much about it.

I was too busy surviving life with triplets.

Then came the night everything changed.

It was the World Cup final, and Richard invited six friends over to watch the game.

I made a huge pot of chili, filled bowls with chips, and stocked the coffee table with drinks.

“Bel, you’re a queen,” one of the guys said as I carried food into the living room.

“Enjoy it while it’s hot,” I joked.

Richard appeared in the doorway and clapped his hands.

“Gentlemen, my wife feeds you, cleans up after you, but apparently she doesn’t laugh at my jokes anymore!”

Several men chuckled.

David didn’t.

I carried the empty tray back toward the kitchen and told myself the same thing I had told myself a hundred times.

It was just Richard being Richard.

Later, I returned to collect the dirty plates.

As I reached the kitchen doorway, theliving room suddenly erupted in loud laughter.

I turned around.

Richard wasn’t sitting on the couch anymore.

He was standing beside the television.

And in his hand was the pastel pink package I kept hidden upstairs.

My protective underwear.

Six grown men were looking at me.

Richard raised the package like he had just won a trophy.

“Look what I found! Our triplets already know how to hold it in, but apparently their mother is still working on it!”

The room exploded again.

My ears started ringing.

The plates suddenly felt incredibly heavy in my hands.

Richard continued.

“Careful, guys. Don’t make her laugh too much or we’ll have to protect the couch!”

My face burned.

“Richard, please put that away.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Oh, relax, Bel. It’s a joke. If you’re embarrassed, maybe you should’ve fixed the problem by now.”

Someone whistled.

Another man slapped the couch.Istood frozen in my own living room.

Richard kept talking.

Mattress covers.

The grocery-store aisle.

More jokes I barely heard because humiliation had turned everything around me into noise.

I thought about Mandy, Randy, and Tobby sleeping upstairs.

I thought about everything my body had gone through to bring them into the world.

I thought about the months I had spent recovering while caring for three infants.

Then I noticed David.

He wasn’t laughing.

Not even slightly.

He sat near the window with his beer halfway to his mouth, staring at the package in Richard’s hand.

Then his eyes moved toward me.

Something changed in his expression.

Not pity.

Something heavier.

“Rich,” David said quietly.

Richard kept talking.

“Richard.”

This time David’s voice was louder.

The room shifted.

A few men glanced at him.

Richard laughed.

“What? Don’t tell me you’re about to lecture me. It’s a joke. She’s fine.