The Midnight Words That Ended Our Marriage

Synopsis

After I lost the baby, my mother-in-law, Linda Brooks, changed in ways I couldn't put into words. She stopped asking how I was healing. Instead, she drifted through the house tossing out little comments that wedged under my skin like splinters. "Some people run around sleeping with whoever they want," she'd say, loud enough for me to hear, "and now they want everyone to feel sorry for them." I figured she was worried about what the neighbors might think, so I bit my tongue and let it slide. My husband, David Brooks, kept smoothing things over. "My mom's all talk," he'd tell me, squeezing my hand. "She doesn't mean it as it sounds." Then came that night when thirst woke me up. I was halfway down the hall toward the kitchen when their low voices stopped me in my tracks. "Mom, enough with the act. She's already been through hell," David said. "I'm not acting. I'm telling the truth. That baby was never—"