It so happens that my sister and I share a mother-in-law. Yes, reallya single terrifying woman binds us both in matrimonial misery.
Everyone adored my husband, and he certainly never struggled to find the words. He wooed me, but it didnt stop him glancing over at my sister. The minute Oliver learned my gran had left me her flat and not Emily, he wasted no time in proposing. Talk about romance.
At this point, my sister was already pregnanta charming detail, since she had planned on marrying him herself and, well, wanted to ensure she had a bit of leverage. She ended up fibbing to her ex that the baby was his, just to make sure there was a man in sight for the big day.
Oliver and I ended up living in a cramped little house withyou guessed itmy in-laws. When the neighbours put their plot of land up for sale, Oliver convinced me to flog the flat and buy the land instead. Against my better judgement, I agreed. Turned out, we also needed a loan to build the actual house.
Meanwhile, my mother-in-law never missed a chance to show me the door. Shed nitpick everything I did, coddle her darling daughter, and bark orders at me like I was the hired help. When our home was finally finished, she tore down the fence and let her dogs rampage througheven though she knew I was petrified of them. It was a very clear Im in charge here. No matter how many times I pleaded with Oliver to speak to her, hed brush it off as my overactive imagination.
Eventually, I snapped. I marched off to court to claim my share of the house and get myself a decent flat. Thats when I learned, to my horror, that the only official owner was my mother-in-law. Dont ask me how they pulled that fast one. The result? I was out, homeless, and furious.
At that moment, Oliver discovered Emily had inherited a flat from our father, and decided to stir the pot by telling her husbandthe real father of her daughterall about it. I divorced Oliver, and sure enough, he gave Emily the exact same treatment he gave me.
By now, Emily and I had barely spoken, so I found out by sheer accident that the two of them were together. But when Emily realised Oliver was just as much of a scoundrel to her, she suggested we join forces.
We did our detective workthank you, bored neighboursand learned our mother-in-law and her ever-adorable son had snapped up five plots already, all thanks to gullible women. Oliver would move his latest wife in, divorce her, and leave her high and dry. Classic.
So, we rounded up the other unfortunate souls and filed a class action against them. Exceptplot twistOliver had done a runner abroad. The only one left lurking about was my mother-in-law, who now expected us to hand over the children, as they were her only grandchildren.
She tried to strip us of custody, arguing we didnt have flats of our own. The courts made sure we each had somewhere to live, but in the end, her scheming is what landed us here in the first place. After the merry dance of the legal process, we were ordered to allow the kids to visit their dear Nana, and not to block her from seeing them.
The worst bit? My mother-in-law spends her days turning our daughters against us. The moral of the story, according to her, is that Grandma is the good guy and were the villains. She brazenly sabotages our happiness, demands investigations, and teaches her granddaughters to lie about smoking and drinking. Now, the girls have stooped to giving us ultimatums: no tablet, and theyll ring up social services!
I will take my grandchildren! Just you wait! screeches my mother-in-law.
Honestly, what are we meant to do? How do we stand up to her? Shes caused us endless grief, and she simply wont let up.
