Chapter 2: Choosing His Family
Breakfast the next morning felt colder than winter.
Margaret refused to speak.
Kyle slammed cabinet doors.
Aunt Denise muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
"She turned him against his own family."
Emily quietly reached for the coffee pot.
Daniel stopped her.
"I've got it."
He poured her coffee.
He made her breakfast.
Then he packed her lunch before she even asked.
Margaret stared in disbelief.
"So this is how it's going to be?"
Daniel looked directly at his mother.
"No."
"It's how it should have been from the beginning."
She scoffed.
"After everything I've done for you?"
He nodded slowly.
"You raised me to respect women."
His mother opened her mouth, but Daniel continued.
"Somewhere along the way, you forgot to do the same."
The room fell silent.
That afternoon, Daniel met with a realtor.
Three weeks later, he and Emily signed the papers on a modest house across town.
It wasn't large.
It didn't have marble countertops or a swimming pool.
But it had something their old house never offered.
Peace.
On moving day, Margaret stood on the porch watching the truck pull away.
"You'll regret abandoning your family," she called after them.
Daniel rolled down the window.
"I'm not abandoning my family."
May you like
He smiled at Emily, who rested a hand over her belly.
"I'm finally protecting it."
