Chapter 3 - EVERYTHING ANNA NEVER TOLD ME
Anna began with the laundry.
That was how ordinary it sounded.
My mother didn't start by screaming.
She started with corrections.
The towels were folded wrong.
The coffee was too weak.
The counters weren't clean enough.
The nursery curtains looked cheap.
Anna cooked too much.
Then she cooked too little.
She gained too much pregnancy weight.
Then my mother accused her of starving the baby.
Nothing Anna did could be right.
"When you were home, she acted helpful."
I stared at the floor.
"When I left?"
"She changed."
My mother followed Anna from room to room.
She criticized her clothes.
Her friends.
Her family.
Her pregnancy.
She told Anna that I had always wanted a different kind of wife.
"What kind?"
Anna gave me a sad smile.
"Someone more grateful."
I hated the word instantly.
My mother had used it my entire childhood.
Be grateful.
Be obedient.
Be loyal.
Family comes first.
Those phrases had sounded respectable until I saw how easily they became weapons.
Anna continued.
My mother had begun waking her before dawn.
Sometimes at 5:00.
Sometimes earlier.
She claimed pregnancy was not an excuse to become lazy.
She made Anna clean the kitchen twice.
She once dumped a basket of folded laundry onto the floor because the shirts weren't facing the same direction.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did."
Her answer came without anger.
That made it worse.
"You said she was having trouble adjusting."
I remembered.
"Then I tried again after she called me useless."
I remembered that too.
I had told Anna Mom didn't always mean what she said.
"And when she threw away the dress?"
My head snapped up.
"What dress?"
"The green maternity dress you bought me."
I had wondered where it went.
"She said it made me look cheap."
Anna looked toward the window.
"She put it in the trash."
Something hot rose inside my chest.
"And then?"
"After that, I stopped telling you everything."
"Why?"
"Because every time I complained, you confronted her gently."
She swallowed.
"Then you went to work."
I closed my eyes.
"And I stayed here with her."
There it was.
The consequence I had never seen.
Every time I spoke to my mother, Anna paid for it later.
My mother would smile at me.
Then wait until I left.
"Did she ever hit you before last night?"
Anna hesitated.
"Answer me."
"She grabbed me."
"When?"
"Three times."
My throat tightened.
"Where?"
"Once in the laundry room."
She touched her arm.
"Once near the stairs."
My stomach dropped.
"And once in the nursery."
I couldn't breathe normally.
"Why?"
"I told her she couldn't smoke near the back door because the smell was getting inside."
My mother had told me she stopped smoking months earlier.
"Did she threaten you?"
Anna's silence answered.
"Anna."
"She said if I turned you against her, she would make sure you regretted marrying me."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
She looked at me.
"But she kept saying something else."
"What?"
"She said mothers survive wives."
I felt cold.
A nurse entered to check the baby's heartbeat.
The room filled with that rapid, beautiful sound.
Anna closed her eyes.
I watched her.
For months, she had carried our daughter while walking through a house where she felt hunted.
And I had been sleeping beside her every night believing silence meant peace.
When the nurse left, I apologized.
Anna shook her head.
"Don't apologize because you're scared right now."
I looked at her.
"Then what should I do?"
"Believe me tomorrow."
That sentence stayed with me.
Believe me when your mother cries.
Believe me when your sister calls.
Believe me when your family says I'm dividing you.
Believe me when everyone makes me look unreasonable.
I held her hand.
"I will."
Anna studied my face.
"Even if she says I'm lying?"
"Yes."
"Even if Rachel believes her?"
"Yes."
"Even if your entire family turns against you?"
I answered without hesitation.
"Then they turn against me."
For the first time that morning, Anna's shoulders relaxed.
Then her phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen.
Her face changed.
"What is it?"
She handed me the phone.
There was a message from my mother.
No greeting.
No apology.
May you like
Just one sentence.
YOU THINK YOU WON, BUT MICHAEL ALWAYS COMES BACK TO HIS FAMILY.
