Taube's second marriage was arranged by her family and, as Goldman puts it, "mismated from the first".[5] Her second husband, Abraham Goldman, invested Taube's inheritance in a business that quickly failed. The ensuing hardship combined with the emotional distance of husband and wife to make the household a tense place for the children. When Taube became pregnant, Abraham hoped desperately for a son; a daughter, he believed, would serve as one more sign of failure.[6] They eventually had three sons, but their first child was Emma.[7]