Chapter 3

3: 3

3

I put a piece of pot roast in my mouth and chewed.

"Besides, Beryl isn't the family maid."

"The fact that she can put all this food on the table already deserves everyone's gratitude."

"Anyone who wants to pick and complain can go cook for themselves."

With that, I lifted another bite to my mouth.

The air went dead silent.

"This is an absolute outrage!"

Pansy's temper flared, and she slammed her chopsticks down hard on the table.

Everyone jumped.

"Tessa Langford, maybe your family was rich before, maybe you were some big-shot heiress."

"But now you've married into the Fox family, which makes you a Fox daughter-in-law!"

"So you'll follow the Fox family rules!"

I kept my expression blank and went on eating my own food.

Ray, the eldest son, shot my husband a resentful glare.

"Melvin Fox, look at the wife you married!"

"Who raises a girl this defiant and disrespectful?"

"Can't even eat a meal in peace!"

Melvin frowned too, leaning in to plead with me under his breath, all humbled.

"Tessie, please, I know you've always had a sharp tongue."

"But they're my family. Please, go easy on them…"

Beryl was giving me a faint look of admiration.

Still, she coaxed me in her soft, gentle voice.

"Let it go, Tessie. You can't argue back at the elders."

"There's still food in the fridge anyway. If Mom thinks the dish is too salty, I'll just make another one."

Beryl was about to swallow her own grievance again to smooth this storm over.

"This isn't arguing back."

I firmly shielded her behind me and looked at Melvin and Ray.

"You two are her real sons. You're the ones in this family who should be showing respect to your parents."

"Mom isn't satisfied with her meal and wants it redone."

"So what are you two still sitting there for?"

I grabbed the two aprons beside me and tossed one to each of them.

"Go on, get cooking!"

"Cook until your lady mother is satisfied."

Melvin, being careful, snuck a glance up at my face and hurried to tie the apron on.

Ray, the eldest son, looked as if he'd been insulted.

He hurled the apron down hard onto the floor.

"What kind of nonsense is this?"

"A gentleman keeps out of the kitchen. I'm a man!"

"I've never cooked a single meal in my whole life!"

I gave a cold laugh. "So what if you're a man?"

"Are men somehow exempt from eating?"

My words were sharp and gave no quarter.

In an instant Ray had nothing to say.

He jabbed a finger at my face, shaking for a good while, then slammed his chopsticks down.

"I'm not eating this. I've been fed full on rage."

I watched Ray storm back to his room in a fury.

Beryl instinctively started to go after him.

I held her back. "Good thing he's not eating. We'll eat ourselves."

"No sense wasting your good cooking and all these ingredients, Beryl."

Beryl sat back down, uneasy and awkward.

I put the shrimp and ribs into her bowl. "Eat while it's hot."

Pansy saw that this daughter-in-law wasn't one to push around, that I wouldn't coddle anyone.

All she could do was cough awkwardly a couple of times and lower her head to eat.

The whole table went utterly quiet.

Halfway through the meal, Melvin edged over and murmured carefully in my ear.

"Tessie, could you… do the serving tomorrow?"

"Serve what?"

"Serve Mom her meal."

Melvin poked at his bowl a couple of times.

"Each wife takes half a month. Beryl does the first half, you do the second… Mom did it this way herself, back in the day."

I set down my chopsticks. "Kneeling?"

Melvin's eyes darted away.

"It's the family rule."

I gave a cold laugh. "Do you really think I'd ever kneel?"

There were about two seconds of silence.

Pansy reacted first, slapping her chopsticks on the table.

"What did you say?"

"You're a daughter-in-law too. What gives you the right to be special?"

"If you want to live in this house even one more day, you follow the rules I set!"

"I said I won't kneel."

I looked Pansy straight in the eyes. "If you want to eat, come out and eat. I'll keep the food for you."

"Worst case I'll carry it to your door, but I won't kneel to serve it."

"And Mom, my parents taught me from the time I was little."

"A woman has gold beneath her knees. In this life she kneels to heaven, to earth, to her own parents, and one more…"

"To the dead."

I tilted my head and looked at Pansy with a grin.

"So, Mom, which of those are you?"