My Mom Hid Gold In Her Truffle Box Chapter 01

My Mom Hid Gold In Her Truffle Box Chapter 01

I was helping Mom set up for Thanksgiving when I picked up Chloe Sterling’s gift box. There was one artisan truffle inside. But it weighed far too much.

I peeled back the foil. What should have been a chocolate shell was solid gold.

My ten-pound box was filled with regular chocolate.

Meanwhile, Chloe was already in the living room, complaining to every relative willing to listen.

“Mom’s playing favorites again! Eleanor gets a ten-pound box of truffles every year, and I get one. Just one!”

Mom pulled her into a hug, smoothing things over the way she always did.

“Eleanor helps me around the house. You show up and head straight for the food. Of course I’m gonna spoil the one who earns it.”

Chloe wasn’t having any of it.

“I don’t care! This year, I’m swapping mine for Eleanor’s!”

Before today, their fights always left me caught in the middle, touched that Mom seemed to pick me, but helpless when it came to Chloe. I always figured my parents felt they owed her for something.

So every couple of weeks, I’d send her money, my quiet way of making up for it.

This time, I just smiled.

“Sure. Let’s trade.”

…

“You said it, Eleanor. Everyone heard you. No take-backs!”

Chloe’s whole face lit up.

But Mom went pale. She shot Chloe a warning look, then turned to me.

“Eleanor, why are you encouraging her?”

“What’s yours is yours. You don’t need to trade with her.”

The panic on her face was barely there, but I caught it. Something cold twisted in my chest.

If I hadn’t opened that box myself, if I hadn’t seen the gold, I’d still have fallen for it. I’d still believe I was the favorite daughter.

“Mom,” I held her gaze. “Am I really the favorite?”

She froze. Her eyes welled up with tears instantly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her voice cracked on the last word.

“Why is everyone ganging up on me today?”

“Everyone thinks I play favorites. Do you have any idea how hard it is to be a mother?”

She forced the tears to keep falling as she stood up, then shoved Chloe away.

“You always do this! You walk in here and start causing trouble. Take your things and leave!”

Chloe stumbled back, her whole expression crumpling.

The relatives had seen enough.

“Chloe’s a sweet girl. She’s always been better behaved than Eleanor.” My aunt shook her head at Mom. “How can you treat her this way?”

Then she turned on me.

“Eleanor, how can you be so ungrateful?”

“Everyone in this family knows your mother bends over backward for you. Don’t you feel even a little guilty about how Chloe’s been treated?”

My uncle backed her up. “That’s right. You should be grateful to your parents, and you owe it to Chloe to make things right.”

With the whole room behind her, Chloe found her nerve again.

“You’re never happy until Mom kicks me out, are you?”

“You get everything handed to you, then toss me a few bucks like that makes it okay!”

“You think throwing money at me keeps me quiet?”

I watched her. The resentment on her face was plain as day.

No wonder she never thanked me. She’d accept the money with a smirk, like it was already hers.

In her mind, I’d gotten everything. The transfers weren’t gifts. They were guilt payments, and nowhere near enough.

Just look at today. Mom gave me a ten-pound box of cheap chocolate, but Chloe probably thought it was filled with gold.

I pulled out my phone and opened my transfer history. Years of payments to Chloe filled the screen, a few hundred here, a thousand there, all of it on record.

I shoved the screen in her face.

“If I’m so awful, and my money offends you so much, wire it all back. Right now.”

Chloe’s eyes skimmed the numbers. Something flickered in her expression, just for a second, but she recovered fast.

“Why should I? That money’s the least you owe me for everything Mom’s given you.”

My cousin stepped forward, looping her arm through Chloe’s.

“Seriously, Eleanor, you’re way out of line. Everyone knows your parents favor you.”

“You get everything, then wave a few dollars in her face like that’s supposed to fix it?”

My other cousin scoffed.

“Your parents have given you God knows how much over the years. Sending Chloe money is just you rubbing it in.”

“Honestly, you’re the most toxic person I’ve ever met.”

Every face in the room was furious on Chloe’s behalf. I almost laughed.

“I’m toxic?” I met my cousin’s stare.

“Every month I scrimp and save on groceries and bills just to send her money. And you call that rubbing it in?”

My aunt sighed. “Eleanor, you do well for yourself. Sharing with Chloe isn’t some huge sacrifice.”

“But don’t hold it over her head.”

Mom dabbed at her eyes. “That’s enough, all of you.”

“Chloe, just take your truffle and stop making a scene.”

She was desperate to shut this down.

I didn’t move. The burn of tears behind my eyes was starting to win.