Voicemail. Panic set in as Myra’s cries joined Selene’s. I rocked their car seats, forcing myself to think.
“Mom,” I whispered. My hands trembled as I dialed her number. “Viona?” Mom answered on the first ring.
“What’s wrong? Are the twins okay?”
I choked out the words, barely holding it together. I hadn’t wanted to trouble my mom because of her poor health, but this felt like a crisis.
“Torin… He changed the locks. He threw my stuff outside. Mom, he left this awful note.”
“WHAT?!” Her voice shot up.
“Stay there. I’m coming.”
Minutes felt like hours until she arrived. Mom took one look at the mess and narrowed her eyes, furious.
“This doesn’t make sense! Torin wouldn’t do this; he loves you and the girls!”
“That’s what I thought,” I said, calming Selene’s cries. “But he’s not answering.
And what does ‘I know everything’ even mean?” I asked, showing her the harsh note. “I’m so sorry, darling,” she said, hugging me close. “Let’s go to my place until we can reach your husband, okay?”
She helped me load the bags into her car and drove us to her house.
After my mom and I went over what happened and kept calling Torin with no answer, my anxiety surged. That night, I barely slept. The next morning, I needed answers.
Leaving the twins with Mom, I drove back in her car to the house. The yard was empty, my things gone. I knocked on the door.
No response. I walked to the back, peering through the windows, and froze. Torin’s mother, Isolde, sat at the dining table, sipping tea!
I banged on the door, and she looked up, startled, nearly spilling her tea before seeing me and smirking. “What are you doing here?” I demanded, pounding on the door. Isolde stood slowly and opened the door just a crack.
“Viona. You’re not welcome here, didn’t you see the note?”
“Where’s Torin?” I snapped. “Why did he—”
“He’s at the hospital in my city,” she said smoothly.
“Taking care of his sick mother.”
I stared, disbelief washing over me. “Sick? You’re standing right here!”
She shrugged, her lips curling into a cruel smile.
“Maybe I’m feeling better. Miracles happen.”
“You lied to him, didn’t you? You faked being sick!”
Her smile widened.
“And?”
My hands balled into fists. “Why? Why would you do this?”
She crossed her arms, her smugness growing.
“I told Torin from the start that our family needs a boy to carry the name. But you? You gave us two girls.
Useless,” she confessed coldly, finally showing her true colors after all these years with her son. Her words took my breath away. I was too stunned to speak, and she took my silence as permission to keep going.
“I knew you’d ruin my son’s life, so I took matters into my own hands. The note was a bit much, but I needed you to believe he wanted you gone. I even took his phone from his pocket when he wasn’t looking to stop him from calling you.
You were supposed to take your things and vanish from our lives, but here you are…”
I couldn’t breathe. This woman had orchestrated everything, lied to her son, tricked him into taking her to the hospital, snuck away, locked me out of my home, and stole his phone—all because she disapproved of my daughters! “You threw us out over that?”
“Of course,” she said, unbothered.
“I even bribed a nurse at the hospital to keep him there. And it worked, didn’t it?”
I felt sick. “You’re twisted!”
“Call it what you want,” she sneered.
“I call it protecting my family. Besides, my Torin always takes my side and will see things my way, as usual.”
Her words echoed in my mind as I drove to the hospital where my husband was still waiting. With every mile, my anger grew.
How could she justify such cruelty? My hands gripped the wheel tightly, knuckles white with rage. I knew my MIL was mean, but I didn’t think she was evil!
She never approved of my relationship or marriage to her son, always believing Torin deserved someone wealthier and fancier, unlike me. When I reached the hospital, I found my husband pacing in the waiting room, his eyes shadowed with worry. “Viona!” he said, rushing toward me.
“Where have you been? I don’t have my phone and don’t know your number by heart, so I couldn’t call!”
“Your mother took your phone,” I cut him off. “She faked her illness and locked me out of the house!”
He froze, confusion and anger flashing across his face.
“What? That doesn’t make sense.”
“She set me up, wrote a fake note from you telling me to leave, and bribed a nurse to lie to you,” I said, my voice trembling. “Isolde’s at our house, sipping tea like she owns the place!”
“Wait.
What? Why would she…”
“Because our daughters aren’t boys,” I said bitterly. The shock turned to rage on his face.
Without a word, he grabbed his keys and stormed out, with me following close behind. When we got home, Isolde was exactly where I’d left her, looking utterly unbothered. But her smugness vanished when she saw the determination on Torin’s face.
“Mom,” he said, his voice cold and sharp. “What did you do? I thought you were in the hospital!”
She opened her mouth, likely to lie, but Torin cut her off.
“Save it. I know everything.”
“Torin, I was just trying to—”
“You’ve done enough,” he snapped. “You made me abandon my wife and children for a fake emergency!
Then you locked my wife, who just gave birth, and our newborn babies out of our home! On top of that, you cut our communication by stealing my phone!”
“Torin, darling… I just wanted to keep you safe. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go,” my MIL pleaded.
“Keep me safe from my wife and children? Who told you I wanted boys? What makes you think my girls aren’t good enough for me just because of their gender?
That’s your problem, not mine, and if you want sons, go have them yourself!”
I stood with my mouth open, never having seen Torin this angry! I won’t lie, part of me was proud that he was proving himself worthy of me by defending my honor and our children’s. In that moment, I loved him more than ever!
“Pack your things and leave,” he demanded. She gaped at him, tears forming. “You can’t mean that.
I’m your mother!”
“And Viona is my WIFE! Those are my daughters! If you can’t respect them, you’re not part of our lives!”
For once, Isolde was speechless.
She stormed upstairs to pack, slamming doors as she went. Torin turned to me, his eyes full of remorse. “I’m so sorry, my love.
I didn’t know.”
I let out a shaky breath, the tension easing just a little. “I just want us to move forward.”
Isolde left that night. My husband apologized repeatedly, vowing to make things right.
And he did. He changed the locks, blocked his mother’s number, and even reported the nurse who took the bribe! It wasn’t easy, but for months we worked on rebuilding our life.
One evening, as I rocked Selene and Myra to sleep, I realized Isolde had tried to destroy us but only managed to bring us closer together.
