Noah nodded and gathered the nearest pieces into his arms.
When he was gone, Olivia continued.
“She says I am too soft with Noah. That the house looks embarrassing. That I should be grateful to be part of this family. She tells me what time to feed Lily, what clothes are appropriate when people come over, how the kitchen should look before you get home.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“Before I get home?”
Olivia gave a small, exhausted laugh.
“You have not been home.”
That sentence hurt him more than Eleanor’s behavior.
He looked around the kitchen as if seeing every absence at once.
The decorations stacked in unopened packages. The dishes. The bottles drying beside the sink. The birthday banner half taped to the wall. The dark circles beneath Olivia’s eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.
Olivia looked at him with such sadness that he already knew the answer would not make him feel better.
“Because every time you called, you sounded exhausted. You were fixing something at work. A warehouse issue. A bank meeting. A contract. You kept saying this expansion was for us. I did not want to become one more thing you had to fix.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Eleanor stepped forward.
“Exactly. She could not handle things, so I stepped in.”
Olivia flinched.
Ethan saw it.
He turned to his mother.
“Leave.”
Eleanor stared at him.
“Excuse me?”
“Go home.”
“Ethan, do not speak to me like I am some stranger.”
“Then do not speak to my wife like she is your employee.”
Eleanor’s face reddened.
“I raised you. I built standards into this family before she ever arrived.”
Ethan shifted Lily higher against his chest.
“And I am telling you that those standards do not include humiliating my wife in her own kitchen.”
“You have no idea what I have been dealing with.”
