly toward me…

I reached toward the folder, but Mauricio moved before me.

“Who is this?” he asked.

The woman answered calmly:

“I am Mariana, assistant to Notary Sandro Valdes. I must deliver documents to Mrs. Nino.”

Mauricio stepped in front of me.

“Now is not an appropriate time.”

“On the contrary,” Mariana said. “It is exactly the right time.”

Elena leaned against the wall. The rubber tip of her cane slowly slid across the floor.

“Mariana, tell him everything you know,” she said.

“Elena, be quiet,” Mauricio hissed through his teeth.

It was the tone that for years only I had known. Now his mother heard it for the first time too.

Mariana put the folder on the table.

“Mr. Sandro asks that you read this today. He also asked that you not be left alone.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“Materials connected with your father’s property.”

Mauricio looked at me quickly.

“Your father died. There is nothing here that concerns our life.”

Mariana fixed her eyes on him.

“If so, then why are you trying to take the document away?”

Mauricio’s jaw tightened.

I opened the folder. My father’s name was on the first page, and mine below it. Then I saw copies of bank statements, signatures, and dates that were impossible to remember, because during those days I had been caring for my father in the hospital.

“What is this?” I asked.

“Records of withdrawals from your father’s account,” Mariana told me. “And a loan agreement secured against the property.”

It was as if the air disappeared from the room.

Mauricio gave a little laugh.

“This is a mistake. Nino held the power of attorney then.”

“I did not sign it,” I said.

“Maybe you do not remember.”

His answer came so quickly that ice spread through my heart.

Father had always said that the key to his house was a new beginning for me. I had no idea that someone had placed a debt on that same house behind my back.

Elena looked at Mauricio.

“You told me that Nino signed all the documents herself.”

“Mother, do not start now.”

“You told me that her father was receiving your help.”

“I was helping the family!”

“Then why did I not know that Nino cried at night?”

Mauricio struck the table with his fist. A silver teaspoon jumped in the saucer and made a thin sound.

I stepped back, but this time fear did not stop me. I took my father’s copper key from my bag and clenched it in my palm. The red-enamel bird pressed against my finger.

“Where is my father’s house?” I asked.

Mauricio did not answer me.

Mariana took a second sheet from the folder.

“The preliminary contract for the sale of the property must be registered tomorrow morning.”

“Who is selling it?” I could barely hear my own voice.

Mariana looked at Elena.

“At present, the buyer thinks that Mrs. Elena Valdes is signing it.”

Elena gripped the armchair.

“I have sold nothing.”

Mauricio said immediately:

“Mother, it is only a technical procedure.”

“Which technical procedure?”

“You do not understand legal matters.”

Mariana placed her phone on the table.

“Mrs. Elena, did you sign this power of attorney?”

Elena looked at the paper and shook her head.

“No.”

Mauricio looked toward me. For the first time I saw in his eyes not confidence, but fear.

“Nino, let us resolve this calmly. You are my wife.”

“And for four years I was the performer of your duty,” I said. “I am no longer.”

Mariana picked up the phone.

“Mr. Sandro is waiting for you. He wants you to come to the office today. He said the main evidence is there, but first he must hear you with your own ears.”

“What must I hear?” I asked.

Mariana turned on the screen. The time of an audio recording appeared. Mauricio stared at the screen and lost color in his face.

The recording had not yet begun. But from his face I understood that he was about to hear his own voice…

The audio recording began, and Mauricio’s voice sounded in the room.

“Nino does not check anything. Caring for her father occupies her mind so much that she will even sign without thinking.”

My fingers immediately grew cold.

Then another man’s voice sounded. He was unknown to me.

“If the daughter does not sign, the loan cannot be approved.”

“It will be approved,” Mauricio answered. “Her father cannot get out of bed, and she spends twenty hours a day caring for him. I will only tell her that it is a form for medical expenses.”

Elena covered her mouth with her hand.

“No…” she whispered.

The recording continued.

“And your mother’s house?” the stranger asked.

“First her father’s house. Then my mother’s. Both will be combined into one loan. Nino will not understand it until it becomes necessary.”

Mauricio grabbed for the phone, but Mariana took it quickly.

“This is illegal!” he shouted.

“What you admit in the recording is illegal,” I answered.

Mauricio took one step toward me.

“This conversation has been taken out of context.”

“Then tell me the full context.”

He fell silent.

Mariana took the documents from the folder and laid them side by side. My father’s supposed signature, a forged copy of my signature, bank transfers, and a power of attorney prepared in Elena’s name.

“Mr. Sandro received these materials two days before your father’s death,” she said. “Your father knew that the papers had been taken from him secretly. That is why he left an audio recording and a letter.”

“Father knew?” My voice broke.

“He found out everything,” Mariana answered. “But he did not tell you then because he was afraid that Mauricio would pressure you.”

Mauricio shook his head.

“This old man was sick. His words mean nothing.”

Mariana handed me the last sheet.

“This is a notarized statement. Your father writes that the house belongs entirely to you and that no one has the right to sell or mortgage it without your presence.”

Elena sat down in the armchair.

“Mauricio, did you sell mine too?”

“I was trying to protect you.”

“Did you forge my signature?”

“I forged nothing.”

“Then why is my name written here, and why do I not remember this meeting?”

Mauricio could not answer.

Mr. Sandro called us by video. Behind him was a wall filled with books.

“Nino, now everything is clear,” he said. “Tomorrow’s sale will be stopped. But this is only the first step.”

“What else must I know?”

Sandro looked at the screen with a heavy gaze.

“The lending company is already demanding immediate repayment of the entire amount. If forgery is confirmed, the responsible person will face a criminal case.”

Mauricio struck the chair with his hand.

“You are setting my family against me!”

“No,” I said. “You yourself put the family before money.”

Sandro opened another file.

“And now the most important thing. You, Mauricio, are personally a guarantor on this loan. If the documents are declared invalid, the debt will remain with you.”

The color drained from his face.

Elena closed her eyes.

“You told me everything was settled.”

“Mother, I was doing this for you.”

“No. You were doing this for yourself.”

Sandro ended the conversation, but before leaving he told me one thing:

“Nino, do not go anywhere alone tonight. And if Mauricio tries to take the documents, call me immediately.”

The call ended.

Silence fell.

Mauricio picked up the phone and called someone.

“Contact the lawyer,” he said. “Tell him everything has fallen apart.”

A few seconds later he listened to the answer and slowly lowered the phone.

“What happened?” Elena asked.

Mauricio looked toward me.

“My lawyer said that until he sees the documents, he refuses to defend me.”

But he still did not know the worst. At that same moment, a message came to my phone from an unknown number: “If you want to find out who gave you the recording, come to the old clinic tomorrow morning. Alone.”…