Chapter 6

Six months after Madison and I got married, Grace announced that she was three months pregnant, almost two months further along than Madison.

I was too stunned to speak.

At first, Madison couldn't accept it either. She tried to talk her mother out of having the baby, but Grace immediately burst into tears.

"I always wanted another child, but I never got the chance. Now I finally do. Your father has always wanted a son to carry on the family name. How can I take that away from him?"

To win Madison over, Grace even promised to put a two-story rental property in our names.

In the end, Madison accepted it, though none of us knew whether the pregnancy would turn out to be a blessing or a disaster.

From that point on, I became the busiest person in the house.

I cooked, did the laundry, and took care of nearly every household chore. No matter how exhausted I was after work, I came home to another full shift.

The first woman I ever cared for while she recovered from childbirth wasn't my wife. It was my mother-in-law.

Grace gave birth two months before Madison did. She was too cheap to hire a postpartum doula or even a night nurse. She insisted that with three other adults in the house, we could take turns caring for the baby and manage just fine.

But that wasn't how things worked out.

Madison spent every day stretched out on the couch, saying she was too uncomfortable in the last few months of pregnancy to do anything. Andrew kept his radio close, but pretended not to hear whenever Grace called for him.

That left everything to me. I cooked, changed and washed cloth diapers, and handled whatever else needed to be done.

It was one of the darkest periods of my life.

I worked nonstop at the office all day, then came home to another round of chores that lasted late into the night. I was so exhausted and overwhelmed that I nearly sank into depression.

As Simon got older and started school, taking care of him became less physically demanding, but the financial pressure only got worse.

Grace and Andrew had lived in the area for years. Besides their house, they owned a small commercial building, and the rent it brought in was their only source of income.

At first, it was enough for them to live comfortably.

After Simon was born, the money no longer went far enough. Neither of them wanted to work, and they considered even a part-time job beneath them, so they began expecting Madison and me to support them.

I didn't know how they managed to get inside Madison's head, but she devoted herself to Simon without a word of complaint, almost as if he were her own son.

Simon always got the best food first. He got the first pick of the toys before Zoe was allowed to touch them.

Even on Zoe's birthday, Simon had to blow out the candles as many times as he wanted before we could relight them for her.

Whenever they fought, Zoe was always blamed.

If Simon was upset, he took it out on her toys. If he got a bad grade, he came home and ripped up Zoe's test paper so badly that it couldn't even be taped back together.

When the school offered several summer camp options in fourth grade, we could only afford to send one of them on the nicest trip.

Madison didn't hesitate. She chose the weeklong luxury camp for Simon, while Zoe had to settle for a local day camp.

Thankfully, Zoe was a thoughtful child. With plenty of reassurance from me, she grew into a cheerful, generous girl with a strong sense of self.

I took the keys from Vanessa and walked Zoe toward our new home.

The moment I opened the door, Zoe started jumping up and down.

"Dad, is this place really ours? Just ours? Can I jump around? Can I sing as loud as I want? Can I hang my drawings on the walls without anyone tearing them down again?"

I nodded through my tears.

My sweet Zoe was finally free. She would never again have to tiptoe around everyone's moods or make herself small just to keep the peace.