While I was working, I met Emily. We married not long afterwards, and when Emily fell pregnant, I brought her back to my parents house. They werent exactly overjoyed at the news.
There were so many expectations placed on her shouldersshe was responsible for cooking for everyone, doing all the laundry, cleaning the house from top to bottom, milking the cow, mucking out the barn, and sometimes she even chopped firewood. More often than not, Emily found herself doing jobs that, in our village, were always left to the men. But the hardest part came when my parents had guests round. They rarely had fewer than seven visitors at a time, and it was left to Emily to serve them all and put on a splendid meal.
Shed spend the entire afternoon making dish after dish, only for everything to be devoured within the hour, leaving barely a crumb behind. Completely exhausted, she would sit down at the edge of the table and finally serve herself a pork chop. My mother would catch her eye, lean over and say,
Emily, youre eating a bit much today, arent you? Youre so tiny and yet you pack away so much food, before bursting out laughing, so loud it filled the room.
After that, the rest of the guests joined in, poking fun at Emily. She quietly got up, left the table, and went into the kitchen without a word. She was weepingshed not eaten a single thing all day. And all the while, my husband only sat there in silence, saying nothing as his wife was mocked and ridiculed. Through the open door, I could hear my mothers voice ringing out:
By the way, I bumped into my former daughter-in-law at the market yesterday. Goodness, she still calls me Mum! Now she was a good girl, not like this one!
Once the last guest had finally left, Emily cleared the plates and took them off to the kitchen to wash. My father-in-law followed her in.
Emily just stood silently at the sink while he stared at her for a long while. Then, after a few minutes, he finally said,
Emily, do you know I cant stand you?
It hurt her so deeply to hear that, she decided not to answer at all. Eventually, he asked her again. Emily replied,
I know.
Its just strange, isnt it? You do everything here, you help everyone, youve never said a cross word to anyone, but I still cant bear you. Odd, dont you think?
I suppose so
Emily knew nothing would change after that conversation, and that everyone would carry on mocking her, no matter what she did. She couldnt understand why she endured it
Could you live with a man who calmly let his wife be humiliated day after day?
