Chapter 1

At my wedding reception, my mother-in-law put her dog in my chair and told me to kneel and apologize to it.

The ceremony had ended ten minutes ago. I was still carrying my bouquet when I reached the table beside my new husband, Daniel. His mother, Marilyn, had settled her dog on the white cushion meant for me.

“Marilyn, could you pick him up?”

“He’s upset.” She stroked the dog’s ears. “You pushed him away when he came to greet you.”

I had moved him off the hem of my dress before he could tear it. Marilyn had watched me do it.

“He’ll be fine,” I said. “I need to sit down.”

“Then say you’re sorry.” She pointed at the floor beside the chair. “Get down where he can see your face.”

Daniel’s younger brother, Ryan, laughed into his glass. At the next table, a woman stopped cutting her cake. They were all sitting in the lake house my father had left me, watching Marilyn wait for me to kneel to her dog.

I looked at Daniel.

He leaned close enough that the guests couldn’t hear him. “It’ll take two seconds, Claire.”

“Then you do it.”

Marilyn’s hand stopped on the dog’s head. Daniel glanced at her, then back at me.

“She’s only asking you to be kind.”

I took the leash from Marilyn and held it out to him. “Show me how.”

A few guests turned in their chairs. Daniel stared at the leash. He had smiled through every photograph that afternoon, even when his mother interrupted our vows to straighten his collar. Now he couldn’t manage one.

“Don’t make a scene,” he said.

“Your mother asked me to kneel. I’m giving you the chance to keep her happy.”

Marilyn snatched the leash from my hand. The dog barked as she pulled him off the chair.

“I welcomed you into this family,” she said, loud enough for the next table to hear. “I asked for one small kindness, and you decided to humiliate me.”

“You asked me to get on my knees in my wedding dress.”

Ryan stepped between me and the chair. “Mom’s been up since dawn making sure this day went well. You can stand for another minute.”

He kept one hand on the back of my chair. Marilyn looked around at the guests, waiting for someone to agree with him.

I set my bouquet on the table and moved Ryan’s hand away.

“This is my father’s house,” I said. “If your mother needs a chair for her dog, find another one. I’m sitting beside my husband.”

Ryan’s face reddened. “There it is. You’re going to hold this house over our heads every time you don’t get your way?”

“No. Just when you tell me to stand in it.”

Daniel caught Ryan by the arm before he could answer. He pulled out my chair, brushed the dog hair from the cushion, and waited until I sat down.

Marilyn remained on her feet, clutching the dog against her chest.

“Did you hear how she spoke to your brother?” she asked Daniel.

“I heard.” Daniel rubbed her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Mom. Let’s get through dinner.”

He sat beside me and reached for my hand under the table. I drew it away. Ryan pushed back his chair so hard it struck the table behind him.

I went upstairs to change before the speeches. On the landing, a server stood with my overnight bag while Ryan carried Marilyn’s suitcase toward my bedroom.

“First door on the left,” Marilyn told the server. “That’s where Claire’s things go.”

The first door on the left was the guest room.

I turned to Daniel. He had followed me upstairs.

“Why is Ryan taking her suitcase into my room?”

Daniel looked past me toward the waiting server. “I gave Mom our bedroom for the weekend. You and I can use the guest room.”