"What are you holding me back for? You're just going to let our baby girl, the one we raised like a princess, get pushed around like that?"
My mom shot him a look, then lowered her voice. "Will you calm down? There's only three of us. Combined, we're still outnumbered. We go home first, call up every aunt, uncle, and cousin we've got, and then we go. We're not walking into a fight we can't win."
That finally cooled my dad down. He looked at my mom with pure admiration in his eyes.
She really was his better half. When it mattered most, she was the one with the plan.
Our whole family rolled back home like an army on the march, and we laid out the entire story for the elders.
Every single one of them was furious.
Even my eighty-year-old grandparents, Burton Henson and Scarlett Henson, drove over from their place that very night.
"That little bastard thinks he can bully a Henson girl? He must have a death wish!" Burton slammed his fist on the table.
"Damn right. Let's go. Let's go to his house right now!" Scarlett was already reaching for her coat.
It took my mom's patient, gentle reasoning to finally talk the elders down.