Victoria didn’t know where to start. First, there was the validity of her mother’s science news sources. If there was one issue she constantly lectured her students on, it was “check your sources.” Second, her mother put her on blast in front of the whole world. She maintained a carefully curated social media presence for work-purposes. She immediately clicked on her privacy settings and adjusted who could send her future posts. “Please, please, do not send me articles like this,” Victoria said as she deleted the post. “I don’t need everyone knowing my business.”

Her mother scoffed. “The fact that you don’t have children isn’t what I could call business, Victoria. Everyone already knows you’re childless.”

She swallowed hard, trying not to reveal her anger. “I feel like we’ve had this conversation before and I don’t have anything new to add to it.”

“But don’t you want children?” Katherine asked. “They bring so much joy to your life.”

“If that’s the case, why did you stop after me?” Victoria asked. “You could be bothering one of my siblings about grandbabies instead.”

“Oh, your mother is bothering you?” she said. “I hadn’t realized concern for my only child was considered a bother. I didn’t have any more children because your birth was complicated enough. I nearly died, Victoria.”

She had heard her origin story more than once and had no interest in going down that road. “I understand, ma’am. Childbirth is still very dangerous and I’m lucky to be here. And I didn’t mean to say that you were...bothering me.”

The unmistakable Kathrine Reese sniffle emerged. “I try not to be a bother, but if I don’t check on you, who will? You give and give to your children and they turn around and let you know they don’t need you anymore. It’s a thankless job, you know?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And you’ll understand that when you eventually become a mother. Everything you slave for, everything you give, gets distilled down to two words: a bother.”

Victoria ran a hand over her mouth and suppressed a groan. Arguments like this one escalated because she made an attempt to stand up for herself. Katherine Reese knew how to take one tiny piece of her daughter’s argument and turn it back on her. Even though Victoria had taught rhetoric for nearly a decade, she was still unarmed against her mother. If they had a closer relationship that wasn’t based on constant criticism, Victoria would have called her mother right after class and asked for advice regarding Braden.