Millicent
I drove home on autopilot, my doctor's words echoing with Eleanor's. Pride. Everyone kept talking about my pride like it was some frivolous thing. It wasn't pride that made me work three jobs. It was survival. It was not owing anyone anything. It was protecting myself from being hurt again.
But was I protecting my baby? Or was I hurting them with my stubbornness?
The smell of something burning greeted me when I walked through the door. I found Mom in the kitchen, gripping the counter while smoke rose from a pan on the stove.
"Mom!" I rushed to turn off the burner, moving the pan to the sink. "What are you doing?"
"Making dinner," she said, but I could see the exhaustion in every line of her body. "You work so hard, I thought..."
"You thought you'd burn the house down?" I tr
