She muttered, “The children aren’t even his,” not realizing that I was coming with empty plates. “She trapped him with her ready-made family. Classic gold-digger move.”

Plates shook in my hands as I froze in the corridor.

I was crying when I confronted Ryan that evening. “Your mother thinks I married you for money. She doesn’t even see Emma and Liam as your family.”

A muscle in Ryan’s face worked to tighten his jaw. “I’ll talk to her. I promise this stops now.”

His heartbeat was steady against my ear as he drew me in. “You and those kids are my world, Cat. Nothing and no one will come between us. Not even my mother.”

Ryan kept his promise. He purchased a lovely house for us in a community with tree-lined streets and nice schools