My future husband and I had been dating for less than a year. When we met his mother, I had no idea that the attitude toward me and our daughter, who was born on time after we got married, would be so suspicious and negative. The trouble was that our little girl was born a classic blonde, with cornflower eyes, and my husband looked something like a gypsy, as did his younger brother.
While we were in the maternity ward, my mother-in-law called me, congratulated me, and wanted to finally meet her granddaughter. And so, that meeting took place. My mother-in-law’s face became aloof, and she asked me right in the lobby of the maternity hospital:
– What, did you have a baby switched?
Everyone who met us, just stunned, and my mother-in-law glared at me, waiting for an answer. I then confusedly mumbled that they couldn’t have switched it, since I was with the baby the whole time.
My mother-in-law’s second comment was written on her forehead, but she didn’t say it. But at home, when my husband and I were fussing with the baby, she said:
– It’s not your daughter, are you completely blind?
My husband froze in surprise, and my mother-in-law kept hammering nails into his head:
– She has nothing from you, and she doesn’t look like a mommy, think with your head, why could this happen? The other daddy did it!
Then my husband stood up for me, simply escorted my mother-in-law out of the apartment. I was offended to tears, we had waited so much for this day, pregnancy was not very easy, but my daughter was born healthy, active, and I was relieved when I was shown a pink, loudly crying girl, the doctor then joked:
– What a singer you gave birth to, the lungs are just great!
I smiled, and my daughter was treated, put next to me, and we were taken on a gurney to the ward. All the days before discharge I imagined a family holiday, planned how we would celebrate together, and suddenly there was a scandal.
When my mother-in-law left, my husband tried to calm me down, we even sat down at the table, but the mood was completely ruined. My mother-in-law seemed to have been replaced, even after my son did not support her, she did not give up, but began a long-term siege of our family. Calls to my husband became regular, and her infrequent visits to our house were always accompanied by her vicious comments to me and to our joy. The mother-in-law never took her granddaughter in her arms, tried to be alone with her son, and blew his mind with her demands for a paternity test and “eye contact. My mother-in-law didn’t hesitate to say anything, and I could hear everything from the other room. My husband convinced his mom that everything was fine, that girl was his daughter, saying he believed me, but my mother-in-law just laughed at his words:
– Well, let’s check it out!
During one of these lectures I could not stand it. Came into the kitchen, intervened in the conversation:
– How much you can listen to this nonsense, let’s really check, let’s order a beautiful frame, your mother will hang over her bed, and will admire the conclusion that Daddy – you!
My mother-in-law sparkled her eyes angrily and did not find what to say. I kind of supported her, but there was so much sarcasm in my intonation that their true meaning was quite clear.
Nevertheless, we did the test. My husband didn’t even want to read it, knowing perfectly well what it said, and my mother-in-law, having familiarized herself with the contents, returned the sheet to me. I couldn’t help but take a jab:
– So what do you want to order a frame, light or dark?
My mother-in-law got angry:
– She’s kidding me! Probably some acquaintance did the test, or paid for a piece of paper! Vaughn, my younger brother had a baby just like his father – swarthy, and with the same eyes, it was obvious that he was ours!
In a word, the test, which my mother-in-law was so eager to have, did not change anything. Our confrontation continued. Five years passed imperceptibly, in the midst of intrafamily quarrels. I got pregnant again, three months later than my brother’s wife, and they decided to have their second child as well. We had a wonderful relationship with their family, they would only throw up their hands when my mother-in-law started to express her suspicions about my daughter’s daddy again.
The second one they had was a little girl. We all met the baby and her mother from the hospital, and when I lifted the corner of the envelope and saw the baby, I laughed. There was a little copy of our daughter in there! Everyone looked at me perplexed, and I, still laughing, said:
– Well, admit it, and you’re from my lover impregnated daughter?
Everyone understood what we were talking about, reacted differently, but supported the joke. Only my mother-in-law’s face turned beet-colored. There was nothing to hide, and she said nothing. It was a turning point in our relationship. At first mother-in-law just stopped her outbursts, and when I first saw her playing dolls with her daughter, I realized that the ice had broken.
Now my daughter is my oldest favorite granddaughter, “our baby girl,” “my berry,” etc. My mother-in-law inundates her with presents, spoiling her and trying to make up for the years when she saw me and the child as the enemy. I am not angry with my mother-in-law, but, as in that joke, the residue remains. Hopefully, in time, it will disappear.
