My brother told me once that our mum had raised her hand against his wife, and I immediately sensed that something was off.
During our holiday, Mum called me in a right state. She was in floods of tears, absolutely beside herself. After I hung up, I rang my brother to find out what on earth was going on. But he cut me off, blunt as anything, insisting I should ask Mum myself, because apparently I already knew the reason behind her blubbing. He even said she was only getting what she deserved. Rather rattled, my husband and I decided to cut our trip short. Despite the outrageous train fares, we rushed home as fast as we could.
When we finally made it back, we found Mum still quite shaken up, pacing around and unable to settle. I gave her a cup of chamomile tea to calm her nerves and she finally managed to tell us about the sorry affair. Turns out, shed come home from work, only to be greeted by the shocking sight of her daughter-in-law covered in bruises. Given that she was pregnant, Mum was understandably more than a little alarmed. She dashed over, hugged her, and asked what in heavens name had happened. Unfortunately, thats when my brother walked in. His wife suddenly leapt to her feet, started wailing like a banshee, and accused Mum of giving her a good pasting.
Mum stood there, as bewildered as someone discovering Marmite for the first time, utterly clueless as to what was happening. My brother, completely buying his wifes sob story, went ballistic and kicked poor Mum out of the house on the spot. Later, he took his wife to hospital where, sadly, she lost the baby. He refused to listen to reason, blanked us all, and was determined to hold a grudge against Mum for the whole debacle. But I just knew in my gut that things didnt add up, and I believed Mums side of the story.
Fortunately, the truth finally bubbled to the surface from the most unexpected place. It turned out my sister-in-laws friendluckily, a decent soulspilled the beans to me. She explained the real story: my sister-in-law had cooked up the entire scheme to manipulate my brother into giving Mum the boot. Shed even taken matters into her own hands to end her own pregnancy. When my brother discovered the truth, he was absolutely livid and promptly showed his wife the door. Afterwards, he apologised to Mum with genuine regret and a very British cup of tea.
A mothers heart is always soft, and despite everything shed been put through, Mum forgave him and welcomed him back with a warm embraceno grudges, just that trademark motherly love we all secretly rely on.
