I Came Home with My Newborn Twins to Find the Locks Changed, My Stuff Thrown Out, and a Note Waiting for Me
I had assumed that my husband would start choose us over his mother after I had my first children, but that was not the case. I exposed her as the bully and liar that she was because he had finally chosen her side over mine.
Bringing your newborn twins home should be one of the most joyous occasions in your life, right? That’s how it began for me, but it quickly became a complete nightmare!
After recuperating after a taxing delivery for three days, I was eventually released from the hospital and prepared to return home with my lovely twin girls, Ella and Sophie. For months, I had dreamed of this moment: my husband Derek, carrying flowers to the hospital, holding one of the daughters in his arms and crying with happiness.
However, everything changed when I received a frantic phone call at the last minute.
My spouse remarked, “Hey, baby,” in a hurried voice. “I am so sorry, but I can’t come pick you guys up as planned.”
“What?” As I adjusted the blanket around Sophie, I inquired. “I just had twins, Derek. What is so crucial that you are unable to—”
“It’s my mom,” he said, cutting in. “She’s not feeling well. intense aches in the chest. I have to come get her and take her to the nearby hospital.”
His remarks were as icy as a bucket of water. “What? How come you didn’t tell me sooner? I need you here, Derek.
“I know,” he replied in frustration. However, this occurred unexpectedly, and it’s significant. As soon as I can, I’ll come see you.”
“Okay,” I said, gritting my teeth and resisting the impulse to shout due to my disappointment and frustration. I’ll simply hail a cab.”
He muttered, “Thank you,” and hung up.
It seemed improbable that my husband would return that same day to pick me and the babies up because his mother resided in a faraway city. Derek needed a cab because he knew how devoted he was to his mother and didn’t want to leave her alone.
As I got us into a taxi and loaded the children into their car seats that their father had dropped off the day before, I tried to shake it off.
I froze when we pulled into the driveway. The front lawn and the area by the door were littered with my diaper bags, suitcases, and even the crib mattress! I felt a knot in my stomach. I looked around anxiously after paying the driver and leaving with the twins. There was clearly a serious problem…
Even though I knew my husband couldn’t be home yet, I walked up to the front door and fumbled with my keys while idly calling out his name. The key was unresponsive. Perplexed, I made another attempt. Nothing. Then I noticed a piece of folded paper taped to a luggage.
Get your little moochers out of here! I am fully informed. Derek.
My heart halted and my breath caught. I read the note several times, my hands shaking as I tried to make sense of it, thinking it was a hallucination. This was not possible. Not Derek.
Not the man who wept when we first heard our girls’ heartbeats, or who walked beside me through every doctor’s visit. Then that day’s worst part started…
I called him right away because I wanted answers. Directly to voicemail. Once more. voicemail. As Sophie’s sobs joined Ella’s, panic broke out. I made myself think by rocking their car seats.
“Mom,” I muttered. I called her number while my hands trembled.
“Jenna?” On the first ring, Mom answered. “What’s the matter? Are the twins doing well?
I could hardly hold the words together as I choked them out. Because of my mother’s poor health, I hadn’t wanted to involve her, but I thought this was one of those terrible times.
“Derek… He replaced the locks. He tossed my belongings outside. He left this terrible note, Mom.
“WHAT?!” She raised her voice. “Remain there. I’ll be there.”
It seemed like hours passed before she showed up. Mom squinted her brows in rage after taking one look at the mess.
“This isn’t rational! Derek loves you and the daughters, so he wouldn’t do this.”
Saying, “That’s what I thought,” I rocked Ella to stop her sobbing. However, he is not responding. Furthermore, what exactly does “I know everything” mean? I showed her the offending note and requested.
“I am so sorry, my darling,” she replied, giving me a tight hug. “Let’s go to my place until we can get a hold of your husband, okay?”
After assisting me with packing her car, she drove us back to her house. My worry increased after my mother and I discussed what had transpired and I contacted Derek several times without getting a response. I didn’t get much sleep that night.
I made the decision that I needed answers the next morning. I returned to the house in Mom’s car after dropping the twins off. The yard was empty, my possessions gone. The door was knocked on. No answer. I froze after walking around to the back and looking through the windows.
Lorraine, Derek’s mother, was drinking tea at the dining table! She looked up in surprise when I knocked on the door, nearly spilling her tea before she saw me and grinned.
“What are you doing here?” I knocked on the door and demanded.
Lorraine got up slowly and cracked it open a crack. “Jenna. Did you not notice the note that you are not welcome here?
“Where’s Derek?” I lost my temper. “Why did he—”
She said, “He’s at the hospital in my city,” with ease. “Taking care of his sick mother.”
I gazed at her, feeling a wave of incredulity. “Are you sick? You’re in this exact spot!”
Her lips curled into a sly smirk as she shrugged. “Perhaps I feel better now. Miracles occur.
“Did you not lie to him? You pretended to be ill.
She grinned broadly. “And?”
I made fists out of my hands. “Why? Why would you do this?
Her smugness grew as she crossed her arms.
“I informed Derek right away that a male is needed to continue the family name. However, you? We have two girls that you gave us. After all the years I’ve spent with her kid, she finally told the truth when she admitted, “Useless.”
I was completely taken aback by her words. She used my silence as permission to continue as I was too surprised to say anything.
“I took issues into my own hands because I knew you would destroy my son’s life. I needed you to think he wanted you gone, but the note was a little too much. I even took his phone out of his pocket when he wasn’t looking to make sure he couldn’t call you. You were expected to leave our life and take your belongings, but here you are.”
I was having trouble breathing. Because she didn’t like my daughters, this woman planned everything, lied to her son, and convinced him to take her to the hospital on false pretenses before slinking out, locking me out of my house, and stealing his phone!
“You threw us out over that?”
“Of course,” she replied without hesitation. “To keep him at the hospital, I even bought off a nurse. And it was successful, wasn’t it?
I was ill. “You’re deranged!”
“Call me whatever you want,” she said with a sneer. “I refer to it as safeguarding my family. In addition, my Derek always supports me and will always view things my way.
As I drove to the hospital, where my husband was still waiting, her comments continued to replay in my head. I got angrier by the mile. How was she able to defend such brutality? My hands, knuckles white with rage, clamped down on the wheel.
Although I was aware of my MIL’s cruelty, I didn’t believe she was wicked! She always thought Derek should have a richer, fancier partner than me, therefore she never approved of my relationship or marriage to her son.
Upon arriving at the hospital, I discovered my spouse pacing the waiting area, his worried eyes darkened.
“Jenna!” he said as he hurried to me. “Where have you been? I couldn’t call you since I don’t have my phone with me and I don’t know your number by heart.”
I interrupted him by saying, “Your mother took your phone,” “She faked her illness and locked me out of the house!”
His face flashed with confusion and rage as he froze. “What? That’s not logical at all.
“She set me up, wrote a fake note from you sending me away, and bribed a nurse to lie to you,” I replied, my voice shaking. “Lorraine’s at our house, sipping tea like she’s the queen of the world!”
“Hold on. What? Why would she do that?
When I said, “Because our daughters aren’t boys,” I was sour.
His visage changed from amazement to anger. He took his keys and hurried out without a word, and I was right behind him. Lorraine appeared completely unconcerned and was precisely where I had left her when we arrived home.
But as she saw Derek’s determined expression, her smugness disappeared.
“Mom,” he stated in a stern and icy tone. “What were you doing? I believed you to be in the hospital.
She started to say something, probably a lie, when Derek interrupted. “Preserve it. I am fully aware of everything.
“Derek, I was just trying to—”
His words, “You’ve done enough,” were harsh. “You forced me to leave my wife and kids behind for a fictitious emergency! Then you locked our newborns and my wife, who had just given birth, out of our house! Furthermore, you stole my phone, which prevented us from communicating at such a critical moment.”
“Derek, sweetheart… All I wanted was to protect you. My MIL said, “This isn’t how this was supposed to go.”
“Preserve me from my spouse and kids? I wanted boys, but who told you that? What gives you the impression that my girls are unworthy of me based just on their gender? It’s your problem, not mine, and I advise you to go make your own sons if you want them.”
I had never witnessed Derek so furious, and I stood with my mouth hanging open! To be honest, I felt proud of him for demonstrating his worth to me by protecting mine and the kids’ honor. I had never loved him more than I did then!
“Pack your things and leave,” he said authoritatively.
Tears welled up as she gaped at him. “That’s not what you mean. I’m your mom.
“And my wife is Jenna! My girls are those! You have no place in our life if you are incapable of showing them respect.
Lorraine was silent for once. She slammed doors as she rushed upstairs to pack. Derek turned to face me, regret shining in his eyes.
“My dear, I sincerely apologize. I was unaware.
With a trembling breath, the stress slightly subsided. “I just want us to move forward.”
That evening, Lorraine departed. My spouse apologized several times and promised to put things right. And he did. He denounced the nurse who had accepted the bribe, blocked his mother’s number, and changed the locks!
Although it wasn’t simple, we spent months trying to start over. As I rocked Ella and Sophie to sleep one night, I came to the realization that Lorraine had attempted to destroy us but had instead succeeded in uniting us.
Unfortunately, Jenna is not the only daughter-in-law who has had to deal with a challenging mother-in-law. In the story that follows, Michelle’s mother-in-law gives her and her husband a DNA test for their son in the hopes that it will end their marriage. However, things didn’t turn out the way she had hoped.
