Tried to Drive a Wedge Between My Son and His Expectant Wife

Hey love, you wont believe the drama thats been going on at my place lately. So I was trying to stir up a little fight between James and his pregnant wife, Emily, just for the fun of it.

Honestly, Mum says youve gone a bit odd, James mutters, rolling his eyes.

Emily snorts, Mum says? and we both think of the latest row. Its ridiculous how Margaret, Jamess mother, keeps bringing up her own tragic past every single time she gets a word in edgewise probably for the hundredth time by now.

Margaret, can we change the subject? Emily asks, polite but firm.

Margaret, whos just started another marathon monologue about the miscarriages she endured years ago, chokes on her words and looks at Emily with a puzzled stare.

Emily, Im only trying to support you, she says.

Thanks, but I dont need support from someone whose empathy is about as useful as a damp biscuit, Emily snaps.

Did you just call me stupid? Margarets eyes well up.

Normally Emily would try to smooth things over, maybe slip out with a fake urgent work call or claim shed forgotten an appointment. Shed have cooked up an excuse to escape Margarets endless sob stories about her sad past. But hormones are a funny thing, especially when youre expecting, and they mess with everything.

By the fifth month, Emilys gone from the patient, sweetnerved type to a straightshooting firecracker. She rolls up her sleeves and asks, Wheres the horse and the cottage, as they say, and then Ill sort out my own business.

What should I call you, since Ive told you three hundred times I dont want to hear about your failed parenting experiences? she says to her motherinlaw.

You know, I have a friend whos a highfunctioning autistic; he might break into a random dance in a shop or miss a joke, but even he would agree that bringing up such heavy stuff with a pregnant woman is pure idiocy.

So not only am I being called a fool, but youre telling me to get lost? All this for my kindness? Ive never heard a kind word from you

Maybe youd have something nice to say if you actually meant it! Emily snaps, slamming the front door shut, taking a deep breath, and flashing a satisfied grin.

I was hoping that would give her a breather for a few weeks, maybe even forever. But no, that chat with Margaret just opened a new can of worms.

James, their sons father, sat quiet at dinner, lost in thought. Emily tried to chat as usual, but his replies were monosyllabic, his mind clearly elsewhere. She asked what was wrong, and he just assured her everything was fine. She let it go.

She never connected his silence to the mornings blowup with his mum. She just assumed work stress or some other secret he didnt want to share.

A few days later, James finally changed the subject. Emily, have you heard about postnatal depression? It can hit even before the babys born, right?

Emily laughed, Maybe its not exactly postnatal, but Im not feeling depressed, am I?

Look, if it helps you feel better, Ill go to a therapist, but only if you go with me and explain why you think Im showing signs of depression.

She rolled her eyes, Mum says youve become strange.

Ah, mum again Emily mutters, recalling that fresh argument. Could Margaret really be ranting about how Emily snapped at her when she tried to bring up her sad past? Again, probably the hundredth time.

James, Ill be blunt: if anyone needs to see a specialist, its your mum. Do you know what she told me?

I know you two are always at each others throats. She thinks youre deliberately giving her a hard time with advice about hair masks and the like

What are you on about now? Emily asks, bewildered. James tries to explain that a few weeks ago his mum bought the same hair mask Emily had on her shelf because Margaret claimed Emily recommended it to her.

Mum tried the mask and thought Id badmouth it, while keeping the good one the one that makes her hair grow like a weed for herself, James says.

What? James, youre completely out of the loop about these womens gadgets. If you understood, youd see the catch instantly.

Emily, in under three minutes, managed to explain why shed never suggest a hair mask for someone whose hair has never seen ammonia dye or a straightener, and who naturally has decent volume. She told James that a daily mask for healthy hair simply wouldnt work for Margaret, who constantly bleaches and damages her locks with a bioperm that still wreaks havoc on her follicles.

She pulled up her phone, unlocked a chat, and showed James the exact message shed sent Margaret with the correct address for a parcel shed asked her to pick up from a friend.

Right, I get it now. Sorry, I shouldnt have trusted Mums word. She used to be normal, but you two fought over what exactly?

She started spilling her grief again, Emily sighs. Shes gone through a lot, four miscarriages before you came along, but she cant keep broadcasting it, especially with me pregnant and trying to keep my head above water. Im tired of listening to other peoples pain.

You mean she wants to kill me, James jokes, then seems to call his mum for a serious chat. After that, he returns home and tells Emily theyre done with his mother.

Emily feels a strange relief. Margarets relentless, erratic behavior had finally worn her out, and the attempts to smear Emily in front of James were pointless. Jamess relatives kept nagging that hed swapped his mum for some stranger. Hed just scoffed, saying his childs mother isnt a stranger, and that if Mums to blame for everything, then shes the one to answer to.

People love to point fingers, but hardly anyone on Jamess side agreed with that stance. He wasnt about to change his mind.

Now the only question remains: why did his mum feel the need to set him against his pregnant wife? The answers still up in the air.

Its the classic tale of a mother who cant share her son with another woman. She didnt just shareshe lost everything, and shes the one to blame. No point throwing the baby carriage at James and Emily now.

At least let her see the child, the relatives whine. Grandmas only joy is to dote on her grandkid in her golden years, and their son is the one denying her that.

And youre the ones pushing that grandma onto your grandchildren, forcing her into your families lives, James snaps back. Lets see how long your strong marriages survive that.

He seems to enjoy the backandforth with the extended family in the group chat. He probably regrets that after suggesting the relatives take charge of Grandmas care, theres nothing left but to push the topic aside.

James sees clearly that his mum isnt loved by the rest of the clan, and he finally understands why things turned out this way. He cant fix it, so after a few pointed remarks telling the relatives to mind their own business, he cut them off for good.

When that contact ends, so does any help they might have offered. That finally gave the loving people a reason to leave his family alone.

Now little Thomas is growing up in peace and quiet. James and Emily do everything they can to keep that calm for as long as possibleideally through his entire early childhood.

When he starts school, theyll teach him how to chat and how to properly answer those clingy relatives.

And teaching will be easy, because Emilys teeth, which sprouted after pregnancy, havent disappeared, and James isnt shy about it either.

Shyness these days just makes you a peoplepleaser; it doesnt do much in practice.

Emily feels lucky she figured all this out early, before it was too late to clean the slate and shake off every kind of parasite that tried to latch onto her life.