CHAPTER 5: Chapter 5 - What Everyone Had Seen

Mark spoke first. He looked ashamed. "She has been doing this for weeks, Ethan. Not always in front of people. Little comments. Little threats. She told Aunt Margaret that after the wedding, visits would be scheduled through her."
Mrs. Campbell, the neighbor who had known Ethan since he was ten, nodded. "Your mother came to my house last month crying. She made me promise not to tell you because she did not want to distract you while you were serving."
Vanessa folded her arms. "This is ridiculous. They are twisting everything because they never accepted me. Your family wants you to stay their little soldier boy forever. I am the only one thinking about our future."
"Our future?" Ethan asked.
"Yes," she said, finding confidence in the sound of her own voice. "You and me. A better house. Better people around us. A life that is not built around your mother's feelings."
Margaret stiffened beside him. Ethan felt it.
He turned to her. "Did she threaten to keep me away from you?"
Margaret's mouth opened, then closed. She looked at Vanessa, then at the floor.
"Mom," Ethan said gently. "You do not have to protect me from the truth."
Tears filled Margaret's eyes again. "She said if I kept interfering, I would lose you. She said young wives have ways of making husbands choose."
The room seemed to grow colder.
Ethan looked at Vanessa, and something inside him settled into place. Not rage. Not confusion.
Decision.