My Wife's Funeral

Today was my wife Noreen's funeral. She was only thirty-five years old this year.

She had always been in good health, but for some unknown reason, she developed acute pneumonia. After more than a year of struggling, her condition showed no improvement.

A week ago, while I was working at the construction site, I suddenly received a call from my mother-in-law Abby Quinn, saying that my wife had collapsed for unknown reasons.

I rushed to the hospital, but by the time I arrived, Noreen had already been admitted to the ICU.

Just a week later, she passed away, leaving not a single word for me or our young daughter. She left just like that.

Afterwards, my wife's attending doctor regretfully told me, "Given your wife's youth and the fact that she didn't have a serious illness, she should have been able to pull through.

But for some reason, she showed no will to live.

In the ICU, she repeatedly signaled the nurses to remove her breathing machine, indicating she didn't want to continue the rescue efforts.

In my decades of practice, I've never encountered such a situation."

Because Noreen had lost the will to live, she cruelly left me and our daughter behind. I had spent all our savings on her treatment.

I never considered giving up on Noreen, but she gave up on herself.

Because of this, I have always held a deep resentment towards her in my heart.

During Noreen's illness, I struggled to balance work and caring for her to keep our family going.

Since I worked on a construction site, I often didn't finish work until two or three in the morning, and I would leave for work again at six.

At home, it was just my sick wife and our six-year-old daughter.

Noreen, in poor health, still had to care for our young daughter. Noreen's health deteriorated rapidly, and her once full figure wasted away until she was nothing but skin and bones, like she could be blown away by a gust of wind.

And according to my daughter, my wife fainted more than once when I wasn't home.

I wanted to take Noreen to the hospital, but she always refused, saying she didn't want to waste money. She always smiled and said she was fine.

I was too busy with work to take care of her, and I constantly worried about her condition.

While I was anxious about Noreen's health, I received that sudden phone call from Abby.

Noreen's family rarely contacted me. They didn't like my quiet, reserved personality.

Similarly, they didn't like Noreen either.

To them, Noreen was just a money tree they only remembered when they needed money.

Abby had three children-two sons and one daughter.

Noreen was the middle child, with an older brother and a younger brother.

Noreen was a stubborn but kind-hearted woman, very filial, though not one for sweet talk.

She grew up in the countryside, and from her teenage years, she took on the heavy burden of the family.

When she was in her teens, my brother-in-law Wallace Quinn had started working and was too busy to help with the farm work,

so Noreen's father Kieran cruelly made Noreen drop out of school and work on the farm as if she were a man.

Every day, she would get up in the morning to plow the fields and plant crops with Kieran, take care of the cattle after lunch, and continue farming in the afternoon. After dinner, she would still have to go to the fields to cut grass for the sheep.

Noreen's family raised over a dozen sheep, and she alone was responsible for feeding them.

Though she was barely over five feet tall and frail, she would carry loads of fresh grass back home, weighing tens of kilograms each time.

Noreen's younger brother was lazy and spoiled, doing nothing around the house while constantly bossing her around.

If Noreen showed any sign of complaint, she would be met with a severe beating from Kieran.

Once, after Noreen talked back to Kieran, he chased her on horseback, whipping her until she was covered in bruises.

Had it not been for the intervention of some villagers, Noreen might have been beaten to death, or at least severely injured.

After that incident, Noreen went on a hunger strike for three days, which scared her parents.

They couldn't afford for Noreen to ruin her health since she was their strongest worker, so after that, the beatings became less frequent.

In order to keep Noreen at home working on the farm, she reached the age of twenty-four without ever having been in a relationship.

There were men who liked her, but Kieran chased them all away.

At that age, Noreen was already considered an old maid in the village. She had always been obedient to her parents, but when it came to marriage, she finally made up her own mind. She secretly left for the city with some girls who were working there and became a textile factory worker.

Later, when Noreen was twenty-eight, we met, fell in love, and naturally ended up together.

When we got married, my in-laws demanded wedding gifts of 100,000 dollars, saying it was for my brother-in-law Driscoll's future marriage.

Back then, 100,000 dollars was enough to bankrupt a family.

But to marry such a virtuous woman, I borrowed money from every relative I could and finally managed to gather the amount.

On our wedding night, instead of being happy, Noreen cried uncontrollably. She told me that she finally had a home of her own and was free from her family.

At the time, I didn't fully understand what she meant, but after we got married, I came to realize the kind of environment she had grown up in.

There was one incident I remembered very clearly. At that time, Noreen was pregnant with our daughter for six or seven months along.

Since I was working long hours at the construction site, I wasn't around to take care of Noreen.

One morning, Abby came to our home unannounced, insisting on taking Noreen back to her family to care for her.

I thought it would be good for Noreen to stay with her mother, so I reluctantly agreed. But what I didn't know was that Abby didn't take Noreen back to care for her. It was harvest season, and they were short on labor. That was why Abby came into town and brought Noreen back to the village.

It was hard to imagine a pregnant woman spending her days in the cornfields, hauling bags of corn.

Meanwhile, Driscoll spent his days lying at home, playing video games, doing nothing.

What was even more infuriating was that after Noreen finished working in the fields, she didn't even have time to change her dirty clothes before Kieran kicked her out,

saying that the family didn't feed idle people, especially a daughter who had married out.

It was already dusk by then, and with Abby's house being forty kilometers away from the city, Noreen had no choice but to walk two kilometers, crying, until a kind driver picked her up and drove her back to the city.

Otherwise, Noreen would have had to walk all the way back to the city.

When I returned and found out, Noreen was sitting outside the door, covered in mud, crying.

That image of her has never left my mind.

After that, no matter how many nice things my in-laws said, I never allowed Noreen to go back alone again.

Noreen had endured so much hardship growing up. No matter how hard life was for me, I was determined to give her and our daughter a good life.

Through my hard work, we bought a house and a shop in the city. Noreen only needed to stay at home and take care of our child. She didn't have to worry about anything else.

We were happy and content as a family.

Driscoll, already in his thirties, remained lazy and idle, and no woman in the village wanted to marry him.

Because of this, my in-laws frequently caused trouble at our home, pressuring Noreen to find a girlfriend for Driscoll in the city.

When Noreen refused, they would make a scene until I had to give them money to quiet things down. Noreen didn't want to give them money, but I figured it was better to pay them off and keep the peace.

Although life was tough, the most important thing was that we could live in peace as a family.

I thought we could continue living happily together, but then Noreen suddenly fell ill with acute pneumonia, and within a year, she was gone.

I wanted to ask her, why, when our daughter and I loved her so much, did she not want to keep fighting?

On the day of Noreen's cremation, only her older brother Wallace came.

Wallace was the only one who had treated Noreen well in her family over the years.

My in-laws and Driscoll stayed in my house, but they refused to attend Noreen's funeral, claiming that the elderly shouldn't send off the young.

My daughter and I watched as Noreen's body was pushed into the cremation furnace, and when it came out, there was nothing left but a handful of ashes.

I felt so heartbroken that I couldn't even cry anymore. All I could do was hold my sobbing daughter as I numbly went through the motions of completing the funeral arrangements.

While I was still organizing the meals for the guests, I suddenly received a call from Abby. She was crying on the other end of the line, saying, "Vance, now that Noreen is gone, what will the two of you do?

Kieran has been crying all day without eating. If you're done, come home so we can discuss what to do next."

At that moment, I guessed that Abby wanted to vent their anger on me. After all, they had a perfectly good daughter, and because I didn't take good care of her, she died so young.

As parents, they blamed me, which I could understand.

When I took my daughter back home, I found the door slightly ajar. Standing outside, I overheard a shocking conversation.

"Mom,

I finally found a girl who doesn't despise me. This time, I must marry her.

When Vance comes back, no matter what, you must kick him and that little bastard out.

We need to clear out this house for my wedding.

The girl's family said that if I want to marry their daughter, I must have a house and a shop in the city."

It was Driscoll's voice.

"Don't worry, my dear son.

Your dead sister is gone, and that outsider Vance thinks he can keep this house?

He's dreaming!"

"Hmph!

Thank goodness I was smart and moved in early.

If we had waited until that short-lived woman's funeral was over, how could Vance have let us move in?"

"Yes, yes, you're so clever.

But Kieran, we need to come up with a plan before Vance gets back.

We need to take advantage of his grief and kick him out."

"Why find an excuse?

We raised our daughter only for her to be killed by him. For that alone, he should pay with his life.

Watch how I deal with him later."

Hearing Kieran's voice filled with venom, I shivered.

Noreen's body wasn't even cold yet, and her parents and brother were already plotting to seize our property.

I couldn't help but think back to how they used to mistreat Noreen. I was so angry that I almost pushed the door open to confront them.

As parents, how heartless did they have to be to disregard their own daughter, not even seeing her one last time, just to seize her assets?

In that instant, I fully understood the selfishness and malice of human nature.

Just then, I heard Driscoll say, "Mom, I heard that when people die, their spirits linger for seven days. Do you think Noreen will come back to seek revenge?"

"What nonsense are you spouting?

Your dead sister was scared of your father when she was alive. Even if she's dead, she wouldn't dare come through this door."

At that moment, I felt a buzzing sound in my head. My knees buckled, and I almost collapsed to the floor with my daughter in my arms.

What did Abby and Driscoll mean by that conversation?

Could it be that they killed Noreen to seize our property?

How was that possible? Noreen was their biological daughter.

I thought back carefully. The series of events from Noreen's illness to her death were indeed strange.

I remember before Noreen got sick, Abby and Driscoll had come to our house to cause trouble again. Even after I gave them money, they wouldn't leave.

They stayed for more than half a month.

During that time, Abby was unusually attentive. Not only did she cook for Noreen, but she also brought some herbal tonics from their hometown, saying that Noreen was too thin and needed to drink soups to nourish her body.

Not long after they left, Noreen suddenly fell ill.

When I took Noreen to the hospital, the doctor said she had acute pneumonia due to a prolonged cough caused by inflammation.

That cough had started after Noreen drank the soup Abby had made.

At that time, I asked Abby why the soup had caused Noreen to cough. Abby nonchalantly told me that the medicine were meant to clear Noreen's lungs. Abby said that living in the city with all the car exhaust and poor air quality had weakened our health. Abby claimed she had gotten the medicine from an old doctor in the village to boost Noreen's health.

I thought Abby made sense and believed that no parent would harm their child, so I didn't think much of it.

Not only that, but Abby also took Noreen to see an old doctor she knew, who prescribed expensive tonics. Every pack contained whole ginseng, which was worth a lot.

Although I didn't know much about traditional medicine, I knew that too much tonic could be harmful.

I gently suggested that they were using too much ginseng, but Abby accused me of being suspicious of her, even crying and making a scene.

In the end, I gave in, thinking that no parent would hurt their child.

At first, after drinking the medicine, Noreen seemed to be doing well. She would get up early to make breakfast and stay up late at night, full of energy.

But after a week, she suddenly felt bloated, like a heavy weight was pressing down in her stomach.

Then, Abby and Driscoll suddenly said they had to go home, claiming they had been away for too long and that Kieran needed care. They left in a hurry.

I found it odd at the time, but I didn't think much of it.

Now, after overhearing their conversation and recalling how Noreen collapsed one night not long after they left,

I was filled with fear. I rushed Noreen to the hospital, where the doctor said her abdominal and chest cavities were filled with fluid, causing the bloating.

They said it was fortunate that I brought her in when I did. Otherwise, she might not have survived.

When I asked the doctor how the fluid had accumulated, he said there were many possible causes, but in my wife's case, it was due to inflammation in her lungs.

However, they couldn't determine why her lungs had become inflamed in the first place.

During her hospital stay, the doctors had to drain a liter of fluid from her body every day. She was covered in tubes, with holes all over her body.

Watching her suffer, I felt deep guilt for not taking better care of her.

But Noreen smiled at me and said, "Silly, how can you blame yourself?

This is my fate. Maybe I did terrible things in my past life, and now I'm paying for it.

The only thing I can't let go of in this world is you and our daughter. Otherwise, what's there to miss in this cold world?"

At the time, I thought her illness made her speak such despairing words. But now, looking back, I can't help but feel a chilling fear.

Did Noreen already know back then that her mother and brother were trying to harm her?

Why didn't Noreen ever tell me about it?