Cassandra felt a sharp pang in her chest as she instinctively placed her hand over her seven-month pregnant belly. She tried to maintain her composure while standing in the middle of the living room in their Oak Ridge home.
Edith Higgins stood with her arms crossed and her jaw tightly clenched. She looked as though she owned every single brick of the house and the very souls of everyone inside.
To be honest, that was exactly what the older woman believed.
From the moment Cassandra married Wesley, she knew her life would never be a private affair. Her marriage came with Edith’s icy glares and bitter comments that were always disguised as helpful motherly advice.
“Young women these days know exactly which trees to climb,” Edith once remarked to a neighbor. “They look for a hard-working man just so they can sit back and never lift a finger.”
At first, Cassandra tried her best not to take the insults personally. She told herself that some mothers were simply overprotective and that things would eventually improve with time.