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If My Mother Doesn’t Live with Us, I’m Getting a Divorce!” And So He Did…
“If Mum doesnt live with us, Ill divorce you!” And he did
A man who swears love and loyalty can become a stranger in an instant. Especially when youre forced to choosekeeping your family together or saving yourself from ruin. Ive lived through it.
When I married Edward, we didnt have our own place. We lived with his parents in a cramped two-bedroom flattight but manageable. Until one day, his stepfather came home and found his mother, Margaret, with a lover. A younger, cockier man, full of promises about “new horizons” and “streets paved with gold.” But he had one condition:
“Sell the flat. Were moving to another city. Starting fresh.”
We tried to warn Margaret. “Hes conning you. Youll end up homeless.” But she brushed us off. “Youre just jealous. Stay out of it.”
A week later, we were on the street with our baby in my arms. The flat was sold, and we were thrown out. Edward worked two jobs; I was on maternity leave, typing essays at night to scrape by. We barely covered rent, but we pushed onfor our future.
We dreamed of a mortgage, but fate intervened. My aunt passed away, childless and alone, leaving me a flat in another town. Spacious, bright, with windows overlooking a garden. With our savings, we renovated it. For the first time in ages, I breathed easy.
The peace didnt last.
One evening, as I washed dishes after dinner, there was a knock at the door. There stood Margaret, face puffy from crying, eyes like a beaten dogs.
“Love my boy he kicked me out Everythings gone. All I have is this suitcase. Please help me.”
Edward and I exchanged glances. I saw his face soften. He guided her to the kitchen, poured her tea. I stood there, a dull ache throbbing in my chest. Id warned her, begged her not to be reckless. Yet shed tossed us out when we were vulnerable.
Edward turned to me. “She cant be on her own. We cant abandon her. Shes my mother.”
I pressed my lips together. “She threw us away like rubbish. And now you want her here? In this flat, where weve just started to heal?”
Margaret whimpered, “Son, I cant sleep rough Please Ive learned my lesson.”
Then Edward said the words that shattered me: “If you wont let Mum stay with us, I want a divorce.”
For a moment, the world went dark. I replied calmly, though my heart bled: “Then divorce it is. I wont live with someone who makes ultimatums instead of choices.”
Sometimes, love means knowing when to walk awayeven if it breaks you. Because no one should have to beg for their place in their own home.
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