The same people who had insulted me began asking why a grown family needed a daughter-in-law to wash their dishes. Several women shared similar experiences in the comments. One wrote that she had spent twenty years serving her husband and in-laws because on her first day they told her that a good wife never complains. Another confessed that my story had given her the courage to finally ask for help.
Not everyone was supportive of my choice. Some traditional people said I should have been patient, that marital problems were solved by putting up with the pain, and that a woman who divorced so quickly was left permanently scarred.
My mother replied to one of those negative comments from her personal account.
“What has been marked can be cleaned, but trampled dignity takes much longer to heal,” she wrote.
Her beautiful quote was shared thousands of times across the internet.
Meanwhile, Brandon began to completely lose control of his emotions. He called me from new numbers constantly, but I did not answer any of them. He even showed up at my parents’ house with a large bouquet of flowers and a prepared apology.
“It was my mom who went too far that morning,” he said in front of the security camera my father had set up. “I was just incredibly nervous about the wedding responsibilities.”
Dad did not open the door for him.
“A man who blames his mother for what he did with his own hands is not truly repentant,” my dad replied through the intercom system.
Brandon placed the flowers on the ground and then kicked them angrily before leaving the property. The recording was safely saved for court.
His company also saw the viral posts. They did not fire him for the social media accusation, but they launched an internal investigation because he had used his official company email to send defamatory information about me to several acquaintances. They temporarily suspended his access to all internal computer systems.
Then Brenda called my phone.
For the first time since I met her, she did not scream at me.
“Melanie, we have to stop this public madness,” she said in a tired voice. “People are absolutely destroying our family name.”
“I did not invent what you did to me,” I replied coldly.
“Brandon was wrong, but you took everything from us too,” she claimed.
“I only took my personal documents, my clothes, and the money that was legally deposited in my name,” I stated. “I even left my expensive wedding ring behind.”
“Return what belongs to our family and we will gladly remove our publications,” she offered.
“You started the publications, so now you can only take back your own lies,” I told her.
Brenda remained silent for a long moment.
