A groom mocked his bride’s poor mother because she came without an invitation. But when she shocked everyone after taking the mic and giving a wonderful toast, that’s when he learned a lesson he never imagined.
“I can’t believe she showed up,” Oren grumbled under his breath while holding his bride’s hands. They were on the altar, and he had just noticed that his mother-in-law, Aurel, had just walked in and sat down in the last row. He thought his future wife, Lume, didn’t invite her mother.
“Please, Oren. Let it go,” Lume said quietly. She bit her lip and was waiting for her groom to make a scene, but he sighed and tried to contain himself.
The truth is, Oren didn’t want Lume’s mother there for several reasons, and he didn’t understand why she had appeared. He didn’t hate the woman, but she shouldn’t be there. She didn’t belong. She scared him.
Oren’s family was from old Connecticut money. The kind of money that never runs out, even through generations. Unlike the rest of his family, Oren had fallen in love with Lume without considering the future or how much money she had. Normally, his family arranged marriages with other affluent families or with convenient people.
However, as soon as he saw the hard-working law student at Yale during their first Torts class, Oren fell in love. She was feisty and was not afraid to speak her mind, and he was hooked immediately.
When they started dating, he was sure that Lume had to come from money too. She never wore expensive clothes or anything, but she held herself up like the women in his family.
Some people believed the highly wealthy showed off their riches with clothes, cars, and other fancy things. But like that saying, “Money talks, wealth whispers,” the women in Oren’s family were not flashy or ostentatious with their wealth, although they did take advantage of their privileges. He was sure that Lume had to come from riches somehow.
He was completely blindsided when she told him the truth. She was a scholarship student who worked all her life to get to where she was. Her mother was a laundress for many wealthy families in the area and raised her alone.
He was not too proud to admit that he almost broke up with Lume at that point. He didn’t think they would work, and he also felt that she might have taken an interest in him because everyone at school knew him and his family.
“I don’t care about your money at all, Oren. But I can’t stop you if you don’t want to be with me. Go date someone from your country club or whatever,” Lume had scoffed at him when he told her his concerns.
“I don’t want a country club girl, Lume. But it’s a genuine concern. Isn’t it for you? Do you think you’ll fit in?” he asked her sincerely.
“Please, I’ve dealt with snobby rich people looking down on me and my mother all my life. I don’t need this from you. In fact, my mother even told me you were not the one for me, so maybe she was right,” Lume commented, shrugging, and grabbed her purse to leave his apartment.
“What? What do you mean? Wouldn’t any mother want their daughter to date a rich man?” Oren questioned, baffled at the idea that a single, poor mother could hate him.
“Not my mom. She raised me to be independent. Oren, I love you for you. But if you don’t believe that, we don’t have to be together,” Lume continued and was almost out his door when he stopped her.
“No, please. Stay. Let’s talk,” he begged, and Lume stayed.
They agreed to continue dating, but the idea that Aurel hated him never left Oren’s mind. Unbeknownst to him, he started to fear the woman.
All the women he had dated before Lume had mothers who were ecstatic with the idea of Oren becoming part of their family. It was a given. He was the perfect bachelor. He had a stellar reputation in the community. He was smart. He had a steady future laid out for him. In short, he was a mother-in-law’s dream.
But not to Aurel, who he refused to meet for years, making excuses every time Lume tried to introduce them.
When he proposed, and she agreed, Lume finally asked why he didn’t want to meet her mother.
“I just… don’t want to. I also don’t want her at our wedding. She won’t have a good time, and my family will mock her for her job and everything. It’s for the best, Lume,” Oren lied to his fiancée, not knowing how to express the truth. He still didn’t understand the truth.
“But I can’t get married without my mother, Oren. She’s my world,” Lume insisted.
“I’m meant to be your world now. So it’s either my way, or we don’t get married,” Oren said, putting his foot down.
Lume was not happy about it and tried to bring up the subject many times afterward. However, he didn’t budge, and eventually, she stopped saying anything. He thought that meant she wouldn’t invite Aurel to the wedding.
However, the woman showed up. Oren recognized her as soon as she got closer because he had seen her in Lume’s pictures. She was dressed in what looked like a cheap new dress and was smiling. Oren looked down and tried to focus on the pastor’s words.
When the ceremony finished, they smiled and posed for pictures for the family. But when they went into a private room, he wanted to scream at his new wife.
“Please, don’t. I never agreed not to invite my mother. She is my mother. You get to have all your family here, and I also have a right to do so. So deal with it. You don’t have to be chummy with her or anything. But you’ll meet with her and act politely, or I’ll file for annulment immediately!” Lume warned, her hands on her waist and looking stern.
“Fine,” Oren muttered unhappily.
They exited the private room and went to the reception, where they were greeted by family, friends, and tons of people who came to congratulate them.
It wasn’t until an hour later that Lume finally brought her mother to Oren and introduced them for the first time.
“Mom, this is Oren. I’m sorry you didn’t get to meet earlier,” she said, her tone a bit ashamed.
“Nice to meet you, dear. I wish you would’ve come to my house at some point. I wanted to cook for you and meet you personally,” Aurel said, smiling brightly.
Oren swallowed hard and shook the older woman’s hand. “Hmm, I’m sorry about that. Maybe after the honeymoon,” he responded, knowing he would do anything never to keep that promise.
“Excellent,” Aurel smiled, and Lume smiled too.
The whole situation should’ve been entirely expected, but it wasn’t. Not for Oren. He felt pressure in his chest. He felt fear. He realized he was intimidated by Lume’s mother. But why?
She was a laundry woman, skinny, poor, and frail. He had dealt with ruthless business people who dealt with his father and had already faced nail-biting situations as a lawyer. So why was he afraid of this old woman?
She was just his mother-in-law, and he had nothing to fear. Nothing. Literally. He tried to calm down, but the feeling didn’t go away.
At some point, Lume went with her bridesmaids to dance, and the groomsmen joined Oren. He didn’t realize Aurel was nearby when the boys started talking about his new mother-in-law.
“Yeah, well, Lume comes from nothing, but now she has me. She can forget her old life. I didn’t want to invite that poor old woman, but what can I do?” Oren mocked, and his buddies laughed. They were all rich too.
“Yeah, well, Lume doesn’t have to worry about money ever again with you, dude,” his friend, Quest, laughed, and the pressure on Oren’s chest eased with the banter. They continued to mock the poor old lady, although she had been nothing but pleasant to Oren in their brief encounter. He never expected what she would do next.
A few hours into the party, it was finally time for the speeches. Oren’s best man and Lume’s maid of honor spoke first. They were their friends from their Yale days. However, Oren’s chest tightened again when he saw Aurel getting up on stage and taking the microphone.
“Good evening, everyone. I’m Aurel, Lume’s mother, and I also want to give a toast. Can you believe that I just met the groom today? Well, he didn’t want to meet me, apparently. He was mocking me with his buddies earlier this evening,” the older woman started, and Lume turned to Oren with a sharp look.
“Well, I’m sure you all know I don’t come from this amazing wealth. I actually don’t have much money, but I did my best with Lume. She is my pride and joy; she loves Oren more than anything, and I know she doesn’t care about money. That’s how I raised her,” Aurel continued. “And I’m glad to know that everyone here accepted her, even with her background. Thank you for that… Now, I have a gift for the newlyweds. Can you come here, darlings?”
Aurel signaled for Oren and Lume to join her on stage, and the older woman produced an envelope. The couple reached her, and although Oren was sweating, he took the envelope in his hands. He browsed the papers inside, and his jaw dropped.
Lume asked him about it, and he could only whisper, “She bought us a house.”
“With all my hard work and years of scrimping, I managed to buy my daughter a house. Nearby, actually, and I hope you can start your family there. I love you, Lume. And I hope, Oren, that in time, you can love me too,” Aurel finished, and the whole room erupted in cheers, standing for the woman.
Lume hugged her mother and cried terribly, not caring that her makeup was running. When they separated, the poor older woman turned to her new son-in-law with a tentative grin.
Oren was sweating, and his eyes had watered. “I’m so sorry,” he choked. “Thank you.”
Aurel only grinned wider and hugged him to her chest. She had forgiven him easily. There was no animosity in her heart for Oren. Her daughter loved him, and she had to believe it was because he was a good man.
As Aurel held him in his arms, Oren realized something. He was afraid and intimidated by this older woman because… she made it all on her own.
The people in his life had been rich for generations. He didn’t know a businessman, friend, or colleague who was self-made. His friends were wealthy. His colleagues too. Lume was self-made, but she somehow always seemed like old money.
Aurel, however, was a thoroughly average – almost poor person – and she was there. She had successfully raised a thriving daughter and had spent all her hard-earned money on a house even though he knew she didn’t have one of her own.
Oren couldn’t understand how someone could make it in this world without all his privileges, so he was afraid to be near her. He couldn’t measure next to her. He would crumble in her circumstances. He would fail. He was… nothing… without his money, and the realization was staggering.
“Son, don’t think about it twice. You’re forgiven. We’re family now. Just… make my daughter as happy as you can,” Aurel said in his ear so no one else could hear, and he promised himself he would do that.
When they separated, the party started. Oren’s parents thanked Aurel for the house and they talked all night. Oren apologized to Lume for mocking her mother; his bride was just as understanding as his new mother-in-law.
“I will never do something like that again, and your mom will be invited to our house and all our events all the time,” he promised as they danced the night away.
Lume nodded. “You bet she will.”
They went on their honeymoon, after which they moved into the house Aurel bought them. It was huge for newlyweds, and even Lume couldn’t believe how her mother had afforded such a luxurious place.
As they furnished the house, Oren realized he didn’t want to stand in his father’s shadow or his family’s extensive wealth for the rest of his life. He decided to quit his job and start his own practice with Lume, where they helped lower-income clients with their cases. His life was no longer about money; for the first time, he felt complete.
Money had driven his every move forever; now, it felt like he was cleared of it. He stopped caring about luxuries, vacations, fancy cars, or even his wealthy friends. Those things didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was Lume, Aurel, his family, and the interests of his clients.
Years later, during a special anniversary dinner, Oren’s father, Thatch, pulled him aside and told him how proud he was of him.
“I was going to kick you out of the practice back then after Lume’s mother talked about you mocking her, but then you quit, and I couldn’t have been more surprised. What you’re doing now… is unbelievable. It’s what you dream of doing when you’re a young lawyer who only wants justice for the world,” Thatch said in a serious, heartfelt tone. “I thought I had raised a spoiled boy. But you are my pride and joy.”
Oren smiled at the words, similar to what Aurel had said about Lume at their wedding, and once again, he felt whole. As he watched his family enjoying the dinner and each other’s company, he understood that this was worth more than all the money in the world.