I approached the front door, fumbling with my keys while absentmindedly calling out my husband’s name, even though I knew he couldn’t be home yet. The key wouldn’t turn. Confused, I tried again. Nothing. Then I saw it, a folded piece of paper taped to a suitcase.\n\n
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Get out of here with your little moochers! I know everything. Derek.\n\n\n
My breath caught, and my heart stopped. My hands trembled as I read the note again and again, trying to make sense of it while hoping it was a hallucination. This couldn’t be happening. Not Derek…\n\n
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\n\nA shocked woman reading a note\n\n\n
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Not the man who held my hand through every doctor’s appointment, who cried when we heard our daughters’ heartbeats for the first time. Then the worst part of that day began…\n\n
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Wanting answers, I called him immediately. Straight to voicemail. Again. Voicemail. Panic set in as Sophie’s cries joined Ella’s. I rocked their car seats, forcing myself to think.\n\n
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\n\nA stressed woman holding a phone\n\n\n
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“Mom,” I whispered. My hands shook as I dialed her number.\n\n
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“Jenna?” Mom answered on the first ring. “What’s wrong? Are the twins okay?”\n\n
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I choked out the words, barely able to hold it together. I hadn’t wanted to involve my mother due to her ailing condition, but I believed this was one of those dire moments.\n\n
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“Derek… He changed the locks. He threw my stuff outside. Mom, he left this awful note.”\n\n
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“WHAT?!” Her voice shot up. “Stay there. I’m coming.”\n\n
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\n\nAn upset older woman\n\n\n
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Minutes felt like hours before she arrived. Mom took one look at the mess and narrowed her eyes, fuming.\n\n
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“This doesn’t make sense! Derek wouldn’t do this; he loves you and the girls!”\n\n
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“That’s what I thought,” I said, rocking Ella to calm her cries. “But he’s not answering. And what does ‘I know everything’ even mean?” I asked showing her the offensive note.\n\n
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“I am so sorry, my darling,” she said while hugging me close. “Let’s go to my place until we can get a hold of your husband, okay?”\n\n
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\n\nAn older woman hugging a younger one\n\n\n
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She helped me load the bags into her car and whisked us back to her place. After my mother and I dissected what had happened and repeatedly called Derek with no answer, my anxiety spiked. That night, I barely slept.\n\n
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The next morning, I decided I needed answers. Leaving the twins with Mom, I drove back in her car to the house. The yard was empty, my belongings gone. I knocked on the door. No response. I walked around to the back, peering through the windows, and froze.\n\n
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\n\nA shocked woman peaking through a window\n\n\n
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Derek’s mother, Lorraine, sat at the dining table, sipping tea! I banged on the door, and she looked up, startled, almost spilling her tea before she saw me and smirked.\n\n
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“What are you doing here?” I demanded, banging on the door.\n\n
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Lorraine rose leisurely and opened it just a crack. “Jenna. You’re not welcome here, didn’t you see the note?”\n\n
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“Where’s Derek?” I snapped. “Why did he\u2014”\n\n
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“He’s at the hospital in my city,” she said smoothly. “Taking care of his sick mother.”\n\n
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\n\nA nonchalant older woman standing by a door\n\n\n
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I stared at her, disbelief washing over me. “Sick? You’re standing right here!”\n\n
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She shrugged, her lips curling into a malicious smile. “Maybe I’m feeling better. Miracles happen.”\n\n
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“You lied to him, didn’t you? You faked being sick!”\n\n
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Her smile widened. “And?”\n\n
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My hands balled into fists. “Why? Why would you do this?”\n\n
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She crossed her arms, her smugness growing.\n\n
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\n\nA smug older woman\n\n\n
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“I told Derek from the start that our family needs a boy to carry on the name. But you? You gave us two girls. Useless,” she confessed unapologetically, finally speaking her truth after all these years I’ve been with her son.\n\n
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Her words knocked the air out of me. I was too stunned to speak, and she took my silence as permission to keep going.\n\n
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“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 ensured he couldn’t call you by taking his phone right out of his pocket when he wasn’t looking. You were supposed to take your things and get out of our lives, but here you are…”\n\n
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\n\nAn angry older woman\n\n\n
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I couldn’t breathe. This woman had orchestrated everything, lied to her son, and got him to take her to the hospital under false pretenses before sneaking away, locked me out of my home, and stole his phone all because she disapproved of my daughters!\n\n
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“You threw us out over that?”\n\n
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“Of course,” she said, unbothered. “I even bribed a nurse at the hospital to keep him there. And it worked, didn’t it?”\n\n
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I felt sick. “You’re deranged!”\n\n
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“Call me what you want,” she sneered. “I call it protecting my family. Besides, my Derek always takes my side and will see things my way as usual.”\n\n
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\n\nAn arrogant older woman\n\n\n
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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 fury.\n\n
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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 Derek deserved someone wealthier and fancier, unlike me.\n\n
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\n\nAn upset woman driving\n\n\n
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When I reached the hospital, I found my husband pacing in the waiting room, his eyes shadowed with worry.\n\n
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“Jenna!” he said, rushing toward me. “Where have you been? I don’t have my phone or know your number by heart, so I couldn’t call you!”\n\n
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“Your mother took your phone,” I cut him off. “She faked her illness and locked me out of the house!”\n\n
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He froze, confusion and anger flashing across his face. “What? That doesn’t make any sense.”\n\n
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\n\nA man at a hospital\n\n\n
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“She set me up, wrote a fake note from you sending me away, and bribed a nurse to lie to you,” I said, my voice trembling. “Lorraine’s at our house, sipping tea like she’s the queen of the world!”\n\n
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“Wait. What? Why would she…”\n\n
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“Because our daughters aren’t boys,” I said bitterly.\n\n
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The shock turned to rage on his face. Without saying a word, he grabbed his keys and stormed out, with me following close behind. When we got home, Lorraine was exactly where I’d left her, looking utterly unbothered.\n\n
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\n\nAn older woman having tea\n\n\n
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But her smugness vanished when she saw the determined look on Derek’s face.\n\n
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“Mom,” he said, his voice cold and sharp. “What did you do? I thought you were in the hospital?”\n\n
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She opened her mouth, likely to lie, but Derek cut her off. “Save it. I know everything.”\n\n
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“Derek, I was just trying to\u2014”\n\n
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“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 ability to communicate during such a crucial time by stealing my phone!”\n\n
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\n\nAn angry man shouting\n\n\n
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“Derek, darling… I just wanted to keep you safe. This isn’t how this was supposed to go,” my MIL replied pleadingly.\n\n
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“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 a problem you have, not me, and if you want sons, I suggest you go make them yourself!”\n\n
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I stood with my mouth agape, having never seen Derek this angry! I won’t lie, a part of me was proud that he was proving himself worthy of me by defending my and the children’s honor. At that moment, I loved him more than ever before!\n\n
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\n\nA happy woman\n\n\n
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“Pack your things and leave,” he demanded.\n\n
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She gaped at him, tears forming. “You can’t mean that. I’m your mother!”\n\n
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“And Jenna is my WIFE! Those are my daughters! If you can’t respect them, you’re not part of our lives!”\n\n
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For once, Lorraine was speechless. She stormed upstairs to pack, slamming doors as she went. Derek turned to me, his eyes full of remorse.\n\n
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“I’m so sorry, my love. I didn’t know.”\n\n
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I let out a shaky breath, the tension easing just a little. “I just want us to move forward.”\n\n
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\n\nA happy woman with her man\n\n\n
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Lorraine 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 had taken the bribe!\n\n
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It wasn’t easy, but for months we worked on rebuilding our life. One evening, as I rocked Ella and Sophie to sleep, I realized Lorraine had tried to destroy us but only managed to bring us closer together.\n\n
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\n\nA happy couple with their twins\n\n\n
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Sadly, Jenna isn’t the only daughter-in-law who has had to face a difficult MIL. In the following story, Michelle’s MIL surprises her and her husband with a DNA test for their son thinking it would finally\u00a0break them up. But things didn’t play out in her favor, the way she imagined.\n\n