Prologue

She glanced over to make sure that her husband's ashes were still in her daughter's arms. Yes, there it was, encased in the cheapest case her daughters would allow. If it'd been up to her, the ashes would've been in a sack - he doesn't deserve such niceties as a box.

*Harumph*

Barbara's youngest daughter looked at her with concern. Let her look. Ngo hung bei nei tsai lyung meh? You'd think I'd let you pity me? She harumphed again.

Anger drenched Barbara again and again with each thought that carried her husband's name. Anger would make her snarl and she'd catch herself with the snarl at the back of her throat, ready to pounce like the tiger she felt like. She'd catch herself and force the snarl back, back, back into her stomach where the snarl would rumble, readying itself to pounce again at the next thought.

"Nei toh ngoh ah, Mommy?" It's strange that both her daughters still called her that occasionally. Almost as if they still want her to take care of them. *Harumph* It's her that had been wronged, not them! The snarl leapt up her throat again and she swallowed it down. Shaking her head, she indicated that it was an upset stomach that was rumbling, not hunger. Her eldest nodded in understanding.

Her anger almost erupted again. Nei tsee meh! What do you know! Were you the one he lied to for 40 years? No! Were you the one he cheated on for 20 years with a woman half his age? No! You were only the one he lied to that ONE time you asked. *Harumph*

Her youngest shifted in the seat furthest away from her. The three of them had managed to secure the four seats in the middle of the jumbo jet but her youngest somehow in her magical way, had ensured that at least one empty seat separated them. Barbara chuckled despite herself.

How on earth did she end up like this? Her comfort were that both her children were with her and that finally, they understood the indignities she had put up with over the years. They kept taking his side! But now, they knew. Didn't their aunt, her husband's own sister say it out loud finally? That their father had a mistress, maybe several?

That her youngest took it in stride, she wasn't that surprised. She and Vickie had talked about the possibilities over the years. That her eldest felt so personally affronted did surprise Barbara though. Jackie had said she suspected her father of cheating. Was she really that gullible in believing him when he had told her no when she had asked, point-blank? Barbara shook her head. Sometimes, she didn't understand her children at all.

Again, she looked over at the box in Jackie's arms. She permitted herself a little sneer of the lips as she thought, Tai nei deem. Yee gah neh wing yuen doh hai Mei Gok, loh yeh. Let's see how you'll prevent this. Now you're going to spend eternity in America, old man.