One of them actually used the word vindictive when she asked why I was trying to keep him away from his stepdaughter. I stopped responding after that because I knew anything I said would get twisted and shared with people who’d already made up their minds. My brother, Jacob, called on a Thursday night after he heard about the restraining order through our mother.
He didn’t ask for my side of the story or question my decisions. He just said he was proud of me for protecting Lily and that he’d been worried about my husband for a while. I asked him what he meant and he said there were little things he’d noticed at family gatherings. The way my husband would make comments about Lily’s appearance or her friends or her grades.
Jacob said he’d almost said something a few times but didn’t want to overstep. I told him I wished he had. He reminded me that I probably wouldn’t have listened back then because I was still trying to make the marriage work. He was right about that. Jacob told me that anyone who sided with my husband without asking questions wasn’t really my friend anyway.