On Thanksgiving, Penelope, a 43-year-old private chef, took on a job to cook at a client’s home. Upon entering, she saw a wedding photo on the mantelpiece—it was of her husband with another woman. The other woman, Tiffany, relayed her husband’s story: his ex-wife couldn’t have children and had died of an illness a few years ago. The doorbell rang repeatedly, and in came her parents, younger sister, father-in-law, and 15-year-old daughter—the other woman called her parents “Mom and Dad,” and the
