“Marcus!” Chloe gasped, her voice jumping two octaves as she scrambled to compose her face into a mask of innocent shock. “Honey, you’re home early! I… we were just organizing the garage, and your mother tripped. The machine fell. I was trying to help her clean up!”
Marcus didn’t look at his wife. He walked straight past her, dropping his expensive leather briefcase onto the grass, and knelt beside his trembling mother. Evelyn’s hands were blistered, her knuckles raw and bleeding from scrubbing the rough stone. She looked up at him, her tired eyes pooling with tears of profound shame.
“I’m sorry, Marcus,” Evelyn whispered, her voice cracking. “I’m so sorry. I was just trying to help Chloe around the house. I didn’t mean to make a mess. Please don’t be angry with her.”
Even now. Even in this moment of supreme humiliation, the woman who had sacrificed everything for him was still trying to protect the peace.
