Chapter 2 - FOLLOWING EVERY RULE
When I returned home that evening, Tabitha was waiting in the kitchen with the black notebook open in front of her.
Colin stood near the refrigerator, rubbing the back of his neck.
“You embarrassed me this morning,” she said.
“No,” I replied, setting down my purse. “I obeyed you.”
“You deliberately twisted my words.”
“I followed them exactly as they were written.”
She pushed the notebook toward me.
The page was filled with neat, slanted handwriting. At the top, she had written: DUTIES OF THE NEW WIFE.
Prepare breakfast by six thirty.
Pack husband’s lunch.
Plan dinner.
Purchase groceries.
Serve elders first.
Eat only after the household has finished.
Clean the kitchen alone.
I read the list twice.
Then I looked up.
“There seems to be a contradiction.”
Tabitha narrowed her eyes.
“What contradiction?”
“I’m expected to purchase and prepare food, but I’m forbidden from eating or tasting it before everyone else. As a financial officer for a food company, I know that preparing meals without tasting them creates a safety and quality-control problem. I wouldn’t want to disrespect the family by serving something incorrectly.”
“You know perfectly well what I mean.”
“Then write what you mean.”
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
Colin stepped forward.
“Mom, this has gone too far. Taylor isn’t your employee.”
“She lives under my roof.”
I turned toward Colin.
“Actually, that’s something we need to discuss.”
I placed several printed bank statements on the kitchen island.
Tabitha’s expression changed immediately.
Colin looked down at the first page.
“What is this?”
“The actual cost of living here.”
I pointed to the transfers from his personal account.
“Since your father died, you’ve been sending your mother an average of more than six thousand dollars a month. That doesn’t include the property taxes you paid last spring or the twelve-thousand-dollar roof repair.”
Colin stared at me.
“Mom said the insurance wouldn’t cover it.”
“The insurance company paid the claim in full.”
The room went silent.
Tabitha closed the notebook.
“That is none of your business.”
“It became my business when I married Colin and you presented me with a list of unpaid domestic duties while expecting our income to support this house.”
Colin turned pale.
“Mom, where did the insurance money go?”
Tabitha lifted her chin.
“I used it for expenses.”
“What expenses?”
“Household expenses.”
“Which ones?”
She glanced at me.
I could see the answer in her eyes. She didn’t have one prepared because Colin had never asked before.
Tabitha pushed back her chair.
“I will not be interrogated in my own home.”
She left the kitchen and slammed the door to her bedroom.
Colin remained motionless.
“I didn’t know,” he said quietly.
“I believe you.”
“She told me she had nothing after Dad died.”
“She may genuinely be in financial trouble,” I said. “But she hasn’t been honest about why.”
That night, Colin and I agreed to separate our finances from the household immediately. We would pay a fixed amount toward utilities while we remained there, but there would be no more unexplained transfers.
The following morning, Tabitha discovered that her credit card had been removed from Colin’s account.
By noon, she called him six times.
By three, she called me.
“You froze my card.”
“No. Colin removed you as an authorized user from his personal credit account.”
“I needed that card for groceries.”
“You spent nine hundred and forty dollars at a luxury department store last Tuesday.”
“I bought household items.”
“You bought a handbag.”
There was a pause.
“That bag was for family events.”
“I’m sure it will look beautiful while you prepare your own breakfast.”
She hung up.
That evening, she attempted a different strategy.
When I entered the dining room, she and Colin were seated at the table. In front of them were two plates of roasted chicken, vegetables, and potatoes.
There was no plate for me.
Tabitha smiled.
“We already started. You may eat when we’re finished.”
Colin immediately stood.
“I told her not to do this.”
I placed a takeout container on the counter.
“That’s fine. I brought dinner.”
Tabitha’s smile disappeared.
“You are not allowed to bring outside food to my table.”
I opened the black notebook.
“Page fourteen says I may eat whatever remains after the family meal. It doesn’t say where the remaining food must come from.”
I sat in the living room and ate while watching the news.
Five minutes later, Colin carried his plate in and sat beside me.
Tabitha remained alone at the dining table.
For the next week, I obeyed every written rule with absolute precision.
I did not prepare breakfast because I could not touch the food before the elders ate.
I did not shop for groceries because the notebook stated that household purchases required Tabitha’s approval, and she refused to provide a written budget.
I did not clean the dining room until everyone had finished, which sometimes meant Tabitha waited hours for me to remove a single cup.
I greeted her each morning exactly as instructed, but I did not engage in arguments.
She grew angrier every day.
The delivery bills increased.
The refrigerator emptied.
The housekeeper stopped coming after Tabitha admitted she had not paid her in six weeks.
Then, on Friday afternoon, I received a call from a number I didn’t recognize.
“Is this Taylor Morgan?” a woman asked.
“Yes.”
“My name is Elaine Porter. I handled the bookkeeping for your late father-in-law’s catering company. I heard you married Colin.”
“I did.”
There was a long pause.
“Then you need to know something about that black notebook.”
I sat straighter in my chair.
May you like
“What about it?”
“It was never a book of family traditions,” Elaine said. “It was a business ledger.”
