Mike poured the tea, exchanged a look with his mother, and stood up. With a wide, proud smile, he announced that he had a “special gift” for his mother: the keys to her new home. Laura’s heart stopped. Her hands went numb.
Eleanor started gushing about how “generous” and “kind” Laura was. Laura looked down at the table. There, next to a plate of cookies, was her missing key ring. The little brass owl stared back at her.
She couldn’t believe the sheer, arrogant stupidity of what was happening. Those were her keys. The keys Mike had stolen during their “romantic” weekend.
Eleanor’s greedy hands reached out and scooped the keys off the table. Mike stood there, waiting for Laura to join in the celebration. Laura looked from the thief to the traitor, her pulse thundering in her ears.
Eleanor was clutching the keys to her chest, praising her “brilliant son” for keeping his promise. Mike was sweating, giving Laura a desperate, pleading look. Laura felt a storm of rage, but she forced herself to stay perfectly still.
When Laura didn’t say anything, Eleanor prompted her for a “speech,” already talking about which furniture she’d move into the downtown condo first. Laura calmly set her tea down. She looked Mike in the eye and saw a coward.
Her voice was like ice when she finally spoke. She told them she had two “surprises” of her own. Eleanor froze, and Mike flinched.
Speaking slowly, Laura informed them that she was the sole owner of the property. All the original documents were in a safe deposit box at her bank, and she would be filing a police report for the stolen keys first thing Monday morning. But the “main surprise” was that a locksmith had finished installing high-security, deadbolt locks on her doors an hour ago.
Eleanor turned the color of ash. Mike jumped up, trying to claim it was all a “misunderstanding” and that no one had “stolen” anything. Laura cut him off, detailing exactly when the keys went missing at the cabin and how they miraculously appeared on this table.
Mike looked like a fish out of water, unable to find a lie big enough to save him. Eleanor dropped the keys on the table and faked a heart palpitation, clutching her chest. She tried to blame Mike, saying he told her Laura had “happily agreed” to the move.
Laura shut down the performance, calling it what it was: a conspiracy to take over her home. They thought a “lonely woman” would be too desperate for a husband to fight back. They were wrong.
Eleanor tried to defend Mike, but Laura called him a thief and his mother an accomplice. Mike started babbling about wanting to “surprise” her. He actually thought that if he forced the issue, Laura would just cry and let his mother move in.
Laura confirmed that while she had plenty of space, it was for her family, not for a woman who tried to steal it. She pulled her new set of keys from her bag and showed them. The stolen set on the table was now just a pile of useless scrap metal.
Furious that her plan had failed, Eleanor threw the keys at Laura’s face. She missed. The owl keychain hit the wall and skittered under a dusty cabinet. The woman started screaming, calling Laura a “heartless bitch” and telling Mike he could “do better.”
Laura delivered the final blow: the wedding was off, effective immediately. She told Mike he should sell the engagement ring to pay for a renovation on his mother’s dump. Mike panicked, grabbing her arm and begging for a “chance to explain” …
