The mother-in-law CLUTCHED a DNA test envelope, her eyes gleaming with malice. The room froze as the BRIDE’S words stunned every guest!

Did you even consider April Jennings? She’s responsible, educated. Her family has roots here. Roots.

That word always cut deeper than it looked. Grace was an only child raised by a single mother in a crumbling apartment above a laundromat. Her roots were cracked tiles and overworked hands.

Nathan’s voice sharpened. I don’t care about April Jennings. I care about Grace, and you’re going to have to get used to that.

The silence that followed was seismic. Grace wanted to run to slip out the front door and disappear, but instead she bit her lip until it almost bled. She had waited her entire life for someone to defend her like that, and now he had.

Nathan Monroe was hers, or at least he had chosen her for now. The wedding came three months later with more white roses than she had dreamed of, and not a single outburst from Helen. On the surface, everything was perfect.

They danced. They kissed. They flew to St. Lucia and forgot about Savannah for a while, but perfection is deceptive.

After their honeymoon, Nathan and Grace moved into a small brick house on Montgomery Street, a family home passed down from Nathan’s grandmother, Edith Monroe. On their first night, Grace pressed her hand against the worn wood of the staircase and whispered, We’ll build something real here, and they did. Within the year, Grace gave birth to a baby boy, Noah.

His arrival softened Nathan even more. He suggested the name one evening while folding laundry, explaining it was in honor of his great-grandfather. Grace’s heart fluttered.

That’s beautiful. Actually, Noah was also the name of my psych professor at college. He changed my life.

She didn’t mean anything by it, but as soon as the words left her lips, the temperature in the room dropped. From the hallway, Helen appeared as if summoned by the scent of vulnerability. That night, Grace overheard another conversation through the kitchen door.

Psych professor Helen hissed, That’s why she wants to name your son, that she was probably involved with him. Why else would her transcripts be spotless? Mom stopped? You’re insane, Nathan snapped, but Grace noticed he didn’t look at her quite the same way after that. Things unraveled slowly.

When Grace attended a high school reunion one evening, leaving baby Noah with Nathan, she came home late, cheeks flushed with wine and nostalgia. She laughed as she told him how Logan Hayes, her childhood crush, had turned into a full-blown business mogul. He looks like someone off a magazine cover now…