"Mom, what are you even saying?" Paul cut in quickly, his voice tense. "Amara already agreed not to register the baby under her name. There's no need to talk about divorce. Just apologize, okay?"
"Why the hell should I apologize?" Eleanor shot back, her voice rising again. "She's just some orphan from the mountains—"
The sharp crack of palm on skin silenced her mid-sentence.
My mother-in-law spun around, stunned. Her hand flew to her cheek, eyes wide with disbelief.
"You hit me?" she gasped at Paul. "After everything I've done for this family? If I hadn't held her back all this time, you think—"
"Ahhh!" Eleanor shrieked again, turning to glare at Janice, who had just pinched her hard on the arm.
"You too?" she barked. "What, are both of you losing your minds? Is this some kind of rebellion now?"
Janice kept her fingers digging into her mother's arm, staring her down like a teacher scolding a child.
"Mom, enough. You're blowing everything out of proportion again. Didn't we agree we were going to apologize to Amara? Or did you forget that already?"
It was like watching someone flip a switch.
My mother-in-law blinked rapidly, looking between Paul and Janice, clearly rattled.