That night, Jessica cried. But not in front of Evelyn. Not even in front of James.
She just stood in front of the mirror and made herself a quiet promise: You married him, not her. You get the life. She gets the drama. Let her have it.
Until Willa was born.
The Comments Began the Day Willa Arrived
James had wept when he held his newborn daughter.
Jessica had too—but hers was a silent cry. The kind that comes when a love so huge enters your life that you suddenly understand why people say they’d go to war for someone.
“I’d fight the world for you,” she whispered to Willa.
But then Evelyn showed up to visit… and she noticed something.
“This hair,” Evelyn said, pinching a lock of her granddaughter’s soft, wavy hair. “No one in our family has curls like this. We’re all straight-haired.”
Jessica laughed.
But Evelyn didn’t.
