I never told my husband’s family that I’m the daughter of the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. When I was seven months pregnant, they forced me to cook the entire Christmas Eve dinner by myself—the traditional family Christmas dinner. My mother-in-law even made me eat standing up in the kitchen, saying it was “good for the baby.”

They never asked, and I never volunteered the information. I wanted them to know me as I was, not because of my last name.

But when I was seven months pregnant, they forced me to cook the entire Christmas Eve dinner alone.

And that night, everything changed.

I had been standing in the kitchen since five in the morning, preparing a massive holiday meal for my husband’s family. The house was a sprawling mansion in Georgetown, Washington D.C., the kind of place where wealth was meant to be seen.

The dining room glittered with crystal glasses and polished silverware while laughter and conversation drifted in from the table.

But I wasn’t allowed to sit with them.

When I quietly asked if I could rest for a moment because my back was aching, my mother-in-law, Margaret, slammed her palm on the table so hard the glasses rattled.

“Servants don’t sit with the family,” she snapped. “You can eat in the kitchen after we finish. Standing up. Maybe it’ll teach you humility.”

My husband, Daniel, didn’t even look at me.

He swirled his wine glass lazily and said, “Just listen to my mother, Emma. Don’t embarrass me in front of my colleagues.”