CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 2
Daniel had promised he would only be gone twenty minutes.
“I just need to pick up the last gift from the car service,” he had whispered before leaving the room. “Don’t let my mother corner you.”
Emily had laughed because she thought he was joking.
Now, standing alone in the middle of Margaret’s perfect party, she understood he had not been joking at all.
Margaret moved through the guests like a queen inspecting servants. She touched flower arrangements, corrected napkins, and smiled at women who clearly feared her.
Emily’s own mother had passed away years earlier. Her father lived two states away and could not travel easily. So the room was full of Daniel’s family, Daniel’s neighbors, Daniel’s mother’s friends.
Emily was the guest of honor, but she felt like an intruder.
Vanessa, Daniel’s cousin, leaned toward her and said quietly, “Don’t take Margaret personally. She does this to everyone.”
Emily looked at Margaret, who was now whispering something to two older women near the champagne table.
“What is she telling them?” Emily asked.
Vanessa hesitated.
That was enough.
Emily swallowed hard.
For months, Margaret had been planting little stories. Emily was unstable. Emily was dramatic. Emily was trapping Daniel. Emily was not really prepared to be a mother.
None of it was true.
May you like
But Margaret never needed truth.
She only needed people to hear the same lie often enough.
