My Mother Hit Me in the Stomach at My Twin’s Party When I Refused to Give Her Money — But Suddenly My Father’s Face Changed

My mother hit me in the stomach in front of the cake, and then everyone saw me fall into the pool, while for several seconds no one helped me.

That day was my twin Olivia’s baby shower, although both of us were eight months pregnant, and still they treated me as if I were the guest. White balloons were being carried by the wind in the yard, while on the table stood a vanilla-cream cake, on whose surface they had placed two small silver shoes.

In my hand I held a small cloth bag. Yellow moons were embroidered on it, and inside were my doctor’s card, a bottle of water, and the key to the folder of documents. In that folder I kept the monthly transfers. Not eighteen thousand lari, but eighteen thousand dollars — all the money that my husband and I had set aside for our girl.

Mother came close to me and said quietly:

“Now give me the money.”

“Which money?”

“Don’t play games with me, Elene. We have to pay for Olivia’s apartment. The landlord is evicting her tomorrow.”

Olivia stood several steps away, covering her stomach with her hand. Behind her could be seen an expensive stroller that we had bought that same morning — of course, with my card.

“This money is for the baby, Mother,” I told her. “The clinic, the crib, the diapers… Everything is still ahead of us.”

Mother pursed her lips.

“You always managed to solve problems.”

That sentence had been like a heavy chain hanging around my neck for years. Olivia’s rent. Her credit cards. Her failed salon. Her “last, truly last” requests.

“This time I can’t solve it,” I said.

Olivia snickered.

“Mother, is she really going to sacrifice her own sister? I’ll be a better mother than you, Elene.”

I put my hand on my stomach. The baby struck me from inside. For the first time that day I was not afraid of the family’s disapproval. I thought only one thing: my daughter had not yet been born, but already I had to protect her.

“I have helped Olivia all my life,” I said loudly. “Now I am becoming a mother. My child will come first.”

The conversation in the yard stopped. Only the hum of the pool filter could be heard.

Mother came toward me.

“You are ungrateful.”

“No. I am simply saying no for the first time.”

Her hand suddenly rose. I expected a blow to the face, but I received the blow in the stomach. The pain took my breath away. My foot slipped on the wet tile and I fell into the pool.

Water rushed into my ears. Above, I saw distorted faces, white balloons, and my father’s shadow.

“Pull her out!” someone shouted.

“Leave her,” Father said. “Maybe at long last she will learn something.”

I heard Olivia’s laughter most clearly.

The baby was moving in my stomach. And I was clutching at the surface of the water, thinking that if I could not get out now, I would never be able to tell my child how much I had wanted to protect her.

Then a man put his phone on the lawn and jumped into the pool. His name was Daniel. Until then I had barely known him — I only knew that he was taking down the party decorations.

“Give me your hand!” he shouted at me.

“My baby…”

“I’ll get you out first!”

He pulled me out in my wet dress. My knees were trembling, while my stomach tightened like a wave.

Daniel picked up his phone. Mother rushed toward him.

“Delete the recording, right now!”

Daniel looked at the screen. Then he looked around at everyone.

“I’ve already sent it.”

The color disappeared from Father’s face.

“Whom did you send it to?”

Daniel touched the screen with his finger and opened another message. When I saw the recipient’s name, I understood that this day was no longer only about my family’s secret. Mother bent toward the folder and slowly extended her hand, as if she intended to take something out of it…

At that exact moment Daniel covered the folder with his hand.

“No one will take this,” he said.

Mother shouted:

“This is my family’s business!”

“No,” Daniel replied. “When there is violence and forged debts, this is no longer only a family matter.”

The sound of a siren entered the yard. Ambulance workers brought a stretcher, and all I remember is my hands placed on my stomach. The baby was moving. That was the only thing calming me then.

At the hospital my husband, Nika, brought the folder. Inside were all the transfers, receipts, and bank statements.

“Have you ever given money to someone else?” the doctor asked me.

“Many times,” I answered. “But these savings belong to my child.”

Daniel’s recording had already been received by several people. Mother was trying to prove that I had fallen. Olivia sat silently, looking at her phone as if she were seeing her own life from outside for the first time.

Then Daniel told Nika:

“I sent the video first to one person. To the person who has been checking this family’s documents for a long time.”

Nika looked at him.

“Who?”

Daniel said only a name. My father recognized that name immediately and quietly pronounced it:

“Oh my God…”

At that same moment a message came to my phone from an unknown number: “Elene, you need to know the truth. Your family did not need only your money…”

After the message, a woman opened the door. She was about fifty years old, held a leather bag in her hand, and had such weariness written on her face, as if she had been carrying the same truth alone for years.

“Elene, I am Marina,” she told me. “Your mother’s older sister.”

I had known her name since childhood, but Mother always said that Marina was angry with us and lived abroad. I was seeing her for the first time.

“Did Daniel send you the video?”

“Yes. Because I have been checking your banking affairs for three months.”

Nika stood beside my bed. His hands were clenched into fists.

Marina took several documents from her bag and laid them on the table.

“Your eighteen thousand dollars are not simply savings,” she said. “Your mother and Olivia submitted an application to the bank as if this money were the family’s common money. They wanted to use it to cover Olivia’s debts.”

“But I signed nothing.”

“That is exactly the problem. The signatures in your name are forged.”

The air in the room seemed to disappear.

Nika picked up one of the sheets.

“It says here that Elene gave consent to use her savings as security for the loan.”

“I have never seen this!”

Marina nodded.

“I know. I discovered these documents because I was checking the fund that Grandmother left for you. Your mother knew that she could not touch the money until your thirtieth birthday, so she began withdrawing money from your everyday account.”

Nika called Mother. The call was answered immediately.

“Why did you forge my wife’s signature?” he asked her.

There was several seconds of silence on the other side.

Then Mother said:

“She is my child. What she has belongs to the family too.”

“And why did you hit me?” I asked.

“You did not understand.”

“No, Mother. I understood very well.”

Marina slid the last sheet toward me. It said that if Olivia failed to repay the loan, the bank would file a claim against my apartment.

Olivia managed to enter the room at exactly that moment. She saw the document and stopped.

“Mother, you said Elene would simply give us the money.”

Mother could not utter a word.

Marina placed the phone on the table.

“The recording has already been given to the police and the court. But this is only the beginning. One hour ago the bank called me. They discovered that another loan had been taken out… and this time the signature is in Nika’s name.”

Nika’s face changed. He took his phone from his pocket, because at that exact moment an unknown number was calling. After answering the call, he heard only one phrase and went pale:

“You must vacate your apartment today…”