Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN THEY HAD ALREADY JUDGEDMaren stood perfectly still.
The plates were heavier than they looked.
She could feel the porcelain pressing against her wrists.
Corinne added another.
Then Helena placed a small dessert plate on top.
“Sometimes helping is simply helping,” Helena said sweetly.
Maren looked at her mother-in-law.
There was no warmth in Helena's eyes.
Only judgment.
For months, Maren had wondered why.
She had tried everything.
Christmas gifts.
Sunday dinners.
Phone calls.
Flowers.
Even handwritten notes.
Nothing had worked.
Helena always found something wrong.
Too sensitive.
Too tired.
Too protective of Graham.
Too demanding.
Too different.
And now Maren finally understood.
It wasn't about what she did.
Helena had already decided who she was.
A woman who had stolen her son.
Corinne came closer.
“You know,” she said, “Graham used to come to every family event.”
Maren looked at her.
“Graham makes his own choices.”
“Does he?”
The question landed like a slap.
Maren's fingers tightened around the plates.
“I never asked him to choose between us.”
Corinne smiled bitterly.
“You didn't have to.”
That sentence frightened Maren more than the insults.
Because Corinne believed it.
She genuinely believed Maren had taken something from her family.
Then Rebecca approached with another plate.
“Since you're already going.”
Laughter.
Maren felt her eyes burn.
She refused to cry.
Not here.
Not in front of them.
She had promised herself she would never give Helena the satisfaction of seeing her break.
But then the baby shifted sharply.
Pain moved across her lower back.
Her grip trembled.
And suddenly the plates no longer felt like plates.
May you like
They felt like a test.
A test she had never agreed to take.
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