Shattered Expectations

A single offhand remark from me had struck Miriam like a boulder, sending shockwaves through her carefully constructed worldview. In her eyes, I'd never been good enough for Declan. Even back when we married, it was only because he had stubbornly insisted.

Throughout our marriage, I'd been the one tiptoeing around her, maintaining a fragile peace. She'd played the gracious matriarch, never openly