A week later, Laura noticed the textbook sticking out of my bag.
“Who's teaching your final course?” she asked.
I told her.
“Arthur?”
She smiled.
“We were at university together.”
She leaned closer as though sharing a useful secret.
“Mention me sometime. I'm still well respected in those circles.”
I smiled politely.
“Sure.”
I didn't think much about it until Monday afternoon.
Arthur was standing outside the classroom after the lecture, gathering papers into a leather folder.
I waited until the other students had left.
“Professor?”
He looked up.
“Rose.”
“I wanted to ask you something.”
His expression changed when I mentioned Laura.
“Laura?”
“Yes. She's my future mother-in-law.”
For a second, he simply stared at me.
Then he gave a short laugh.
“Good heavens.”
“What?”
“That's a name I haven't heard in years.”
His tone had changed.
I noticed.
“What were you going to say?”
He looked down at his papers.
“Nothing appropriate, considering the connection.”
“That makes me more curious.”
He sighed.
“I really don't think I should get involved.”
“I’m not asking you to get involved. I’m asking whether there's something I should know.”
He was silent.
Then he said, “If Laura talks about academic integrity as much now as she did back then, you might want to ask Ronald how she managed to stay enrolled.”
I frowned.
“Why Ronald?”
Arthur looked at me for a long moment.
“Because he was there.”
That was all he would say.
I left his office with more questions than answers.
That evening, I told Nathan.
He was sitting at the kitchen table, working through emails.
When I mentioned Arthur's name, he stopped typing.
“My mother?”
“I don't know what happened.”
Nathan leaned back.
“She made me rewrite an entire paper last year because I forgot to credit one quotation.”
“That sounds like her.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Maybe there’s an explanation.”
“Arthur suggested I ask your father.”
Nathan was already reaching for his phone.
“No. We'll ask him ourselves.”
The next evening, we went to see Ronald.
He was in his study, surrounded by books and old papers. He looked comfortable there in a way that reminded me of Laura, except he didn't seem to need the room to prove anything.
When Nathan mentioned Arthur, Ronald's shoulders dropped.
“What did he tell you?”
“Not much,” Nathan said. “That's why we're asking you.”
Ronald sat down.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Finally, he rubbed his forehead.
“Your mother was young.”
Nathan's voice stayed calm.
“So was everyone else.”
Ronald nodded.
“She was caught copying answers during an examination.”
My stomach tightened.
“Copying?”
“Yes.”
“And there was another incident,” Ronald continued. “Notes were found during an exam.”
Nathan stared at him.
“How did she stay enrolled?”
Ronald looked toward the window.
“Her father was the dean.”
The room went silent.
“Complaints went through him,” Ronald said. “She always received another chance.”
Nathan's jaw tightened.
“Did she know?”
Ronald gave him a tired look.
“Of course she knew.”
I thought of Laura's phone disappearing beneath the table.
I thought of how quickly she supplied answers she had just searched for.
I thought of the way she spoke about education as though credentials were proof of character.
“Did she ever admit she had done anything wrong?” I asked.
Ronald looked down.
“Not to me.”
On the drive home, Nathan barely spoke.
Streetlights moved across his face as we drove.
Finally he said, “My mother had someone clearing every obstacle from her path.”
I said nothing.
“Your mother had nobody.”
He gripped the steering wheel.
“She gave up college to raise two kids.”
“And Laura still looks down on her.”
“Exactly.”
The next family dinner was uncomfortable from the moment we arrived.
Ronald mentioned a proposal to turn an abandoned railway line into a walking trail.
“It could be good for the neighborhood,” he said.
Laura nodded.
Then she reached for her phone.
Nathan noticed.
“What do you think before you look it up?”
Laura's hand stopped.
“I’m checking a message.”
“Then finish your thought first.”
She placed the phone face down.
“I'd need more information.”
“That’s fair,” Nathan said. “So would I.”
Laura gave him a sharp look.
I noticed it.
So did Ronald.
Nobody said anything else.
After dinner, Nathan walked me to the car.
“You're thinking about it,” I said.
“About what?”
“What your father told us.”
He opened my door.
“I’m thinking about what it means that my mother has spent years lecturing people about rules she once avoided.”
I didn't know what to say.
Nathan leaned against the car.
“I don't want this becoming some public humiliation.”
“Neither do I.”
“But I also won't let her humiliate your mother.”
That was the first time he said it that clearly.
A few days later, he suggested that both families spend a long weekend together at a rented house near the ocean before our wedding.
“I thought it might help,” he said.
“Help what?”
“Everything.”
I looked at him.
“You know that's optimistic.”
He smiled.
“Maybe.”
Mom was immediately excited.
She offered to make sandwiches for the drive and bake Nathan's favorite lemon cookies.
“You're supposed to relax,” I told her.
“I relax while feeding people.”
“You could sit down sometimes.”
“What would I do with my hands?”
“Hold a glass.”
“I don't trust myself with a glass.”
I laughed.
She smiled.
For a moment, everything felt ordinary.
Then I remembered Laura.
Before we left, I prepared the place cards and small activities we'd planned for the weekend.
I spread everything across the dining table.
Then I placed another stack beside them.
Nathan came home carrying groceries.
“More wedding homework?”
“Weekend preparations.”
He picked up one of the cards.
“Don't cheat.”
I laughed.
Then he noticed the second stack.
His expression changed.
“Rose.”
“What?”
“What are those?”
“Insurance.”
“Against what?”
I hesitated.
“Your mother saying something to mine that I can't ignore.”
He stared at me.
“You're expecting it?”
“I'm hoping I'm wrong.”
“And if you're not?”
I looked at the cards.
“Then maybe I'll finally stop smiling through it.”
He nodded slowly.
He didn't tell me to throw them away.
Instead, he helped me pack them.
The weekend began peacefully.
There were long walks along the shore, noisy breakfasts, arguments about wedding flowers, and enough food to feed twice as many people.
Laura behaved perfectly.
Almost too perfectly.
She complimented Mom's cookies.
She asked about the garden.
She even laughed at one of Mom's jokes.
I started to wonder whether I'd imagined everything.
Then Sunday morning arrived.
The kitchen was crowded.
Plates filled the counters.
Coffee cups were everywhere.
Mom was washing dishes.
I found her reaching for another stack.
“You promised.”
“I promised to leave some for you.”
She smiled and kept working.
Laura sat nearby with a book.
She took one sip of coffee.
Her expression hardened.
“I asked for cream, not milk.”
Mom turned.
“Oh. I'm sorry. I must have misunderstood.”
Laura held out the mug.
“Then make another.”
Mom dried her hands.
She reached for the cup.
Laura smiled.
“It really is obvious you never had much education.”
Mom stopped.
“You can't even remember one simple thing.”
The silverware in my hand hit the counter.
I started forward.
Then someone stepped past me.
Nathan had heard every word.
Click here to continue reading: PART 3: Nathan Put Down His Mother’s Book and Asked One Question That Made the Entire Room Forget About the Coffee
My Mother Had Given Up College for Her Family, But One Dinner Revealed Exactly What My Future Mother-in-Law Thought That Meant
Part 2 of 20
