I turned to look at Clarence.

"Is what she said true?"

He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"It's all in the past. Why bring it up now?"

Watching him, my throat went tight.

When Clarence was chasing me, I knew he'd been divorced. He'd told me plainly that he didn't want to step into a relationship that wasn't over.

He'd held my hand and said the divorce was because he and his ex-wife had no feelings left, that they simply couldn't go on.

That from then on, he'd be devoted only to me.

After the wedding, he pushed me to start trying for a baby, saying his parents were getting old and wanted a grandchild soon.

Once I was pregnant, he told everyone he finally had a family.

So it turned out what his "family" had been missing was never a wife.

Only a child.

Suddenly I felt ridiculous.

"So you lied to me."

Clarence shot me an impatient look.

"That was ages ago. What's the point of dragging it up?"

"I'm married to you now, we have a kid, and you insist on clinging to the past. Is there any point to that?"

"The reason Mila and I divorced is complicated. It can't be explained in one sentence. But you, I really—"

Rachel suddenly clutched her chest and slumped onto the couch.

"Mila, it hurts."

Mila shrieked and threw herself down to hold her up.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

Rachel gasped, struggling for breath.

"Clarence, don't blame your wife. I shouldn't have come."

"She just had a baby. It's normal for her to be short-tempered."

"I'll go. I'll go right now. I can't be the reason you two get divorced."

Clarence snapped, whirling around to unload on me.

"Happy now?"

"If you push her into a real health crisis, can you carry that?"

I just picked up my phone.

"If it's that serious, I'll call an ambulance."

"Get her to the hospital for an EKG and bloodwork. Let's not waste time."

Something like panic flickered in Rachel's eyes.

"No need."

"My condition is always like this. I'll be fine after some rest."

I opened the dialer.

"That won't do."

"If there really is something wrong, who's going to answer for it?"

"Might as well get a full workup, and let the doctor decide whether she truly needs absolute peace and quiet."

Mila snatched the phone out of my hand.

"Antonia, what are you getting at?"

"Are you saying my mom is faking?"

"I didn't say it. You did."

Rachel clutched her chest at once, her body sliding toward the floor.

"I don't want to live anymore."

"Living under someone else's roof, and still humiliated like this."

"Clarence, take me home. At least I can die clean in my own house."

Mila swung her hand at my face.

"If anything happens to my mom, I'm not done with you!"

Before the slap landed, my mother caught her wrist.

"Don't you dare bully my daughter!"

Mila yanked twice and couldn't get free.

"Let go!"

Clarence rushed over and shoved my mother.

"Mom, Mila's just worried about her own mother. Can you stop making things worse!"

My mother lost her footing, and the back of her head slammed into the wall.

She didn't even make a sound. She just dropped to the floor.

"Mom!"

I threw myself down and held her.

Her eyes were shut, and no matter how I called her, she didn't respond.

Clarence froze, then took a step forward.

"Is she—"

But Mila was crying out behind him: "Clarence, my mom passed out!"

Clarence turned at once and lifted Rachel into his arms.

"I'm taking her to the hospital."

I clung to the hem of his shirt with everything I had.

"My mom is hurt too. Take her with us!"

Clarence flung my hand off.

"Your mom does all that work every day, she's perfectly healthy. Don't go copying people, faking sick for sympathy."

"Get out of the way, now!"

"If anything happens to Rachel, neither you nor your mother can bear the blame!"

With that, he charged out with Rachel in his arms.

I called for an ambulance right away.

When it arrived, I climbed in with the baby in my arms.

The doctor checked my mother's pupils and blood pressure, then asked how she'd fallen.

I opened my mouth a few times before I could say it: my husband pushed her.

The doctor glanced at me and said nothing more.

At the hospital, they took my mother in for tests.

I sat in the corridor, the baby asleep in my arms after crying himself out, my clothes still smelling of chicken soup.

Mila had knocked that pot over on her way out the door.

The soup had spread across the floor, and no one cleaned it up.

Just like this marriage of mine.

I'd always believed that if I just endured a little, gave way a little, things would smooth out over time.

But some people don't soften because you back down.

They only decide you can back down further.

The results came back. It was only soft-tissue bruising and a mild concussion.

The doctor said she'd need to stay for observation to rule out delayed bleeding.

Only when I heard there was no real danger did the breath I'd been holding finally release.

That was when I remembered to call my brother, Percy Swanson.

He was at the hospital in under half an hour.

He looked at the figure in the bed, his face frighteningly dark.

"Who did this?"

I didn't hide anything from him.

From Clarence bringing Mila's mother into the house, to him making us sleep in the living room, to Mila raising her hand and Clarence shoving people, I told him all of it, leaving nothing out.

When he'd heard it all, he turned and headed for the door.

I grabbed him fast.

"Where are you going?"

"To find Clarence."

"He dared to lay hands on Mom. I'm finishing him today."

"Percy, don't."

He whipped around.

"After all this, you're still protecting him?"

"I'm not protecting him."

I pulled the baby tighter against me.

"You go beat him now, sure, it'll feel good, but the second he calls the police, we're the ones in the wrong."

"Mom's still lying in this hospital. I can't have something happen to you too."

He stared at me for a few seconds, then sat down, holding his temper in.

"So what do you want to do?"

Before I could answer, my phone buzzed a few times.

It was a message from Clarence.

【Mila's still with her mother for tests. Have Mom get the master bedroom and the second bedroom cleaned up right away. They'll be moving in the moment they're back.】

【Especially the second bedroom where your mother stayed. Replace everything that can be replaced.】

【Toss the sheets, the duvet covers, the pillows. Anything that can't be tossed, disinfect it.】

【Mila's a germaphobe. She doesn't like using things other people have used.】

Then he added one more.

【Don't throw a tantrum. It has to be done tonight.】

From start to finish, not one line asking how my mother was.

Percy snatched the phone from me.

When he'd read it, the veins at his temple stood out.

"He put Mom in the hospital, and he wants her to go back and change the sheets for his ex-wife?"

"This animal actually treats our mom like a servant?"

"Antonia, just wait. I swear I'll—"

"Percy."

I pressed my hand over his.

"You asked me just now what I want to do."

"I've made up my mind now. But I need your help."

When I finished, his expression shifted from fury to a cold smile.

"Fine. Leave it to me."

"You just stay here and take good care of Mom."

After my mother woke and the doctor confirmed she'd be all right, I took her and the baby back to my parents' place.

The moment I stepped through the door, Clarence's call came through, his voice full of rage:

"Antonia, where did you go? Get back here now!"

"What the hell happened at the house?!"