This may come as a surprise, but Maple and Merry’s relationship is actually not terrible. Or at least, not as terrible as one might expect. I originally envisioned adult Maple as a panicky neurotic conservative-reactionary ball of anxiety, and she still does dip into that sometimes, especially wherever her daughter is concerned. But really, I think Maple is largely a fairly happy-go-lucky person, with a tendency to always look on the bright side. Even to her own detriment.
Early on in their marriage, it bothered Maple deeply that Merry didn’t like to help out with the baby, leaving her perpetually exhausted. Unfortunately, she learned quite quickly that Merry is an old dog, and very much cannot be taught new tricks. So she prayed on it, and with a bit of an attitude adjustment (and some happy pills), she decided she was instead quite grateful to have a husband who felt so confident entrusting so much of the childcare to her! What reason would she ever have to want to leave Merry, haha? And be a working single mom, slaving away at a crummy job to pay some crummy daycare worker to raise her child? No thank you! Life with Merry is far preferable. This is fine. :) Everything is fine~
Merry and Maple are not in love, but they also don’t hate each other? Merry views her as a semi-annoying young adult he’s tasked with caring for, a sort of sugar baby that does his laundry. While they struggle to form a connection that is especially meaningful or honest, they do manage to glean some degree of comfort out of the other’s existence. Merry likes not having an empty house, and he likes having a youthful-looking wife he can flaunt, even if he struggles to relate to a woman twenty years his junior. Although Merry clearly doesn’t view Maple as a fellow respected adult with good judgement, he is notably not uh, openly cruel or belittling to her, the way he can be with others. That’s a win in Maple’s book, makes her feel kinda special. ;)
Maple meanwhile still sorta views Merry as her boss, and maintains the sort of friendly working relationship she had with him back when she was his young office assistant. They keep conversation light, common topics are sports and happenings around town. She still brings him his coffee. The only real difference is that now they live together. Over the years, Maple has been able to maintain her positive view of Merry by simply never expecting much out of him. She doesn’t expect him to care about her interests or hobbies or dreams or worries, and in the same vein, she doesn’t care much about his. “That’s nice, sweetie”, is a common Maple-ism. She definitely doesn’t expect him to bother getting her off, but hey, that’s what Mr. Vibrating Wand and her horsey mags are for!
In their later years, she’s quite serene at the news that Merry is struggling with sexual dysfunction (psychologically induced, he is struggling with how old and undesirable he feels, especially compared to Maple), because awesomesauce! :D Means he’s largely stopped pawing at her, or trying to crawl over her at night. They’re getting older now, and they can both just relax. This may not be the life Maple had always envisioned for herself, but hey, it could be a lot worse. She doesn’t have to work, she’s financially secure, she’s got a lovely home with lovely throw pillows and a very lovely medicine cabinet, she’s got an absolutely perfect daughter, she’s got a husband who mostly leaves her alone. Why would she ever want anything more….?