I Paid the Price for My Son’s Happiness: How I Chose My Future Daughter-in-Law and Orchestrated My Son’s Ideal Love Story

Author Walton MerrittReading 5 minViews 2

I paid for my sons happiness

For a long time, I wrestle with the decision before finally resolving that Im going to choose a wife for my son myself. I decide Ill pick the right young woman and bring them together. My son is, in my eyes, the most sought-after child imaginable. I am absolutely besotted with him. For years, hes been everything to me. I raised him single-handedly from sleepless nights to patching him up when he scraped his knees, to cheering him on through every challenge. Now Im faced with handing this perfect young man over to another woman?

Of course, I always knew the day would arrive when my son would find his own partner, but letting him go is excruciatingly hard. Thats why I devise a little plan.

I make peace with the fact that my son is starting to take an interest in girls. But I just cant see eye-to-eye with his spoilt girlfriend. I dont beat about the bush: I tell him straight shes simply not right for him. What we need is a decent, polite, and modest girl.

Without a word to my son, I shoulder the responsibility of finding a bride for him. The girl must be someone I can relate to, someone I can talk with openly.

I dont have endless candidates: theres the girl from down the road, my friends daughter, and a few of his classmates. When I speak with the neighbours daughter and her mum, I quickly realise shes not what I want. Shes very overweight, and, if Im honest, I want my son to be happy and his partner to be in good shape.

Next, I chat with my friends daughter, but it turns out shes already got a boyfriend, so shes off the list. As for the girls in his year at school, thats a non-starter not worth mentioning, it was a total dead end.

I find myself at a loss. Theres no one else on my list. So, Im left with little choice but to follow my son and see for myself what sort of girls he likes.

I have to stretch the truth a bit and tell him I want to observe how he works. He isnt thrilled, but he agrees anyway. I spend the entire day watching him interact with his workmates. I wanted to see which of the girls seemed to catch his eye. I have a few chats with the other women at the office and pick up some interesting tidbits.

By the end of the day, I know with certainty theres no one suitable for him at his workplace. On the way home, my son suggests stopping at a café. I almost say no, but then I think perhaps this is where Ill find the girl Im searching for… In the café, I see my son having a lovely chat with a pretty waitress. In that moment I just know: shes the one Ive been looking for.

Shes both friendly and modest. I decide to speak with her and explain my situation.
Are you mad? she asks me. This isnt exactly above board, is it?
Well, I say, surely you want a better life, and my son is the one who could make that happen for you.

I offer her a substantial sum of money more than enough to put her brother through university. Sisterly love, it turns out, is stronger than her principles, and she promises me shell make my son fall in love with her.

With our agreement in place, we keep in close contact. I tell her everything she needs to know to win his heart.

I want results, and I dont have to wait long. My son is utterly smitten with this girl. He never stops talking about her. Hes always telling me how beautiful Emily is, how well she cooks, what music she likes, what films she enjoys. Eventually, I ask him to introduce me to his girlfriend and of course, he does.

When Emily comes to visit, I have a gentle chat with her. She admits shes grown fond of my son, and then tries to return the money. But thats not my plan.

If their feelings have blossomed into genuine love, why would I ask for the money back? I tell her to keep it, and to start getting ready for the wedding.

Now, my children are both happy, and Ive gained a dutiful daughter-in-law, whos fast becoming my closest friend and our little secret will always stay between us. Im glad that my plan helped my son find happiness!

For about a year, my son had been living with Kate, but we had never met her parents, which struck me as odd—so I decided to investigate I’ve always raised my son to respect women above all—his grandmother, his mother, his wife, his daughter. In my view, that’s the finest quality a man can have: respect for women. My husband and I gave our son a wonderful upbringing and education, and provided him with everything he needed to face life with confidence. We wanted to let him find his own way, but we still bought him a two-bedroom flat. While he worked to support himself, he didn’t earn enough to afford his own place. We didn’t just hand him the flat or even tell him about the purchase. Why? Because our son was living with his girlfriend—simple as that. For about a year, he’d been living with Kate, but we’d never met her parents, and I found that strange. Later, I discovered that Kate’s mother was once the neighbour of a friend of mine. She told me something that made me uneasy. It turned out her mother kicked her husband out when he started earning less, but the real oddity began afterwards… The woman started dating a married, but wealthy man. Kate’s grandmother, just like her daughter, was also involved with a married man and forced both her daughter and granddaughter to help out at his country cottage. Because of this, my son had already had several run-ins with his potential mother-in-law. But what troubles me most is that both Kate’s mother and grandmother are turning Kate against her father. The girl is clearly attached to her dad, but thanks to these women, her relationship with him is at risk. And, the cherry on top: Kate decided to drop out of university. She believes a man should take care of the family, which I understand—I’ve prepared my son for that—but heaven forbid they run into trouble down the line. Where’s the safety net if things go wrong? How will she support her husband then? By the way, I’ve reassigned the flat’s ownership to myself, because I know I raised him to be a true gentleman. Sure, anything you own before marriage isn’t split after divorce, but Kate is such a clever woman she could send my “gentleman” off with nothing but his socks.