Margaret paced anxiously around her cramped flat in Manchester, clutching her phone, where another overdue payment notification flashed. Her chest tightened with dreadhow could she feed her family now that her daughter and son-in-law were draining her dry? It had all begun when her eldest, Emily, just nineteen, announced she was pregnant and wanted to marry.
Once, Margaret had worked alongside a colleague, Lydia, a sharp and caring woman. Lydia raised her two girls alone: Emily, nineteen, and little Charlotte, ten. Until then, Lydia never complained. Emily studied hard at university, Charlotte excelled in school. Both were obedient, model children, and Lydia was proud, despite the struggles of single motherhood.
But in her second year, Emily met her first love, Oliver. The lad was from another county, but Lydia, after meeting him, approved. Oliver seemed kind, genuinenot the sort to take advantage. Soon, the pair decided to move in together. To save on rent, they squeezed into Lydias already cramped two-bedroom terrace. She hated the rushher daughter was only nineteen, she ought to finish her studies first, stand on her own feet. But there was no talking them out of it.
Space was tight, and Olivers presence made it worse. Lydia bit her tongue until Emily confessed the real reason for their haste: she was pregnant. They wanted to marry. The ground seemed to drop beneath Lydias feet. Her girl, barely an adult, was about to become a mother.
Oliver didnt work. Like Emily, he was a full-time student, and neither fancied switching to remote learning. Yet they planned a lavish wedding, straight out of a rom-com. They booked one of Manchesters priciest restaurants, invited half the neighbourhood, and Emily ordered a designer dress fit for a red carpet. Lydia protested, insisting she couldnt afford it, but Emily clutched her stomach and wept: *Mum, would you really deny your grandchild?*
Lydia gritted her teeth and paid. She drained her savings, cut every corner, even took out another loan. She hoped after the wedding, the pair would grow upfind jobs, stand on their own two feet. But her hopes crumbled like a biscuit in tea. Emily and Oliver stayed put, jobless, while life carried on around them.
Olivers parents gifted them a second-hand car. The couple cruised around town as if on holiday, fuel paid for by Olivers folks, who knew their son was skint. But everything elsefood, bills, clothesfell to Lydia. The pair hadnt a clue what a loaf of bread cost. When Lydia mentioned expenses, Emily rolled her eyes: *Mum, were studyingwhat do you expect us to do?*
Emily spared no expense. She shoved a catalogue of prams and cots under Lydias nose, all top-of-the-range. On her modest wages, Lydia felt the air leave her lungs. *Emily, I cant afford this! Ive got your student loan, Charlotte to look after*
*Youre joking,* Emily snapped. *Youre about to be a grandma, and youre penny-pinching?*
A slow fury burned in Lydias chest. They chose to have a child, yet she was expected to foot the bill? She carried the whole household, worked herself to the bone, yet money vanished like smoke. Emilys student loan loomed like a storm cloud, Charlotte needed her attention, and the young couple lived as if in a fairy tale.
One day, Lydia snapped. She stumbled home from work, exhausted after a scolding for being lateshed had to shop for the lot of them. The scene that greeted her turned her blood to ice: Emily and Oliver, giggling, flipping through a baby magazine, eyeing a crib that cost half her wages. Charlotte sat quietly in the corner, drawing, while a tower of dirty plates teetered in the sink.
*Am I meant to do your washing-up too?* Lydia barked, dropping her bags with a thud.
*Mum, honestly!* Emily huffed. *Were preparing for the baby!*
*Youre having a baby, yet Im the one paying?* Lydia shook with rage. *Enough! Either get jobs, or get out.*
Emily burst into tears, Oliver went pale, but Lydia stood firm. She gave them a month to find even a part-time gig. *Otherwise, youre off to Olivers parents. Let them keep you.*
Emily and Oliver tried guilting her, but Lydias heart had hardened. She loved her daughter, but she knewwithout boundaries, theyd bleed her dry. One evening, Charlotte hugged her tight and whispered, *Mum, Id never do that to you.*
Lydia smiled through her tears. For her youngest, shed fight like a lioness. As for Emily and Oliver? Reality was comingand Lydia wouldnt be their safety net.
