Mom Could Remember One Daughter Each Month, but Always Chose My Sister Chapter 01

Mom Could Remember One Daughter Each Month, but Always Chose My Sister Chapter 01

Each month, my mother could choose one daughter to remember.

For twenty years, she chose my younger sister every single time.

I cooked for her, and she asked if I was the new housekeeper.

I sat with her at the hospital, and the first thing she said when she woke up was:

“Why isn’t Sophie here?”

The day I took the SAT, she forgot to unlock the front door.

I stood outside in the pouring rain all night.

When my sister wanted cake in the middle of the night, Mom threw on a coat and ran three blocks to get it.

Then it was my turn to get married.

I held out the invitation and asked her:

“Could you choose me just once this month?”

Mom was silent for a long time. Then she shook her head.

“It’s Sophie’s first wedding anniversary. She’s afraid I’ll forget.”

I tossed and turned all night.

Near midnight, as I passed my sister’s room, I heard Mom speaking softly:

“Sophie, you said Mama at eleven months. You lost your first tooth at six. The first time you brought Logan home, you were so nervous you put your socks on backward…”

I looked through the crack in the door and saw twenty journals spread across the table.

Every one of them was filled with details about Sophie, from the day she was born to the day she got married.

Mom’s eyes were red as she turned page after page.

“It’s not that I don’t want to remember your sister. I just can’t stand the thought of forgetting you for a whole month.”

Sophie asked quietly:

“What about Nora?”

Mom was silent for a moment.

“She’s always been understanding. She’ll understand me.”

Mom kept talking all night.

I listened from the hallway.

By the time my tears ran dry, I finally understood.

She hadn’t forgotten to choose me.

Between my sister and me, she’d chosen to give me up for twenty years.

She couldn’t bear to forget Sophie for one month, but she could bear to leave me without a mother for twenty years.

If her memory had room for Sophie and no one else…

Then I’d disappear from her life exactly as she’d wanted.

***

When Mom came out of Sophie’s room, she spotted me immediately.

She froze, then pulled Sophie behind her.

“Who are you?”

Just the night before, she’d told Sophie through a closed door that I’d always understood and would understand her.

By morning, I was a stranger.

“Mom, it’s me. Nora.”

Mom frowned.

“My daughter’s name is Sophie. Did she hire you to clean the house?”

Sophie tugged on her hand.

“Mom, Nora has been helping around the house for a long time.”

She didn’t tell Mom I was her daughter.

Mom’s expression eased.

“So you’re the housekeeper.”

She pointed downstairs.

“Breakfast isn’t made yet. Go to the kitchen.”

Sophie sighed.

“Mom doesn’t remember you right now. Don’t argue with her. She’s sick.”

I said nothing else and turned toward the stairs.

I was getting married in three days.

I’d make Mom breakfast one last time.

I finished cooking and set three place settings at the table.

When Mom saw them, she frowned and removed one of the place settings.

“Housekeepers don’t sit at the table with the family. What would people think?”

Then she filled two bowls with oatmeal.

She set one in front of Sophie and kept the other for herself.

I stood beside the table and watched her peel a hard-boiled egg for Sophie.

I had always told myself that Mom was only sick.

But when she forgot me, even the place where I stood seemed to offend her.

The doorbell rang.

Logan came in carrying a gift box.

The coldness left Mom’s face.

“Logan’s here? Come sit down.”

She crouched to unlace his shoes, then pushed her own bowl toward him.

“Your stomach is sensitive. Eat while it’s hot.”

Logan called her Mom.

Mom answered with a smile.

The three of them laughed around the table while I stood nearby, looking exactly like a housekeeper waiting to be given another task.

A few minutes later, Ethan arrived.

He’d changed into a fresh shirt. He was carrying a tin of specialty coffee and a heated neck massager, along with a box of things he had helped me pack.

Before coming over, he had asked me several times what Mom liked.

He’d exchanged the coffee three times and searched half the mall before settling on the gifts.

“Hello. I’m Ethan Reed, Nora’s fiance.”

He smiled nervously.

Mom glanced at the box.

“Why is the maintenance guy upstairs?”

Ethan hesitated, then tried to explain with a nervous smile.

“You’ve got the wrong idea.”

“We’re getting married in three days. We came to give you the invitation.”

Mom let out a derisive laugh.

“A housekeeper and the maintenance guy. I guess you’re a perfect match.”

The smile stiffened on Ethan’s face.

Still, he held out the invitation with both hands.

“It’s okay if you don’t remember me. But could you come to the wedding and be there for Nora?”

Mom didn’t take it.

She kept piling food onto Logan’s plate as if she hadn’t heard a word.

Ethan’s hands stayed there for a long moment. At last, he placed the invitation on the table.

When he noticed Mom’s glass was empty, he poured her a cup of warm water.

“Here, have some water.”

Mom acted as if he hadn’t spoken.

Logan mentioned that he was thirsty, and she took the glass from Ethan and handed it to him.

“Careful, Logan. It’s hot.”

The water splashed over Ethan’s hand, turning it bright red.

Mom only asked Logan if the temperature was all right.

Ethan forced a smile and asked me quietly:

“Is Mom refusing to acknowledge me because I’m not good enough for you?”

I stared at his reddened hand, and tears nearly spilled over.

He was so good to me.

Before he came, he’d practiced calling her Mom over and over. He’d spent two weeks choosing her gifts.

But because he was marrying me, she still treated him like this.

Sophie spotted the wooden jewelry box on the cabinet.

“Mom, is this Grandma’s heirloom bangle?”

Mom opened the box.

The inside of the bangle was engraved with a tiny N.

Grandma had left behind a matching set.

Sophie had already taken the one engraved with an S when she got married.

The other one was Nora’s wedding heirloom.

Mom slipped it onto Sophie’s wrist without hesitation.

“A matching pair belongs together.”

“Your first anniversary is coming up. It’ll bring you good luck.”

I couldn’t hold it in.

“That was left to me.”

Mom snapped the box shut.

“You’re a housekeeper. How dare you lay claim to family property?”

Sophie ran her fingers over both bangles and said:

“Nora, Mom doesn’t remember you. Don’t upset her.”

As long as Mom didn’t remember me, everything that belonged to me could become Sophie’s.

The bangle. Even Mom herself.

Ethan took my hand and led me away.

Downstairs, he pulled out the invitation Mom had refused to take. He looked awkward.

“Are you still inviting her?”

I took it and slowly tore it in half.

“No.”

“Her daughter is Sophie.”

“I won’t compete with Sophie for Mom anymore.”