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The moment still replayed in Maria Jensen’s mind as though it had happened just minutes ago. It was a calm Tuesday afternoon in her modest Phoenix, Arizona home, and she had been folding laundry when her phone vibrated. The call was from her daughter, Eliza, who had recently gotten engaged to a young man named Daniel Carter. Smiling, Maria answered—only to discover that Eliza hadn’t meant to call her at all. It seemed the call was unintentional, left open after a previous conversation. Instead of hearing Eliza’s familiar, happy voice, Maria was met with the tense, low tones of another woman speaking sharply.
“Hope she’s not coming for the wedding,” the woman said, her voice laced with disdain.
Maria froze, listening carefully. The woman—who Maria soon recognized as Daniel’s mother, Karen Carter—continued, “No seat for people built like that. I mean, really, that woman could eat for three.”
The words struck Maria like shards of glass. She had battled with her weight for much of her life, but hearing it ridiculed so cruelly—especially by the mother of her daughter’s fiancé—felt like a deep and personal betrayal.
Her chest constricted. Her hands shook as she carefully laid the folded shirt back on the stack. For a moment, she considered speaking up, revealing her unintended presence on the call. But instead, she silently tapped the “end call” button. Her heart raced, and her breathing became shallow.
The house suddenly felt too still, too heavy with unspoken truths. Memories from Eliza’s engagement party flooded her mind—the way Karen had smiled just a bit too tightly, always with a trace of judgment behind her eyes; the way she had offhandedly asked if Maria had “ever thought about joining a gym” while sipping her second glass of champagne. At the time, Maria had brushed those remarks aside as social awkwardness. But this—this was something else entirely. This was cruelty.
Sitting down at the dining table, Maria’s thoughts spiraled. Eliza was head over heels for Daniel, but marriage wasn’t just about love between two people—it was also about the families they brought together. What kind of life would Eliza have with in-laws capable of such hidden malice?
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