Chapter 2 - ELEVEN WITNESSES
“I'm asking Luke to help with the dishes.”
Brenda's expression hardened.
“Since when does a man in this family wash dishes?”
I looked directly at my husband.
“Luke, can you please help me?”
He didn't stand.
He didn't even put down his beer.
Instead, he sighed as though I had embarrassed him.
“Just deal with it for a minute, Hannah.
We have guests.
Don't turn this into a big thing.”
Just deal with it.
Four words.
Four words that had become the soundtrack of my marriage.
When Brenda took cash from my bedroom drawer without permission, Luke told me to just deal with it.
When she borrowed jewelry that had belonged to my late mother and wore it to a party without asking, he told me to just deal with it.
When his father needed help recovering from surgery and Brenda demanded that I cancel paying design projects to care for him, Luke told me to just deal with it.
Chloe lived ten minutes away.
She never canceled a single appointment.
But somehow, every sacrifice was supposed to come from me.
I looked around the table.
Eleven people.
Eleven pairs of eyes.
Not one person spoke in my defense.
Brenda rose from her chair and walked toward me.
“You think you're too good for this family because you make your little money sitting in front of a computer?”
I said nothing.
She stepped closer.
“Let me remind you of something, Hannah.
You live under our roof.
You don't get to come into this family and decide how things are done.”
I almost laughed.
My little money had paid for a substantial portion of the renovations to the very house she was standing in.
My little money had covered thousands of dollars in medical expenses when my father-in-law needed surgery.
My little money had rescued this family from more financial emergencies than I cared to count.
But Brenda wasn't finished.
“And another thing,” she snapped.
“That apartment you own in Atlanta will eventually go to Chloe.
She and Oscar need more room for their child.”
For a moment, I couldn't understand what she'd said.
I blinked.
“My apartment?”
Brenda folded her arms.
“Yes, your apartment.
Don't act surprised.”
I looked at Chloe.
She immediately lowered her eyes.
Something cold moved through my stomach.
The Atlanta apartment wasn't a family investment.
It wasn't Luke's property.
It wasn't an inheritance from his parents.
It belonged to me.
I had purchased it with my own money, and my name was the only one on the deed.
“What exactly are you talking about?” I asked.
Brenda rolled her eyes.
“Oh, Hannah, don't start counting every dollar.
We're family.
May you like
Chloe has a child to think about, and you have more than enough.”
