Noční Směna

She sat not with her family, nor with her husband's family, but in a pew between the two. She was separate, an oddity both in the community and the families. The look from her mother-in-law seared through her, sending its silent message to the young woman.
"You embarrass us. You disgrace us."
It didn't cause her much heartache. She had only been married a few months, the brief new matriarch of the family, as her husband was the eldest son. He had died, a disease that surprised the entire family. Refusing to marry his younger brother, the next heir, left the young woman adrift. She neither returned to her family nor married into her deceased husband's family, as was the norm. Instead, she insisted on living on her own, surviving on a salary that was a mystery to all who knew her and refusing any social engagements.
Rhen sat silently in her seat, outwardly composed and inwardly seething. The Minister was preaching yet another sermon on the importance of appearance, the need for men to care for woman - another pointed attack by her mother-in-law. The woman never let up. One would think she enjoyed being matriarch of the family again, but her odd sense of social propriety wouldn't let her leave the woman alone. She must be remarried - and to her brother-in-law, if one followed society's expectations, which Phylis Morgan always did. Unfortunately for everyone who had to deal with her.

The ordeal was over soon enough and Rana slipped away from both families without being spotted. Her own family was tolerable, but regrettably shared the same views on her life as her in-laws did. It was exhausting, dodging them all constantly. They all had their expectations of her, their designs on her future, all twenty-three combined, and she was determined to elude them all.
Only her husband had understood that. They had known one another for years and chance threw their marriage together through inspiration on his mother's part. He was friendly, competent and most importantly, could control his family. She had been happy, oddly enough. And then to be left alone with the vultures broke her heart even more.
At least she had her secret. Not even her husband had known, though he might have understood that too. It was hers to keep, to use when necessary.