My husband’s covered breakfast tray finally made his mother back off from habits she expected everyone to tolerate. I thought he was finally standing up for me. But her furious reaction exposed the promise he’d secretly made, turning one simple boundary into a much bigger problem.
When my mother-in-law, Diane, sold her house, she asked us to let her stay with us for six weeks until construction on her new apartment building was finished.
I agreed immediately
Six weeks seemed reasonable. I even bought her a more comfortable pillow.
Twice a week, Diane cared for our four-year-old son, Noah, while I worked.
One afternoon I came back and saw them building a zoo out of couch cushions. Diane was pretending to be a walrus.
“Mor needs a lawyer,” Noah announced.
“The walrus has one,” she said. “It’s a pelican.”
Noah collapsed onto her, giggling.
I quietly lowered my work bag, not wanting to wake them. I worried all the way home that he might not have noticed me.
