Mother-In-Law

“Why didn’t you show up?” She strolls over to me. I hold back my eyes from rolling. She’s holding up her sparkly golden purse and swirls her white dress a little bit.

“To what?” I ask as politely as I possibly can. I dig my clenching fist into my jeans to hide it.

“To your baby shower of course! Oh dear, I told you about it weeks ago! When, where, who. I gave you all the information.” She lets out a laugh as if I messed up and forgot today.

“I remember that call.” I try to smile politely. “I told you I had work and couldn’t come. I’m about to get that promotion so if I say I can’t come I might not get it and I wouldn’t want to-”

“To disappoint me or my son, that’s it, isn’t it?” She laughs gingerly. “Well, all the stuff is in your garage. Anyway, my daughter-in-law, I better get going.” She pulls my arm out of my jeans and takes my hands in hers. “I’ll see you-” She looks down and looks at my hands. I pull them back because she’s acting weird. “What, are you trying to hide the fact that you’re not wearing your ring?”

“Of course not!”

“No, no, I understand.” She says and her smile becomes even more fake. “You don’t want to wear the ring that my son bought for you. Oh, are you not loyal? Is that what’s going on? Tch, I knew you weren’t good enough for my son.”

“MOM!” Brian comes jogging over and takes my hand in his. “That’s enough! What are you doing talking to my wife like that?”

“Oh, darling.” She tries to take his hand and he pulls back. “Honey, what’s wrong?”

“What are you doing? Leave her alone!” He steps forward and pulls me slightly behind him. It’s as if he’s protecting me. I start to feel the tears in my eyes and try to stop them from rolling down.

“Son, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” She sighs. She twirls around her fake diamond bracelet. “As your mother, I know what’s best for you. And Molly? She isn’t good for you. She works as a writer, a job that will never earn her any money.”

“Ma’am.” I utter. “If I get this promotion, I’ll have a salary of nearly 70,000. I’ll be able to support our life.” I squeeze Brian’s hand. 

“70,000?” She laughs so hard I would almost describe it as a cackle. “Come on, not even 6 digits? Disappointing.”

“That’s enough!” Brian shouts. “We’re done here.” He pulls me away at a fast walk towards his car. I look back expecting to see his mother’s face full of sadness, but instead, it’s full of anger. She’s angry at me. And her own son.

“Come on.” Brian pulls me along. He opens the door for me and I hop in, he swings around and jumps into the driver seat. He lets out a deep sigh I rarely hear from him.

“Do you want to talk?” I ask him.

“I-” As soon as he lets out a sound I can see his heart breaking. “I thought she would change. I thought…” He tries to stop himself but I see it’s too hard.

I reach my hand over and rub her back. “Do you know what you want to do?” I lean over and kiss his cheek.

“Yeah.” He lets out another shaky breath trying to stop crying. “I can’t let you go through this anymore. You don’t deserve it. We don’t deserve it.”

“You don’t deserve it.” I take a deep breath and hold his hand with mine. It wouldn’t help the situation if I started crying too, even though I really want to.

“I need to tell her to stop. For good. I think… I think I need to cut ties with her.”

“Are you sure?” I immediately ask. He and his mom were never close, but after his father’s death, he’s wanted to make sure she’s okay. It was very hard on her.

“Yes. I’m going to go to her house the day after tomorrow.”

“I’ll come.”

“No!” He shouts and then takes a breath. “What I mean to say is, well, you don’t have to. You can if you wish to, it’s your choice. Just don’t feel pressured.”

“I want to. I want to be there for me.” I squeeze his hand. “Let me.”

“Okay.”

I step outside. It’s a calm day, and the wind feels nice. I walk over next door. I hit the doorbell and a man comes to the door. “Hello, sir,” I say. “How are you today?”

Elliot is an older gentleman who’s always been kind to Brian and me. He gives us cookies around the holidays and listens to us when we have troubles. “Oh, Molly! Hello sweetheart, how are you?”

“I’m good, thank you. I’m free and was wondering if Scout wanted to go on a walk or run?”

“Scout!” He croaks out. A big fluffy golden shepherd comes bounding toward the door. “Would you like to go out with sweet Molly here, boy?” 

Scout lets out a small bark. I lean over and clip on the leash. “We’ll be back in about an hour, sir. See you around!”

We start heading out on a jog. Scout is acting up a little bit, but he’s having so much fun it’s hard to scold him. About 20 minutes later, I see Brian’s Mom down the sidewalk a bit. I slow to a walk and tell Scout to stay close.

“Molly dear!” She calls out. “Oh, so wonderful to see you! And is that…? Oh, a dog.”

“Hello, ma’am.” Once we get closer I put Scout into a sit. “Yes, this is Scout, our neighbor’s dog that Brian has told you about.”

“Well.” She scoffs. “Keep that hideous thing away from me.” She steps back, but Scout hasn’t moved an inch.

“Don’t worry,” I assure her. “I know you’re allergic, but Scout’s a good boy. He won’t come any closer to you if I tell him not to.”

“Tch.” She rolls her eyes. “Well, I’m glad my son doesn’t like dogs.” That’s not true. I think. Brian loves dogs. He really wants to get one, but he doesn’t because of… because of his Mom.

“Well, I better keep moving!” I wave goodbye and start walking.

“Goodbye.” She says sternly and walks a big circle around us and keeps going.

I continue walking for a bit and then get into a run. I think I’ll tell Brian about this later. But for now, it’s time for Scout to have fun.

“Hey love,” I call out when I get home. “I saw your Mom today.”

He comes rushing in. “What?” He asks. He sits me down on the couch, ready to hear what happened.

“Well, it was kind of weird, because I’ve never seen her take a walk around these parts,” I say. “It’s so far from home. And I had Scout out and of course, I remember she’s allergic. And then he says you don’t like dogs.”

“Oh.” He puts his head in his hands. “I do. I guess I always thought, since she’s allergic, we could never get one.”

“Baby.” I put my hand on his. I rest my head on his shoulder. “I love you, you know that, right?”

“I do.” He pulls me closer. “I do. And I love you too.”

The next morning there’s a lot of tension in the air. We’re both ready and step outside of our house.

“Are you ready, love?” I shift around his jacket. “Are you still sure about this?”

“Yes.” He brushes my hair through his fingers. “Let’s go.”

We jump into the car and start driving. We let ourselves sit in silence for the ride while we think about what’s happening. After about half an hour we arrived.

“Ready?” I ask him and he nods his head in response. I hit the doorbell. The door opens a few seconds later.

“Oh, dearest you’re here!” She smiles at Brian. “I’m so happy to see you! Oh, and you brought Molly. Hi there, darling.”

“We need to talk, Mom.” He states.

“Well, of course, I haven’t had you over for tea in ages! Come in, come in!” She waves us in and I close the door behind us. We go and sit down and she turns on the water.

“Mom. Come sit. I want to talk.” Brian can only let out short sentences. He’s nervous, I can tell.

“Oh, sure love!” She plops down in the chair and pushes some tarts towards Brian as if she’s not offering me any. “Try some, dear. I made them just for you! Oh, and Molly… I guess you can have one if you want.”

“Enough!” Brian slams the door and stands up. “I’m done with this, Mom! This is enough.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Stop treating my wife as if she’s some idiot who can’t tell what you’re doing. You’re being an absolute jerk to her and me, okay? You keep doing things as if Molly isn’t good enough for me, but she is everything I’ve ever wanted. I love her. I love her so much and you are so rude to her!”

“Darling, I don’t mean to.” She tries desperately to explain.

“Yes, you do! She tells me about all the things you do and say.”

She bursts out laughing. “Oh dear, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Your wife here must be making up stories. And that’s exactly why she isn’t good for you.”

“We’re leaving.” Brian pulls me up to stand next to him. “We’re not doing this anymore, Mother.”

“W-What?” She stutters.

“I’m done with this.” He sighs. “You are going to stop bothering me and my wife because you are no longer going to contact us in any way.”

“WHAT?!” She shouts.

“I’m sorry, but I have to do this. We’re cutting ties. We’re done.” He pulls me along. I close my eyes as I can hear her shouting. She’s crying. I don’t think her emotions are fake this time. Brian pulls me along. I clench my fists and squeeze into Brian a little too hard and I feel him wince. He slams the door shut behind us.

I pull him into a tight hug and squeeze hard. I rub his back slowly. He leans his head into my shoulder and pulls me in even tighter. “Now what?” I ask him.

He pulls away from me and puts his hands on my shoulders. He looks me deep into my eyes. “Well.” He smiles wide. “What do you think about going to the shelter to get a dog?”