Tom told his mother that his wife was expecting a child. Margaret was overjoyed. She hurried upstairs to fetch the little clothes she had preserved so lovingly through the years. Yet, such a reaction from her daughter-in-law was something she never could have anticipated.
For over thirty years, Margaret enjoyed the happiness of motherhood. She had lived with her son Tom, who worked as a supervisor at a modest firm. Margaret dedicated her days to Toms care and company. The weekends were always bustling with activity. There were trips to the greengrocers to make, and although Tom didnt always fancy it, he dutifully accompanied his mother everywhere. Margaret would meander through the stalls, picking out produce with deliberate carecertainly, she could have finished quicker at the local shop, but the ritual of wandering the market lanes with Tom meant the world to her. Afterwards, they would stroll through the village and idle away their hours in the garden out back.
The cucumber patch was just beginning to flourish, even though neither Margaret nor Tom truly cared for cucumbers or tomatoes. They tended the vegetables anyway, giving much of the homegrown bounty to friends and neighbours. Life ambled on quite contentedly, and Margaret relished having her grown son by her side. Yet, as it so often does, a single moment altered everything.
Mum, Im getting married, Tom announced one sunny afternoon. The woman he had chosen was a gentle, reserved girl named Emily, just twenty-five years old. She and Tom had found a flat together, but Margaret persuaded them to move in with her a while and to let their own place out to tenants.
“An extra bit of money wont go amiss,” she insisted. Tom and Emily, somewhat reluctantly, agreed.
For a time, Margarets joy swelled anewher son remained close. Yet it was a fleeting reprieve. Tom now devoted most of his hours to Emily. They would go out together in the evenings, leaving Margaret alone, and before long, it emerged that Emily was with child. Margaret imagined that Tom and Emily might need the baby clothes she had so carefully saved, all the tiny bonnets and booties folded up in lavender sachets. Yet her daughter-in-law gently made it clear that she wished to choose everything herself, for her own child.
Once they had scraped together enough pounds, the young parents moved out of Margarets house and into a home of their own. The ache of disappointment and loneliness weighed on Margarets heart. She found herself believing that her son had turned away from her and chosen his young wifes company instead.
