"Mrs. Henson, just hand over the money and be on your way. We still need to call in a cleaning crew for a deep clean. The whole house needs to be disinfected."
My mother's face went rigid. "Disin... fected?"
Seth jumped in to explain:
"Mom, our family has standards. We like things clean. You're from the countryside, after all. There are so many germs in those villages. It wouldn't be good if any of that lingered in the house."
"This past month, my mother was away traveling, so we had no choice. But once you're back in the village this time, unless there's something important, it's probably best you don't come again."
My mother's head snapped toward Seth.
Something clicked into place.
I couldn't stop myself from asking him:
"So that's the real reason you didn't come home this entire month?"
The whole month my mother had been here taking care of me during my postpartum recovery.
Seth hadn't come home once.
Whenever I asked why, he said either that work was busy or that he was afraid coming home too late would disturb me and the baby.
It wasn't until today, the day my recovery period ended, that he walked through the door right behind his mother.
I'd never thought twice about it.