Chapter 1

As the Delgado family's daughter-in-law, I wasn't allowed to eat at the family table before I got pregnant.

The Delgado family has a long history, and this is a rule that has been passed down for nearly a century.

So my husband Landon Delgado always told me to endure it and not make things difficult for him in front of the family elders and their traditions.

So at every family dinner, after I'd cooked the entire spread, all I could do was take my bowl to the back kitchen and eat alone.

That was until this Thanksgiving, when I announced my pregnancy and thought I would finally be allowed to join them at the table.

Instead, Landon let his newly hired young assistant take the seat beside him, the seat that had been left empty for five years.

His younger brother immediately spoke up.

"Landon, this is a family dinner. Those seats aren't assigned randomly."

"Besides, that's Rose's seat. Letting someone who isn't part of the family"

But Landon frowned.

"I'm the head of the Delgado family. I decide the rules. No one else gets to question me."

Then he turned and saw me still wearing my apron, standing off to the side.

Landon lowered his voice, coaxing.

"Rose, the girl's got no family left. Spending the holiday alone must be hard enough. Don't make her feel bad."

"There's no seat left at the table anyway. You've eaten in the back kitchen for five years already. One more time won't make a difference."

Watching him go to such lengths to shield his little assistant.

I suddenly found it laughable, everything I'd endured, the baby I had finally conceived through IVF after years of hardship.

So the seat I couldn't earn in five years, he could hand to an outsider with a single word.

Then this Mrs. Delgado, I won't be her anymore.

……

Bartholomew Delgado, the younger brother, rules and traditions that made no sense to him

He stood up and looked at the girl beside Landon.

"Miss Joyce, is it? The seat beside my brother is only for my sister-in-law. Even if it stays empty, it's not meant for anyone else. It isn't right."

"As it happens, I've got somewhere to be, so I'll head out. You can sit here, in mine."

At that, Mrs. Delgado shot him a glare.

"Don't act up. You only come home once every few years. Tonight's dinner is to welcome you back. What kind of thing is it, walking out?"

Everyone knew Bartholomew was giving Anna Joyce a way out.

But she acted as if she didn't get it, her eyes immediately filling with tears.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault, I shouldn't have told Mr. Delgado I missed my parents. He felt sorry for me, that's why he brought me here to feel the warmth of a family."

"I'm the one causing everyone trouble. I should just go…"

She looked like she was the one being wronged.

Landon pressed a hand to her shoulder, soothing her in a gentle voice.

"Sit here and don't worry. With me here, no one would dare make you feel unwelcome."

He ignored Bartholomew and turned to me.

"Rose, Anna gets nervous around strangers. Keeping her beside me makes it easier for me to take care of her."

"It's just a seat. Don't fuss over something so small, all right?"

I quietly clenched my apron.

I thought back to my first family dinner after the wedding, when, because I hadn't given the Delgado family an heir yet, I was only allowed to eat in the back kitchen.

Landon had coaxed me in exactly that same tone.

"Rose, I've only just become head of the family. I can't be the one to break the rules and hand people something to hold against me."

"Don't put me in a hard spot, all right?"

So that seat, whether I sat in it or not, was always wrong.

Bartholomew let out a mocking laugh.

"Showing up uninvited at a Delgado family dinner and taking the seat reserved for your wife That's what you call being shy around strangers?"

"Rose, come on, let's go eat somewhere else. Perfect timing, Vivian's been missing you, she wants to video call."

Before I could even untie my apron, Landon blocked my way, a warning in his eyes.

"Bartholomew, I know you've got yourself a girlfriend from overseas, but don't go letting her influence rub off on your sister-in-law"

"You can leave, but Rose, as Mrs. Delgado, walking out on the guests would be disrespectful. And my family and my wife are not your responsibility."

The two of them were brothers, sons of the same father but different mothers.

Landon's birth mother had died years ago, and the current Mrs. Delgado was his father's second wife.