I quickly stepped in when I learned Cody didn’t have a car or a home. I used my savings to buy Mom a bigger house, hoping that if Cody treated her well, they could make a comfortable life together there.
To ensure she’d be financially secure, I sent her 1,000 dollars each month on top of her pension, totaling 2,000 dollars a month.
With the wedding gift I’d given her, she should have had everything she needed for a good life.
So, it was a shock to find her picking up trash outside the neighborhood and living in the house's smallest, most cluttered room.
She’d never mentioned any of this to me.
I knew she didn’t want to trouble me, which was why she kept her struggles hidden.
Being far away, I hadn’t picked up on the signs sooner.
I felt a pang of regret for not noticing her distress earlier.
Whenever I called, she’d cut the conversation short, and her text replies were slow.
Eventually, I reached out to my aunt back home.
She hesitated before revealing the truth.
Mom had remarried to avoid being a burden to me, but she was deeply unhappy in her new life.