Chapter 2: The Woman Martha Feared
The special guest was an older woman holding a faded photograph and a sealed envelope.
The moment Martha saw her, the braid slipped from her hand.
“No,” Martha whispered.
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
Nick tightened his grip on my trembling hand.
“This is my aunt Rose,” he announced.
“Mom told everyone she left the family years ago.
That was another lie.”
Rose walked straight toward Martha.
“You call this a family tradition?” she asked, picking up my severed braid.
“No woman in our family has ever done such a cruel thing to a bride.”
Martha’s face turned pale.
“Get out!” she shouted.
“This has nothing to do with you!”
“It has everything to do with me,” Rose replied.
“Because you did this for the same reason you tried to ruin my wedding.”
The guests began whispering.
I looked at Nick, but he kept staring at the envelope in Rose’s hand.
“What’s inside that?” I asked.
Rose looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“Proof that Martha hasn’t hated you because you’re poor,” she said.
“She hates you because of who your mother really was.”
Martha suddenly screamed, shoved past the guests, and ran toward the doors.
But before she escaped, Rose pulled a document from the envelope and called out a name I had not heard since childhood.
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Why was Martha terrified of my mother’s name—and what did Rose’s document prove?
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