as quiet, efficient, and followed my instructions to the letter. She prepared Lily' s bottles

arted compl

oon as I was heading out for a meeting. "It' s amazing ho

behavior was just a clumsy attempt to find her place in our home. I told mysel

ed subtly. She would hum old-fashioned lullabies about wives obeying their husbands while rocking

her from the baby monitor I had placed in the living room, a precaution I took after the sugar water

" Mark replied, his voice s

smoothly. "But a man should be the head of h

eld back. I wanted to see how Mark would handle it. He didn't.

I confronted

e my marriage. If I hear one more comment about how a man or a woman

econd, then relaxed into

apologize. I just wo

tentive to Mark. She would save him the best piece of chicken at dinner, praise his "strong presence" in

admiration. "It must be so difficult dealing with those disrespectful children

, soaked it up. He started seeing her as a symp

n bed. "She' s just an old-fashioned country woman. She actuall

house, Mark," I snapped back. "She has no respect

me. "You' re always so aggressive. Can' t you

d, and he was too weak or too willing to see it. The battle lines in my o