When William and I wed all those years agofifteen, if you can believe ithis mother made it clear from the very beginning that she and I would never be friends. We married, but for ten long years, children eluded us. We waited and hoped, and at long last, just when we thought our chance had passed, the Lord blessed us with a son and then a daughter.
In those days, life together with William was good. He had an impressive position as Managing Director at a prominent firm, which allowed me the joyand privilegeof tending to our children full-time on maternity leave. It was a circumstance I cherished deeply.
My own mother lived in the north, too far to be of much help, and Williams mother never softened towards me through those fifteen years. In her eyes, I was just a country girl who had ensnared her son, hardly worthy of their name. She had always envisioned someone better for him, but William had chosen me.
Then, without warning, my contented world fell apart.
One afternoon, returning from a walk in the park with the children, I noticed a slip of paper on the bedside table. As I came inside, I quickly realised that Williams belongings were nowhere to be seen. He had left us. The note, scrawled hastily, read: “Forgive me, but I have fallen for someone else. Please dont look for me, I know youre strong and youll manage… Believe me, this is for the best.”
I phoned William the instant I understood, but all I met was silence. He never answered, not once. He vanished, leaving the children and me to fend for ourselves. I knew nothingwhere he had gone or with whom. With heavy heart, and no one else to turn to, I rang my mother-in-law.
“This is your doing,” she said, triumphant. “I always said it would come to this. What did you expect?”
I was utterly lost and bewildered. What had I done? Had I been so terribly wrong? It was hard to accept and harder still to imagine how wed manage. William hadnt left a single pound, and I had barely any means to support us.
I wasn’t able to return to work straightaway, as there was no one to look after the children. Then I remembered the part-time work I used to do writing essays and research papers. With that, we could just about scrape by for another six months. Not a word came from William in all that time.
***
One chilly autumn evening, a knock sounded at the door. I imagined it was a neighbour calling by, yet when I opened it, there stood my mother-in-law on the step. At the door, she broke down in tears, so I ushered her inside. As it turned out, Williams new love had deceived him, leaving him destitute and his family near ruin. Now, they could hardly make ends meet.
My mother-in-law pleaded for me to let her stay with us. And so, here I sit, tornshould I forgive her, or give her the very treatment they so recently gave me, showing her the way out of our lives for good?
