While hes at work, William meets Emily. They end up getting married, and when Emily finds out shes expecting, he brings her home to his parents house. His parents arent particularly thrilled about the news.
Emily, the young woman, shoulders endless tasks: she cooks for everyone, does the laundry, keeps the house clean, milks the cow, tidies the barn, and sometimes even chops firewood. More often than not, Emily has to take on the mens work, but things felt the hardest whenever her in-laws had guests. There always seem to be at least seven people visiting, and she must serve and feed them all.
She spends hours preparing dish after dish, and within an hour, the table is nearly empty. Exhausted, she finally sits at the edge of the table and places a small pork chop on her plate. Her mother-in-law looks over and says,
“Emily, youre eating far too much tonight. Youre such a tiny thing, but you pack away an awful lot of food,” and then bursts out laughing.
After that, the rest of the guests start to snicker and make fun of Emily too. She quietly stands up from the table and retreats to the kitchen, tears silently spilling down her cheeksshe hasnt eaten a single thing all day. Her husband just sits and listens as his wife is mocked. From the kitchen, she hears her mother-in-law saying,
“Yesterday, by the way, I bumped into my old daughter-in-law at the market. Honestly, Im so glad she still calls me Mum! She was a good girl, not like this one!”
By the time the guests finally leave, Emily gathers all the dishes and heads to the kitchen to wash up. Her father-in-law follows her in.
She stands at the sink in silence, and her father-in-law just stares at her. After several minutes, he finally says,
“Emily, do you know I cant stand you?”
Its almost unbearable for her to hear those words, so she doesnt reply at first. He repeats his question, and Emily quietly answers,
“I know.”
“Its odd, isnt it? You do everything around here, help everyone, never say a cross word to anybody, and yet I still cant stand you. Strange, dont you think?”
“I suppose so.”
Emily realises nothing will ever change after this conversation. The mockery from everyone will go on. She cant fathom why she puts up with it…
Would you stay with a man who doesnt care if his wife is insulted day in and day out?
