When William and I got married 15 years ago, my mother-in-law let me know right away that we would never be friends. We got married, but William and I had no children. We waited for them for a long ten years. And then God rewarded our expectations with a son and a daughter.
During those years that we lived together, William was doing well. He was the director of a big company, so I could take care of the kids on maternity leave. It suited me fine.
My mother lived far away from us, so she couldn’t help me, and my mother-in-law never changed her attitude to me during those 15 years. In her eyes I was a nobody, a hick, who had ensnared her son. My mother-in-law had looked out for a “better” girl for him. But he chose me.
My happy world fell apart in an instant.
One day I came home with the kids from a walk, and I saw a piece of paper on the nightstand. As I walked, I realized that William’s things weren’t in the house. He had left me, and on the piece of paper he had written sloppily:
“Forgive me, but I fell in love with someone else. You don’t have to look for me, I know you’re strong and you’ll cope… Believe me, it’s for the best.”
I immediately called my husband, but all I got was silence. He never picked up the phone. William simply disappeared from our lives, leaving me and the children to fend for ourselves. I knew nothing: neither where he was, nor with whom. Grudgingly, I called my mother-in-law.
– It was all your fault,” she said triumphantly. – I predicted that all this will end. How did you want it to end?
I was already completely confused: what am I guilty of? Was it something I did wrong? It was hard to accept, and even harder to think about how to live. William hadn’t left us any money, so I had almost no resources to support myself.
I could not go to work yet, there was no one to leave the children with. And then it occurred to me that I once had a good part-time job writing academic papers. So we could barely make it through another six months. During that time I didn’t hear from my husband.
***
A late call at the door one autumn evening made me think it was someone from the neighborhood. But when I opened the door, I saw my mother-in-law on the threshold. Immediately at the door she cried and I invited her in.
It turns out that William’s young girlfriend is a con artist who tricked him, leaving their family with practically nothing. Now they are barely making ends meet. My mother-in-law begged me to let her stay with us. And I don’t know what to do: forgive her or do the same thing they did to me recently-just cut her out of my life?
