She took a step closer to me, her breath smelling faintly of the sweet white wine she had been drinking all afternoon.

“You have always resented me because Dan cares about his family.”

“That’s not true, Mom,” Dan said, his voice quiet but firm.

“Shut up, Dan,” she snapped, not looking at him.

She kept her eyes locked on mine.

“You are nothing but a gold-gigger, Annie.”

“You saw a man from a good family, and you grabbed him.”

“And now you want to isolate him from us.”

“You want to drive a wedge between him and the mother who raised him.”

I felt a dull, throbbing ache begin behind my eyes.

“I bought this house with my own savings, Juliette,” I said.

“We pay for your groceries every single week.”

“We paid eight hundred dollars for your car repairs just last month.”

“You let us stretch our budget to the absolute limit while you sat on a fortune.”

“It is my money,” Juliette said, her voice rising to a screech.

“I earned it by putting up with my sister’s illness for forty years.”