The room went silent in an instant, every pair of eyes settling on me.
For three stunned seconds I said nothing. Then I laughed.
So this was what the fiftieth birthday party had really been for. All of it arranged for me, the new bride.
One act after another. It was never anything more than a game to squeeze me down, to make me small and obedient, to break me into a woman who did as she was told.
The Gilbert family was worth millions. We wanted for nothing. What did Russ Abbott have to measure up against that?
I looked at the flash of venom in Rosalie Galloway's eyes, at the way Russ shrank back and yet somehow looked righteous about it all.
I dug my nails into my palm and told myself it was only kneeling to wash a pair of feet. Just pretend you're at a nursing home doing a kind turn for some old woman.
I stepped forward, slowly bent, and knelt on the floor. Rosalie shoved a basin of water into my hands and spoke like she was lecturing a child.
“Philippa, if you're marrying into the Abbott family, you follow the Abbott rules. Honor your in-laws, obey your husband. Enough of parading around like some spoiled heiress looking down her nose at everyone……”
I took the basin without a word, slipped the shoe off Deborah's foot, cradled it in my hands, and scrubbed, stroke by stroke.
In that moment I was strangely calm. Not a trace of self-pity. I had chosen this road blind, so I would kneel and walk it to the end. I would not drag my parents into it.
Ten minutes later I lifted my eyes to her.
“It's done, Mom.”
Deborah nodded, satisfied, then said coolly,
“Now that's how an Abbott daughter-in-law should behave.”
“Philippa, have your parents come in and kneel and dry my feet. That's the custom on our side. From now on I'll be raising their daughter in their place, so they owe me a bow of thanks.”
The sound crashed through me.
Something inside me snapped clean through. I could take the shame. I could take the cruelty aimed at me. But my parents had lived their whole lives upright and dignified, they had treated the Abbotts with nothing but sincerity, never once looked down on any of them. Why should they suffer a humiliation this monstrous?
The fury boiling up in me broke loose, and before anyone could react I snatched the basin of dirty footwater off the floor and flung it at Deborah with a splash, then slammed the empty basin straight into Rosalie's face.
If backing down one step wouldn't be enough for them, then we'd burn it all to the ground together.
Everyone froze. Then I lunged, grabbed a fistful of Rosalie's long hair, yanked her head back hard, and slapped her across the face, one crack after another, sharp and ringing.
“Since when do you get to humiliate my parents?”
Rosalie's scream tore through the living room. Russ finally came to and rushed over first thing, kicking me in the stomach.
“Philippa, are you insane? You dare hit Rosalie?”
I crashed into the coffee table, knocking over the cups and the pitcher, pain shooting up my spine.
Seeing me crumpled on the floor, Russ seemed to come back to himself, staring at his own hands, lost.
“Philippa, I……I didn't mean to. You started this yourself, you……”
By then the Abbott relatives had erupted, all talking over each other.
“The little slut actually raised her hand to my aunt. She needs a proper lesson, or once she's married in my aunt will be taking her abuse for the rest of her life.”
“Exactly. If she'll throw a fit on my aunt's birthday, imagine how she'll lord it over everyone once our backs are turned.”
Then a heavyset man with a face full of coarse flesh came forward. Russ's uncle.
He carried a bamboo paddle a finger thick and walked right up to me.
““The world's turned upside down. No respect for your elders, beating them as you please. Today I'll teach you a proper lesson on this family's behalf, you daughter-in-law who doesn't know her place.”
The paddle swung high, cutting the air with a vicious hiss, and came straight down at my back.
In the instant I shut my eyes and braced for it, a roar exploded across the living room.
“Stop.”
