It was a promise she had made to her husband, Frederick, shortly before he died: when their son built a family of his own, he would have lifelong security.
But Frederick had never known Portia.
Chapter 4 — The Details She Caught
At first, Rosalind had truly tried to love her.
Portia was beautiful, cultured, and blessed with a soft voice that convinced everyone she wouldn’t hurt a soul.
She claimed to come from a prominent but fallen Boston family, and spoke as though she’d been raised among Italian marble and crystal.
Emerson worshipped the ground she walked on.
But Rosalind began to catch the small, unsettling things.
The jabs about her age.
The remarks about her wardrobe.