Long ago, in a quiet village near York, a husband returned from visiting his mother, sighed deeply, and suggested a paternity test for their two-year-old daughter. “Not for me,” he muttered. “For Mother…”
For six months before the wedding, his mother had warned him. “Dont marry hershe isnt right for you!” recalled Eleanor, now thirty, her voice quivering with anger. “Too prettyshell betray you!” At first, they laughed it off, joking that William should have wed a hedgehog if he wanted to avoid deceit. But now, there was no laughter left. None at all.
Eleanor never thought herself a dazzling beautyjust an ordinary woman from the Yorkshire outskirts, tidy and well-kept like most. Slender, neatly dressed, and particular in matters of love, she had always carried herself with dignity. Why her mother-in-law, Margaret, had branded her as flighty and unfaithful remained a puzzle. Yet that woman had turned Eleanors life into misery.
They had been married four years and had a daughter. Eleanor, on maternity leave, spent her days cooking, cleaning, and tending to the child. The only faces she saw were the other mothers in the park. But Margaret never relented. She watched Eleanor like a penny dreadful detective, convinced of infidelity.
“Shes always spied on me!” Eleanor sighed, eyes glistening. “Phoning to check, arriving unannounced, tracking my every move. At first, I tried to laugh it off. William and I would chuckle over it. But it wears you down! Ive snapped more than onceshouting matches, then silence. Shed quiet for a time… only to start afresh.”
The first scandal came months after the wedding. Margaret barged into Eleanors workplace without warningno call, no reason. Just to see: “Does she truly work here? Or is she lying to my son while off with lovers?”
“Ive no idea how she even got in!” Eleanor fumed. “Theres securityvisitors must sign in. I nearly fainted when the clerk led her over: Someone to see you. I asked, Margaret, what are you doing here? She just said, Wanted to see where you work, while eyeing the room! Our office is open-plan, everyone at their desks. God help me if Id had a private door…”
The clerk, Beatrice, later whispered that the odd woman had grilled her endlessly. “How long has she worked here? Is she punctual? Who does she speak to? Is there someone?” Beatrice added, baffled, “I told her you were married!” Eleanor was livid. That evening, she erupted at William: “Your mothers gone too far! Speak to herthis is madness! Shed have checked under my desk for a lover if she could. Though who knows…”
William seemed to have stern words with his mother. A fragile peace settled. Margaret called in the evenings, sent fruitcakes, asked after them. Eleanor dared to hope the storm had passed. She was wrong.
The next incident struck during her pregnancy. Home ill, she slept with the phone off when a clamour woke herbanging at the door, the bell ringing nonstop. “I jumped up, thinking the house was on fire!” she recalled. “Peeked through the peephole… Margaret! Face twisted, hammering like a madwoman. I was too frightened to open up. I rang William: Come now, I dont understand! He took twenty minutes. All that time, she waited on the step…”
They screamed at Margaret. Eleanor threatened the police or Bedlam if it happened again. “Keep her away from me!” she demanded. The quiet returned… briefly.
Eleanor bore a daughter, but her mother-in-law refused even to see the child. Why? The men in Williams family only ever had sons. A girl, Margaret declared, was proof of infidelity. “I didnt entertain such rot,” Eleanor said. “I cut her off. William sees her once a month, alone. Good. Id never trust her with my girl.”
The worst came later. One evening, William returned from his mothers, grim-faced, and proposed… a paternity test. “Not for me, Eleanor, of course!” he stammered. “For Mother. To put an end to this! Shes driving me mad with it…”
Eleanor laughed bitterly. “For your mother?” Her voice shook with fury. “Admit you believe her nonsense! Shell never stop. Even with ten tests, shed say we forged them! I wont play her gamefull stop.”
“Its just a test…” William pressed.
“Whats the point?” Eleanor stared, tears held back. “I know who my daughters father is. Do you? If you need proof, fine. But first, we divorce. I wont stay with a man who doubts me!”
Her words fell like an axe. Trust between them splintered, poisoned by his mother. Eleanor felt herself teetering on the edge, unsure how to pull her marriage back from the brink.
