Still, she smiled politely, pressing her lips together just enough to suppress the bitter taste rising at the back of her throat. "We always welcome guests," she said, choosing her words carefully. "Especially when it comes to family."
A half-truth wrapped in civility. Because the last time a member of this so-called family came uninvited, chaos followed in their wake like a violent storm. Her mother-in-law’s visit was still fresh in her memory. The slammed doors, the piercing words, the heat of unresolved grief that had nearly set this house ablaze. But Raellyn said nothing of it. She only folded her hands in her lap and sat a little straighter, letting the words hang in the air like a curtain of decorum drawn over a fractured truth.
Sylvia smiled at that, though the smile never quite r
