The sunlight poured through the high kitchen windows and lit up the polished dining table.
Sarah adjusted her position on the wooden chair to make herself more comfortable.
Her pregnancy was making long hours of sitting down very difficult for her back.
She smiled softly as she stroked her swollen belly with her right hand.
Across the wide room, her mother-in-law Evelyn stood near the formal china cabinet.
Evelyn was holding seven-year-old Leo firmly by his upper arms.
Leo was squirming hard against his grandmother's unexpected grip.
He looked terrified as he stared directly at his mother across the dining room.
Sarah felt a strange chill go down her spine as she watched them fight.
Evelyn kept her face tight and rigid as she leaned down toward the young boy.
"Hold still, Leo," Evelyn whispered with a strict tone in her soft voice.
"Grandma, you are hurting my arm," Leo whimpered while trying to pull away.
"I am holding you so you do not break anything," Evelyn replied quickly.
Sarah placed her teacup onto the glass coaster on the smooth oak surface.
She noticed that Evelyn's hands were trembling just a little bit today.
Evelyn had arrived unannounced at nine o'clock that brisk spring morning.
She had carried a large leather purse and a small paper bag with her.
She insisted on making Sarah a special herbal blend for her morning tea.
Sarah had found the gesture very sweet and unusually kind for her mother-in-law.
Their relationship had been quite distant and cold over the past three years.
Evelyn had never fully approved of Sarah marrying her only son, Mark.
She constantly complained about the small size of Sarah's modest family home.
She had also questioned Sarah's ability to take good care of a growing child.
Yet today, Evelyn had seemed surprisingly polite, helpful, and warm.
She had insisted that Sarah rest on the comfortable couch near the bright window.
She insisted on handling every single small household chore herself.
Sarah reached out her pale hand to pick up the warm cup again.
The steam rose gently from the sweet amber liquid inside the cup.
Leo suddenly let out a loud shout that echoed off the high ceiling.
He twisted violently out of his grandmother's grasp and sprinted across the room.
"Mom, don't drink it!" Leo screamed as he ran straight toward the dining table.
Evelyn gasped loudly and reached out to grab his blue shirt collar.
"Leo, stop this foolish nonsense right now!" Evelyn barked in a sharp voice.
Sarah froze with the rim of the cup just inches from her pale lips.
She looked up at her young son with genuine confusion in her eyes.
Leo slammed his hands down hard on the edge of the dining table.
"She put something in it!" Leo yelled while pointing a shaking finger at Evelyn.
"I saw her take a small paper packet out of her long winter coat pocket!"
Evelyn's face instantly lost all of its natural color in a split second.
"He is making up stories, Sarah," Evelyn said with a forced, unnatural smile.
"Children have such wild imaginations when they want extra attention from us."
Sarah looked down at the amber tea resting inside the white cup.
A tiny white film was floating silently right on top of the warm liquid.