My heart dropped hard.

"How do you know the code to my place?"

Dudley raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

Julia took his coat off him like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"I told him," she said.

"He's coming to see his mother. It's easier if he has the code."

I let out a laugh with no humor in it.

"So you gave my ex-wife's — my home's code to your ex-husband, and didn't even mention it to me?"

Julia frowned at me.

"It's just a door code. Don't blow it out of proportion."

Dudley sat down next to his mother and glanced at the chicken soup on the table.

He immediately covered his nose and looked at my mother.

"My mother has high cholesterol. She can't have anything this greasy."

"Now that there's someone unwell in the house, the cooking should take the sick person's health into account."

"Ma'am, be more careful next time."

I said coldly, "That was made by my mother for my wife. If your mother wants something, she can make it herself."

Dudley turned to Julia.

"Your husband's got quite a temper on him."

Julia lowered her voice and scolded me. "Dudley's just worried about his mother. What's wrong with him saying a couple of things?"

"Since your mom's the one cooking, it wouldn't kill her to be a little more careful."

Dudley let it drop, turned, and scanned the living room, frowning again.

"Why's this place such a mess?"

"My mother's not well. She needs a clean space to recover."

"Julia, why haven't you hired a cleaner?"

Julia looked around, and then, unbelievably, she nodded.

"It is a bit messy."

"Mom, you're home all day with nothing to do. Couldn't you tidy up a little while you're at it?"

"Dudley's mother isn't well. Looking at this mess is bad for her state of mind."

My mother froze where she stood, at a loss.

That was it. I was done holding back.

"Julia, my mother isn't just taking care of you. She's taking care of the baby, cooking three meals a day, and getting up in the night to help. She's a person, not a machine. How is she supposed to do all of it?"

"And you? Since the baby was born, how many diapers have you changed? How many bottles have you made? The baby cries and all you do is call for me."

"If the mess bothers you so much, clean it up yourself."

Julia couldn't keep her face steady after that.

"When a mother-in-law comes to help through the postpartum period, isn't this exactly what she does? How does it turn into some huge favor the second it's your family?"

My mother quickly grabbed my arm.

"Julius, stop fighting."

"Julia's just out of her postpartum recovery. Don't get her upset."

She bent down and started gathering the baby clothes off the couch.

"It's my fault, I didn't tidy up. I'll clean it right now."

"It'll be spotless in no time."

Watching her bend down like that, something in my chest clamped shut until I could barely breathe.

My father died young. She was proud and stubborn, and she raised my sister and me on her own.

Now, for my sake, she was bowing her head in front of Julia and Dudley.

I caught the clothes out of her hands.

"Mom, leave it."

"Whoever thinks it's dirty can clean it."

Dudley laughed out loud against the back of the couch.

"Julia, looks like life hasn't been so great for you since you remarried."

He stood and came over to stand in front of me.

"Julius, don't get too pleased with yourself."

"If my job didn't keep me busy and traveling all the time, if she hadn't been so unbearably lonely at home on her own, do you think she'd have divorced me?"

"You were never anything more than a stand-in she found."

I turned to look at Julia.

"Is what he said true?"

She wouldn't meet my eyes.

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

Watching her, my throat went tight.

When Julia was chasing me, I knew she'd been divorced. And I'd told her plainly that I didn't want to step into a relationship that wasn't over.

She'd held my hand and said the divorce was because she and her ex had no feelings left, that there was simply no way to keep it going.

She said from then on she'd only ever be good to me, wholeheartedly.

So it turned out her so-called "wholehearted" meant making me give up my place to her ex-husband.

All at once I felt ridiculous.

"So you lied to me."

Julia shot me an impatient look.

"That was ages ago. Why keep dragging it up?"

"I'm married to you now, we have a child, and you insist on clinging to the past. What's the point?"

"The reason Dudley and I divorced is complicated. It can't be explained in one sentence. But my feelings for you—"

Janice suddenly clutched her chest and slumped onto the couch.

"Dudley, I don't feel right."

Dudley let out a cry and lunged over to hold her up.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

Janice gasped, struggling for breath.

"Julia, don't blame your husband."

"He's just become a father. The pressure's a lot. It's normal for his temper to be short."

"I'll go. I'll go right now. I can't have the two of you divorcing over me."

Julia panicked and rounded on me.

"Happy now?"

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

I picked up my phone.

"Since it's this serious, I'll call an ambulance."

"She should go to the hospital for an ECG and blood work. No sense delaying."

A flicker of alarm crossed Janice's eyes.

"No need."

"My condition is always like this. A little rest and it passes."

I opened the dial pad.

"That won't do."

"If something really is wrong, who takes the blame?"

"This is the perfect chance for a full workup, and the doctor can decide whether she truly needs absolute quiet."

Dudley snatched the phone out of my hand.

"Julius Swanson, what are you getting at?"

"Are you saying my mother's faking?"

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

Janice clutched her chest at once and let her body slide toward the floor.

"I don't want to live anymore."

"Living under someone else's roof, and getting humiliated like this on top of it."

"Julia, take me home. At least if I die in my own house it'll be clean."

Dudley raised his hand and swung it at my face.

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

Before the slap landed, my mother caught his wrist.

"Don't you dare bully my son!"

Julia rushed over and shoved my mother.

"Mom, Dudley's just worried about his own mother. Can you stop making trouble!"

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

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

"Mom!"

I threw myself down and gathered her up.

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

Julia froze, then took a step forward.

"Is she—"

But behind her Dudley was sobbing:

"Julia, my mom's passed out!"

Julia turned back at once and propped Janice up.

"It's okay, I'll get you to the hospital."

I gripped the hem of her clothes and wouldn't let go.

"My mother's hurt too. Take her with you!"

Julia shook my hand off.

"Your mother does that much work every day, she's perfectly healthy. Don't take a page from other people and fake it for sympathy."

"Move, now!"

"If anything happens to her, neither you nor your mother can answer for it!"

With that, she and Dudley took Janice up on either side and hurried out of the house.

I called for an ambulance right away.

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

The medic 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 wife pushed her.

The medic gave me a look and said nothing more.

At the hospital, they took her back for tests.

I sat in the corridor with the baby, who'd cried himself to sleep in my arms, my shirt still smelling of chicken soup.

The pot had been knocked over by Dudley before we left.

The broth had spilled across the floor, and no one bothered to clean 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 in time.

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

They only decide you can back down further.

The results came in. Thankfully it was only soft tissue bruising and a mild concussion.

The doctor said she needed to stay for observation to rule out delayed bleeding.

Hearing there was no real danger, the breath I'd been holding finally let go.

Only then did I remember to call my sister, Gail Swanson.

She reached the hospital in under half an hour.

One look at the woman in the bed, and her face went frighteningly dark.

"Who did this?"

I didn't hide anything from her.

From Julia bringing Dudley's mother into the house, to her making us sleep in the living room, to Dudley raising his hand and Julia shoving Mom, I laid it all out, every last bit.

When Gail had heard it, she turned on her heel and headed for the door.

I grabbed her arm.

"Where are you going?"

"To find Julia."

"She dared put her hands on Mom. I'm not letting her get away with it today."

"Gail, don't."

She whipped around.

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

"I'm not protecting her."

I pulled the baby tighter against me.

"You go beat her up now, sure, it'll feel good. But the second she calls the cops, we're the ones in the wrong."

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

Gail stared at me for a few seconds, then sat down, forcing the anger down with her.

"So what do you want to do?"

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

It was a message from Julia.

【Dudley's still with his mom for her checkup. Have Mom get the master bedroom and the second bedroom cleaned up right away, they'll want to move back in the moment they're home.】

【Especially the second bedroom your mother stayed in. Everything that can be replaced, replace it with new.】

【Throw out the sheets, the duvet cover, the pillows. Whatever can't be replaced, disinfect it.】

【Dudley's a germaphobe. He doesn't like using anything other people have used.】

Then she added one more.

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

Start to finish, not one word asking how my mother was.

Gail snatched the phone out of my hand.

When she'd read it, the veins at her temple stood out.

"She shoved Mom into a hospital bed, and now she wants Mom to go back and change sheets for her ex-husband?"

"Does she really think our mother is her servant?"

"Julius, you wait. I swear I'll—"

"Gail."

I pressed my hand over hers.

"You asked what I want to do."

"I've figured it out now. But I'll need your help."

When Gail had heard me out, her expression shifted from fury to a cold smile.

"Fine. Leave this one to me."

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

After my mother woke and the doctor confirmed she was out of danger, I took her and the baby back to her house.

The moment I stepped through the door, Julia called.

Her voice was full of anger.

"Julius, where the hell are you? Get back here right now!"

"What is going on at this house?"