She helped me load my things, and we drove to her place. For hours, we tried to figure out what was going on, calling Derek over and over again. No answer. I hardly slept that night.
The next morning, I needed the truth, not guesswork. I left the twins with my mother and drove back to the house in her car.
The lawn was empty. My things were gone.
I knocked on the door. Silence.
I walked around the house, looked in the windows… and froze.
Lorraine, my mother-in-law, was sitting calmly at the dining table drinking tea, as if she were at home.
I banged on the door. She looked up, startled, almost spilling her cup… then she recognised me, and a satisfied smile appeared on her lips.
‘What are you doing here?!’ I shouted.
Lorraine stood up with offensive calmness and opened the door slightly.
‘Jenna. You’re not welcome here. Didn’t you see the note?’
‘Where’s Derek?!’ I growled. ‘Why is he…’
‘He’s in the hospital in my town,’ she said softly. ‘Taking care of his poor sick mother.’
I stared at her, stunned.
‘Sick? You’re standing right in front of me, alive and well!’
She shrugged, a cruel smile playing on her lips.
‘Perhaps I’m feeling better. Miracles do happen.’
My blood boiled.
‘You lied to your son. You pretended to be sick!’
Her smile widened.
‘So what?’
I clenched my fists so tightly it hurt.
‘Why? Why did you do that?’
She crossed her arms over her chest, pleased with herself.
‘I told Derek from the beginning that our family needed a boy to carry on the family name. And you? You gave us two girls. Useless girls.’
I felt as if all the air had been knocked out of my lungs. I was too shocked to respond. Lorraine took my silence as an invitation to continue.
“I knew you would ruin my son’s life, so I took matters into my own hands. The note may have been a little… harsh, but I needed you to believe it was from him. And I made sure he couldn’t call you: I took his phone out of his pocket when he wasn’t looking. You were supposed to take your things and disappear from our lives. But here you are.
I was trembling.
She had planned everything: the lies, the imaginary ‘danger,’ the hospital, the stolen phone, the locked door… all because she despised our daughters.
‘You kicked us out of the house because of this?’
‘Of course,’ she replied without a hint of embarrassment. ‘I even paid the nurse to keep him there. And it worked, didn’t it?’
I felt sick.
‘You’re crazy.’
‘Call it what you want,’ she hissed. ‘I call it protecting my family. And Derek is always on my side. He’ll see it the same way I do. Like always.’
Her words echoed in my head all the way to the hospital, where Derek was still. With every kilometre, my anger grew. How could he possibly justify such cruelty?
When I arrived, I saw him pacing the waiting room with a worried look on his face.
‘Jenna!’ he exclaimed, running up to me. ‘Where have you been? I don’t have a phone, and I don’t even know your number by heart… I couldn’t call you!’
‘Your mother took your phone,’ I interrupted. ‘She pretended to be sick and kicked me out of the house!’
He stopped abruptly. His face changed from confusion to anger.
‘What? That doesn’t make sense.’
‘She set me up. She wrote a fake note in your name to get me kicked out.’ She paid the nurse to lie to you,‘ my voice trembled. ’Lorraine is in the house right now. Sitting there. Drinking tea like she owns the place!
‘Wait… what? Why…?’
‘Because our daughters aren’t boys,’ I said bitterly.
Shock gave way to cold fury. Without another word, Derek grabbed his keys and stormed out. I followed him.
When we returned, Lorraine was exactly where I had left her — calm and indifferent. But her composed expression faltered as soon as she met Derek’s gaze.
‘Mum,’ he said in a harsh voice. ‘What have you done? I thought you were in hospital.’
She opened her mouth to lie. Derek stopped her.
‘Don’t bother. I know everything.’
‘Derek, darling… I just wanted to…’
‘You’ve done enough!’ he exploded. ‘You made me leave my wife and daughters because of a false emergency! Then you kicked out Jenna, who had just given birth, and two newborns! You even prevented us from contacting each other by stealing my phone!’
‘Derek, my love… I wanted to protect you.’ I didn’t think it would go this far,” she pleaded.
“Protect me from my wife and daughters? Who told you I wanted a son? And why do you think my children are worth less just because they’re girls? That’s your problem, not mine. And if you want boys so badly… have them yourself!
I stood there with my mouth open. I had never seen Derek like this before. And I won’t lie: part of me… was proud. For the first time, he was defending me. Defending our daughters. And in that moment, I loved him more than ever before.