My MIL Gave Me a Necklace Made of Tiny Baby Bottles and Pacifiers Knowing I Couldn't Have Children – What My FIL Did Next Silenced the Room
I stared at her.
"If we could laugh about it once, maybe it wouldn't have so much power."
She gestured at the broken necklace.
"I thought if we could laugh about it once, maybe it wouldn't have so much power."
Thomas looked disgusted.
"You humiliated her in front of everyone."
Susan shook her head. "I was trying to make the subject less forbidden."
"You were trying to make yourself feel better."
Then I understood.
Not everything.
But enough.
"You weren't trying to make me feel better."
Susan opened her mouth.
I pointed at the pieces scattered across the table.
I kept going.
"You were trying to make yourself feel better."
Her face tightened.
"That's not fair."
"It is."
Susan looked less powerful than cornered by her own choices.
I pointed at the pieces scattered across the table.
"You're tired of feeling uncomfortable around my infertility. So you decided I should make it easier for you."
Susan looked away.
For the first time, Susan looked less powerful than cornered by her own choices.
Nobody interrupted.
Thomas picked up the velvet box.
For once, Susan didn't have a joke ready.
Thomas picked up the velvet box.
"Leave."
"Thomas."
"Now."
"You are not seriously taking their side."
Matthew stood.
"Go wait in the car. I'll take you home."
Susan looked at him.
"You are not seriously taking their side."
Matthew's expression didn't change.
"No. There is what you did, and there are the people you hurt."
"There shouldn't be sides here."
"There clearly are."
"No. There is what you did, and there are the people you hurt."
She grabbed her purse.
At the door, she turned toward me.
For a moment, none of us knew what to do.
"I still think everyone is overreacting."
Thomas shut the door behind her.
Matthew stayed.
For a moment, none of us knew what to do.
Then he started picking plastic pacifiers off the floor.
He gathered every piece he could find.
I crouched to help.
He said, "No."
I looked up.
"I'll do it."
His voice cracked.
"You don't have to apologize for her."
He gathered every piece he could find.
When he finished, he sat across from me.
"Claire, I'm sorry."
I nodded toward the door.
"You don't have to apologize for her."
Matthew rubbed both hands over his face.
"I'm not."
That surprised me.
Matthew rubbed both hands over his face.
"I'm apologizing for me."
