My Husband Accused My Family of Stealing His Mother’s Gift Chapter 01

My Husband Accused My Family of Stealing His Mother’s Gift Chapter 01

The new executive assistant my husband had hired was a gorgeous airhead. While mailing Thanksgiving gifts to our families, she mixed up the shipping addresses.

The $800 luxury Dungeness crab gift box meant for my mother-in-law ended up at my mom’s house instead.

At Thanksgiving dinner, Mom was all smiles, and Dad kept praising Adrian Mercer for being such a thoughtful son-in-law.

One look was all it took for my husband to understand what had happened. His brows drew together as he turned on me.

“Sienna, is your whole family a bunch of thieves?”

“That gift was meant for my mother. Once your family realized it had been delivered to the wrong address, why didn’t you send it back? Were all of you really so greedy that you had to keep a box of crabs that wasn’t yours?”

I stood there in shock.

As our relatives watched with undisguised curiosity, Mom and Dad stood there, mortified and at a loss.

I hurried over to help Mom to her feet, but before I could get an angry word out, Adrian stepped between us, shielding Maya behind him.

“It’s Thanksgiving. Can you not make a scene with everyone watching?”

I was about to let him have it, but Mom grabbed my arm and held on tight. Even through my sleeve, I could feel her trembling.

“This is my fault. I didn’t realize the crab was meant for your mother-in-law, so please don’t blame this young woman.”

“My legs only went numb because I’d been crouching too long. I’m fine.”

As she spoke, Dad finished packing everything back up.

He had double-bagged the cooked crabs and neatly arranged the picked crabmeat in a plastic container.

He had packed the lemon wedges and a small tub of garlic butter separately, then even folded the parchment liner from the steamer tray into a perfect square and tucked it into one corner of the bag.

He held the bag out with both hands.

“Everything’s here, Adrian. You can check to make sure.”

…

Adrian did not take it.

Dad was left standing there awkwardly, holding the bag out in front of him.

Every relative in the room watched him for nearly ten full seconds before Maya finally leaned out from behind Adrian, her eyes already red.

“Mrs. Mercer, this is all my fault. Please don’t let something this small cause a fight in your family.”

“I’ll pay for another identical Dungeness crab gift box for your parents. Would that make things right?”

Maya pulled out her phone and opened a gourmet food delivery app, but Adrian reached over and stopped her before she could place the order.

“You only just became a permanent employee. Why would you spend that kind of money? Eight hundred dollars for a box of crabs for them would be such a waste.”

The word waste echoed in my head.

Adrian wasn’t saying the crab itself was overpriced. He was saying my parents weren’t worth spending that same amount of money on.

Mom’s smile froze. She released my arm and hurried to smooth things over.

“No, really. You don’t need to buy us anything. Adrian’s right. There’s no sense spending that much.”

“Neither of us even likes crab that much. His cholesterol is high, and at his age, he really shouldn’t eat rich seafood like this. Please don’t spend that kind of money on us.”

Dad immediately tried to take the blame as well.

“That’s right. We don’t care for them. I even gave her a hard time while she was steaming them.”

“Please don’t take it to heart. I’m the one at fault for accepting the delivery before we checked who it was meant for.”

“I’m sorry we made you come all this way.”

My nails dug deep into my palm.

Dad was the one who had just been humiliated in front of everyone, yet he was apologizing to the very man who had called him a thief.

After that, Dad quickly set the bag aside, pulled out a chair, and brushed off the seat with his sleeve.

“You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Come sit down and join us. It’s nothing fancy, but you’re welcome to have some.”

That chair had been saved for my younger brother, Tyler Bennett.

He had gotten up at five that morning to prepare Thanksgiving dinner and was still working in the kitchen. He had not even stopped long enough to take a sip of water.

I knew exactly why my parents were behaving this way.

They were afraid of putting me in an impossible position.

They were afraid Adrian would take it out on me once we got home.

They were afraid I would never have any standing with his family again.

They were willing to swallow every shred of pride they had and endure the humiliation rather than make things harder for me, and they still forced themselves to smile at me.

Mom even found a moment to pat the back of my hand and whisper, “Sienna, don’t look so upset. We’re fine.”

I said nothing. Four pale crescents stood out against my palm, and my nails had nearly broken the skin.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Dad opened the door, then froze.

Standing outside were my mother-in-law, Linda Mercer, and my nephew, Noah Mercer.

Linda wore a tailored silk sheath dress and carried her precious toy poodle, Coco, in her arms.

Before Dad could say anything, she spoke first.

“Frank, I heard the Thanksgiving gift Adrian sent me was delivered here by mistake. Is that right?”