I brought it in with shaking hands and set it down carefully.
‘About time,’ Margaret said.
‘The turkey is already cold.’
I pressed my palm against the small of my back.
‘Thomas,’ I said quietly, ‘my back hurts a lot.
Can I sit for a minute?’
He barely looked at me.
‘Claire, please,’ he said.
‘Don’t embarrass me in front of my guests.
Just listen to my mother.’
The room quieted in that awful way rooms do when everyone senses cruelty but no one wants to be the first to name it.
There was one empty chair beside Thomas.
Mine.
I hadn’t used it once.
When I pulled it back, Margaret slammed her hand on the table.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’
‘I just need to sit for a minute,’ I whispered.
‘The baby is kicking hard.’
Then she said the sentence that split my marriage cleanly in half.
