Olivia met Ethan at a corporate event for the construction company where she worked as an office manager. He arrived as a representative from a building materials supplier—tall, with dimples on his cheeks and an attentive gaze from his brown eyes. A spark flew between them when she accidentally spilled champagne on him, and he laughed, saying it was for good luck.
Their romance developed rapidly. Just a month later, Ethan introduced her to his family—his father, a retired colonel, and his mother, Margaret Wilson, a former head of the local library. Olivia remembered her first visit to Ethan’s parental home in the suburbs of Boston.
She was nervous, bought a cake from an expensive bakery, and wore a modest dress with a collar. «So you’re a secretary?» Margaret Wilson asked again, examining Olivia through her glasses on a chain. «Office manager,» Olivia clarified, feeling her cheeks flush.
«One and the same,» the future mother-in-law dismissed. «And what do your parents do?» Olivia hesitated for a moment. «Mom works in a business center, in the cleaning service. Dad died when I was 14.»
«In the cleaning service?» Margaret Wilson raised her eyebrows. «Is that a janitor?» Ethan coughed, clearly uncomfortable, but said nothing. Olivia nodded, lifting her chin a bit higher.
Yes, her mom mopped floors in offices to put her through school. And Olivia was never ashamed of it. «Interesting,» Margaret Wilson drawled, setting down her cup.
«Ethan, you said she was from a good family.» «Mom?» he finally interjected. «Olivia is from a wonderful family.»
But it was too late. From that moment, Margaret Wilson saw Olivia as a gold digger after her son’s money, even though he was just an ordinary sales manager, not a millionaire. They got married six months later.
Margaret Wilson insisted on a banquet in a restaurant with columns, where half the neighborhood partied. Olivia dreamed of an intimate ceremony, but quickly realized that marrying Ethan meant accepting his mom as the commander-in-chief of their family life. «You must understand that now you’re a Thompson,» her mother-in-law told her at the wedding, adjusting her pearl necklace.
«Our family is well-known in the city. We’re intelligentsia.» Their honeymoon was in Hawaii.
At a hotel chosen by Margaret Wilson. She even packed Ethan a separate suitcase with medications and instructions on where to eat and which excursions to take. The first year of marriage was spent trying to conform.
Olivia cooked according to her mother-in-law’s recipes, learned to set the table properly, and endured weekly inspections from Margaret Wilson. «You have dust under the TV,» she would usually start, running her finger over surfaces. «Ethan can’t live in such conditions.
He has allergies.» Ethan had no allergies, but he never contradicted his mother. Then they started planning for a child.
Month after month passed without results. At first, Margaret Wilson inquired delicately, then began bringing articles on female infertility and gynecologists’ addresses. «Ethan is a healthy boy, always was sturdy,» she would say, flipping through the family album.
«Probably the problem is something else.» Olivia took all the tests, no pathologies found. Then it was Ethan’s turn.
He resisted for a long time, but after a year of fruitless attempts, he agreed. The results were discouraging. Serious issues with the spermogram, low sperm motility, low concentration.
«It’s temporary,» Ethan brushed off, hiding the doctor’s report in a desk drawer. «Work stress.» Margaret Wilson refused to believe the diagnosis.
She started calling clinics, demanding retests, accusing labs of incompetence. When the third test confirmed the initial diagnosis, she proposed an unexpected solution. «Maybe you just don’t match each other,» she told Olivia privately.
«There can be such incompatibility. Maybe Ethan needs another woman to become a father.» Olivia told Ethan about this conversation.
He laughed nervously. «Mom is just worried about continuing the lineage. Don’t pay attention.»
But Olivia saw how her husband was changing. He became irritable, often stayed late at work, avoided intimacy. The conception problems became a heavy burden on their relationship, and Margaret Wilson skillfully used it to drive a wedge between the spouses.
As Olivia’s thirtieth birthday approached, she decided to use it as a chance to restart their relationship. Two years of marriage, filled with gradual distancing and quiet quarrels, should be left behind. «I want to throw a real party,» she told Ethan at breakfast.
«We’ll invite your parents, my friends, colleagues. Maybe at Riverside, it’s beautiful there.» Ethan shrugged.
«As you say. Just coordinate with Mom, she might have plans then.» For three months, Olivia planned her milestone birthday, booked a hall at the Riverside Restaurant with a view of the river, composed a menu of favorite dishes, chose table decorations, arrangements of freesias and eustomas.
«Isn’t it too expensive?» Ethan inquired, seeing the estimate. «Maybe celebrate at a cafe? I turn 30 only once in a lifetime,» Olivia replied firmly. «I’ll pay for it all myself, from my own money.»
She had been saving for this celebration since the beginning of the year, denying herself small things. She wanted a real, vibrant party, without compromises or skimping. Her first round birthday in marriage.
At the Seaside Mall, she found a seafoam green dress with an open back and fine embroidery on the bodice. It fit her slender figure perfectly, accentuating her waist and flowing over her hips. «You’re going in that?» Ethan asked when she showed the dress.
«Isn’t it too revealing?» «It’s an elegant evening dress,» Olivia objected. «It suits the occasion perfectly.» «As you say,» he replied, not looking up from his phone.
A week before the birthday, Olivia invited her mom to lunch. Linda Carter came straight after her shift, tired but with a gift, silver earrings with aquamarine. «Honey, you didn’t need to throw such a banquet,» her mom said, looking at the restaurant photos.
«We could have sat at home, made chicken soup.» «Mom, I want a real celebration,» Olivia hugged her shoulders. «You deserve a beautiful evening no less than me.»
Linda Carter sighed. «Will that Margaret of yours be there?» «Of course, she and Ethan’s dad will come. Promise you’ll stay calm, even if she starts her usual games.»
«I’m not worried about myself,» Linda Carter shook her head. «About you. I saw how she nitpicked you last New Year’s.
Snobby lady.» Olivia smiled through force. «Everything will be fine. I’m an adult now.
I’ll handle it.» In the evening, the night before the party, Olivia was double-checking the guest list when Ethan shared the news. «By the way, Mom said Dad won’t come.
Blood pressure. She’ll be alone.» Olivia felt a chill.
Margaret Wilson without her husband was always twice as dangerous. No one restrained her barbs. «Okay,» she said only, «I hope your dad gets better soon.»
The morning of the birthday, Olivia spent at the beauty salon. Hairdo, makeup, manicure. She wanted to look impeccable.
She chose strict but elegant makeup, gathered her hair in a high updo with a few loose strands. At home, Ethan waited with a bouquet of roses. «Happy birthday,» he said, kissing her cheek, «You look great.»
For a moment, it seemed to her that everything was improving, that the birthday would truly become a new starting point for their marriage. «Mom called,» Ethan added, ruining the moment. «She’ll come straight to the restaurant, asked to order her a special menu.
She’s on a diet.» Olivia clenched her teeth but nodded. Margaret Wilson always invented new ways to draw attention to herself, demanding special conditions.
«I’ll warn the administrator,» she said, heading to the closet for the dress. Ethan sat on the edge of the bed. «Listen, you’re not going to say anything about our conception problems, right? It would be unpleasant for Mom if the guests found out.»
Olivia froze with the dress in her hands. «Unpleasant for your mom? And her constantly hinting that I’m infertile, that should be pleasant for me?» «Come on,» Ethan winced. «Today is your party, let’s no scandals.»
She took a deep breath. «Right, today is her party, and she won’t let anyone spoil it.» «Okay,» she said, smoothing the dress, «everything will be fine.
Help with the zipper.» The clock showed five in the evening. Two hours left until the start of the celebration.
Olivia put on the earrings, her mom’s gift, spritzed her wrist with favorite perfume, and looked in the mirror one last time. A thirty-year-old woman looked back at her, confident, beautiful, full of hopes. She smiled at her reflection.
«Everything will be perfect,» she promised herself, «this is my day.» Ethan waited in the living room, glancing at his watch. «Ready?» he asked.
«The cab is downstairs.» Olivia nodded and, grabbing her purse, headed to the door. At the threshold, she stopped, suddenly feeling a strange premonition.
As if something was supposed to happen today, something important and irreversible. «Let’s go,» Ethan called. And she stepped over the threshold, towards her birthday, not yet knowing that this evening would change her entire life.
The Riverside Restaurant greeted Olivia and Ethan with subdued lighting and melodic music. The administrator, a slender girl in a strict suit, led them to the booked hall with panoramic windows overlooking the evening river. «Everything is ready as you requested,» the administrator said.
«Flower arrangements on the tables, menu coordinated, musicians will arrive in half an hour.» Olivia scanned the space. Round tables covered with ivory tablecloths, flickering candles in crystal holders, live flowers in low vases so as not to obstruct guests’ views of each other.
Just as she had imagined her party. «Perfect,» she smiled. «Thank you so much.»
Ethan took out his phone, snapping a few photos of the empty hall. «I’ll send to Mom,» he explained. She wanted to see how everything is organized.
Olivia suppressed a sigh. Even in this moment, Margaret Wilson was invisibly present. The first to arrive were Olivia’s colleagues, a noisy group with balloons and a big gift box…
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