Her overnight bag lay open beside her.
Margaret stopped in the doorway.
Emily looked guilty.
“I started packing,” she whispered.
“Then I got scared.”
Margaret sat beside her.
“Good.”
Emily blinked.
“Good?”
“Being scared doesn’t mean you failed to decide.
It means you’re scared while deciding.
Those are different things.”
Emily stared at the bag.
“He’ll be furious.”
“Probably.”
“Mom.”
Margaret didn’t soften the answer.
“I won’t lie to you to make this easier.
He may be furious.
Patricia may blame you.
They may tell you you’re destroying the family.
But none of those things require you to remain here.”
Emily’s hands moved instinctively over her belly.
“I kept thinking after the baby came, he’d calm down.”
Margaret felt the words like a blade but kept her face steady.
“Has he been getting calmer?”
Emily shook her head.
A floorboard creaked in the hall.
Daniel appeared in the doorway.
His eyes moved from Margaret to the open bag.
The warmth dropped out of his face.
“What’s this?”
Emily went still.
Margaret stood.
Daniel looked only at his wife.
“Emily.
What’s this?”
“I’m going to stay with Mom for a little while.”
His jaw tightened.
“No, you’re not.”
Three quiet words.
No shouting.
No raised hand.
But Emily’s whole body reacted as though something had struck the room.
Margaret saw it.
So did Daniel.
And, for one revealing second, satisfaction flickered in his eyes.
He liked that reaction.
Margaret stepped between them.
“She said she’s leaving.”
Daniel finally looked at her.
“This isn’t your marriage.”
“Correct.
Which is why I don’t need your permission to drive my daughter home.”
Patricia appeared behind him.
“This is absurd,” she said.
