Working as a nurse, Zoe often relied on her mother-in-law, Denise, to babysit Leo, her son. But when the little boy becomes visibly shaken by his grandmother’s presence, Zoe has to question the old woman’s actions, only to discover that Denise has a hidden agenda.
I had always thought that my mother-in-law, Denise, was a little overbearing, but I chalked it up to her just being protective of my son, her only grandson, Leo.
She was one of those women who carried herself with a certain authority that made you straighten your back and rethink your words. This had become more pronounced when Jeremy, her husband, passed away a few years ago, allowing Denise to reclaim her role as head librarian of the local library.
“Why shouldn’t I?” she asked Andrew, my husband, one day. “I have time now, so there’s no need to just have my part-time role there. And I can have my book club meetings at the library, too.”
“Okay, Mom,” Andrew said. “You do whatever you want.”
She wasn’t mean, exactly, but Denise had a way of making you feel small without even trying. But still, she lived two roads away and was always willing to babysit Leo whenever I had a shift at the hospital, and considering Andrew’s unpredictable hours at the law firm, Denise usually had to step in often.
“It’s what grandmothers are for, right, Zoe?” she would say whenever I asked her to come over.
And despite how her moods could shift without a moment’s notice, she was reliable and didn’t complain about it once.
But lately, Leo had been acting strange whenever Denise came over. At first, it was small things. He would cling to my leg a little longer than usual when I tried to leave or hide behind the couch when he heard her car pull up in the driveway.
I thought that my son was just going through a phase, or maybe even a bit of separation anxiety. I had seen it all the time with the kids in my ward, especially when they woke up and their parents weren’t in sight.
But then, last week, right before I was about to leave for a night shift, he started crying.
“I don’t want Grandma to stay with me!” he blurted.
Big, fat tears rolled down his cheeks, and he clutched my scrub with a grip that seemed stronger than a grown man’s.
I knelt beside him, brushing a lock of his blonde hair from his forehead.
“But why, sweetheart?” I asked gently. “Grandma loves you. And she always brings you treats. Remember the brownies and ice cream from last week?”
My son’s eyes darted to the doorway as if expecting her to walk in at any moment.
“Because… Grandma acts strange,” he said, his eyes wide.
I was about to press him further because I needed to know what was going on. But moments later, Denise’s familiar, clipped footsteps echoed down the hallway. Leo bolted off to his room.
“What’s going on?” Denise asked as she set her purse down on the hallway table. “Where’s my grandbaby?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “He ran to his room to play with his toys. Andrew is away for the next two days. He’s meeting with a client and running through a case.”
Denise nodded.
I left for work, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that settled in my stomach. I spent the entire night running between patients and thinking about Leo’s words.
“Grandma acts strange.”
What did that even mean to a four-year-old?
When I got home the next morning, I found my son sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the TV. His favorite cartoons were playing, but he wasn’t watching them. Instead, his eyes were red and puffy, like he had been crying all night.
“Leo?” I said slowly. “Did you sleep at all?”
He shook his head.
“No, Mommy,” he said. “I stayed up. I didn’t want to sleep.”
“Why not?” I asked, even though I could already feel my heart sinking.
I pulled one of the blankets under the coffee table and wrapped Leo in it, hoping if he felt safer, he would talk.
“Because Grandma scares me,” he said, his hands clutching his teddy bear tightly.
I felt a wave of panic wash over me.
“Scares you? What happened, honey? What did Grandma say or do?”
“She keeps trying to put something into my mouth,” he said. “She chases me with it, and it’s scary.”
“What is she trying to put into your mouth, sweetheart?” I asked, my voice tight as I strained to show my emotions.
Leo hesitated.
“Cotton buds,” he said. “You know, what you clean my ears with? She said that she wants to put my spit in the tube. I don’t like it. I don’t want it.”
My blood ran cold. Ever since Leo’s accident a few months ago, where he fell off his bike and landed himself with a broken arm, he’s been terrified of doctors, needles, and anything that reminded him of his time in the hospital.
The thought of Denise running around the house with a cotton swab and a test tube made my blood boil. Why was she trying to get my son to take a DNA test?
“Where’s Grandma?” I asked Leo.
“In the guest room,” he said.
I marched to the guest room and found Denise sleeping peacefully, oblivious to the screaming match that was about to come. Without hesitation, I shook her awake.
“Wake up, we need to talk,” I said.
“What’s going on?” she asked, blinking away her sleep.
“Leo just told me that you’ve been trying to swab his mouth for a test? Why are you traumatizing my son? Why do you want him to have a DNA test?” I demanded.
Her eyes widened, and for a moment, she looked like she was going to deny it.
“I’m sorry,” she said, sitting up. “I didn’t mean to frighten Leo. I’ve just been wondering about something…”
“What? What would possibly be so important that you’d do this behind my back?”
“His hair,” she said simply. “Nobody has had blonde hair like that.”
“You think that my son isn’t Andrew’s because of his hair color?” I asked.
“I know it sounds crazy, but it’s been gnawing at me. I just needed to know, but I didn’t want to accuse you…”
“I can’t believe that you would go to such lengths, Denise.”
“I didn’t know what to think. I’m sorry, Zoe,” she said.
“Please leave, Denise,” I said. “I need time to process this. And I need to focus on Leo.”
She nodded, looking defeated.
Over the next week, things were tense between Andrew and me. While she drove home on the day of the confrontation, she had phoned Andrew and told him everything, firmly securing some seeds of doubt.
“I think we should do the test,” he quietly said one day, not meeting my eyes.
I stared at him, hurt.
“You really think that’s necessary? You believe what your mother is implying?”
“It’s not that I believe it,” he said. “But if we do the test, we can put this all to rest. No more doubts, no more accusations. What if Leo was switched at birth?”
“I had a home birth!” I exclaimed. “You would have remembered if you were here and not in court.”
I sighed.
“Alright,” I said after a moment. “I’ll do the test for Leo, but on one condition.”
“What condition?” he asked.
“If I’m going to do this to prove our son is yours, then you’re going to do a test too. To prove that your father is really your father. Denise needs to know what this feels like.”
Andrew’s eyes widened, shock registering on his face from my request. “What? Why would you even suggest that?”
I could feel his brain overthinking it, but I also knew that he was trying to view the situation from my point of view.
I leaned forward, my voice firm, “Because your mother is the one who’s throwing accusations around. If she’s so obsessed with bloodlines, then maybe she should be sure of her own. So, if you want me to take a test, then you’re going to take one too.”
Andrew hesitated, clearly taken aback by my demand. But after a moment, he nodded. “Okay. If that’s what it takes, I’ll do it.”
A few days later, the test results came back. As expected, the test confirmed that Leo was indeed Andrew’s son.
But there was also another revelation that nobody saw coming.
It turned out that the test results for Andrew showed that his biological father wasn’t the man he had called Dad his entire life.
“What the hell, Zoe?” he said out loud.
“This is a conversation for you and your mother,” I said offhandedly.
As much as I wanted to know the truth and to know about Leo’s biological grandfather, I didn’t want to get caught up in Denise’s drama any further. No, thank you. I had a son to focus on. And there was just something about how Denise acted that I wasn’t going to forgive soon.
But eventually, my curiosity gave in and I asked Andrew about his conversation with his mother. It turned out that she had an affair in her youth, resulting in Andrew.
“She said that she had always suspected it, but she didn’t dare do a DNA test while my father was alive. Just imagine, I’ve gone my entire life thinking that my father was just that, my father. But he wasn’t, not biologically. I can’t forgive her, Zoe.”
My heart broke for him.
“So, what does this mean?” I asked.
“It means that we take our time and space away from my mother. And we focus on our son. She’s the one who betrayed our family. Not us,” he said.
I nodded, ready to move on and focus on our family.
Apparently, Denise’s guilt had eaten away at her for decades, leading her to project her insecurities onto me and our son.
What would you have done?
If you enjoyed this story, here’s another one for you |
My MIL Intentionally Sent Me Faded Flowers for My Birthday with a Nasty Note
Emily has always had issues with Denise, her mother-in-law. But when her birthday rolls around and her husband, Evan, has to go away on a business trip, Emily is left to entertain herself. Denise, on the other hand, takes matters into her own hands and gives her daughter-in-law a horrible birthday gift.
I know we all have problematic mother-in-law stories, but my goodness. I’ve been dealing with Denise for well over five years now. My husband, Evan, and I come from very different backgrounds, which were the first ingredients for a disaster.
Evan grew up in an affluent suburb, while I was raised by a single mom in a rough neighborhood where clothing was stolen straight off the line.
And to make it even worse for Denise? I’m a mixed-race woman, which Denise always looked down on.
“You definitely get your hair from your mother, then,” she would say to annoy me.
Despite Evan’s love and constant defense of me, Denise never missed a chance to remind him that he could’ve done better.
“I’ll bet you a spa day, Emily,” Evan told me one day as we were driving to his mother’s house for dinner. “She’s going to mention something about an ex-girlfriend or about me having done better.”
“You’re on,” I said.
Naturally, he was correct because not even fifteen minutes into the dinner, Denise was talking about an ex.
Read the full story here.
5 Unforgettable Tales of the Worst Bridezillas
What makes a bride turn into a bridezilla? Is it the nervousness and anxious thoughts that make brides lose their cool, or do they get angry because of other things?
Every woman wants her wedding day to be perfect, but when that stress gets intense, the brides either flip out or, let’s be real, their true colors start to show. Here are stories from five folks on Reddit who’ve witnessed some of the most jaw-dropping bridezilla moments.
Comments have been edited for clarity and grammar.
1. My Best Friend’s Wedding
u/ajlawford: I had a silent bridezilla. She was my best friend of 15 years and didn’t ask for much during the wedding planning as there were only two months between the engagement and the wedding day.
There was no bachelorette party, dress shopping, gift exchanges, or in-person meetups. We lived two hours away, but she didn’t want my input.
A woman talking to another woman | Source: Shutterstock
She wanted me to buy a dress, look pretty, and attend her wedding. I thought, “OK, whatever you want. You’re my best friend, and I’m excited you are getting married.”
She didn’t even let me help with her hair and makeup on the wedding day. Instead, she just asked me to focus on my hair and makeup. She didn’t trust me to do it well enough because I had short hair. Okay, fine. It’s your day, whatever.
Everything went well until the bride got her sister to call me. During the two-hour-long call, the bride’s sister criticized my every move throughout the wedding, saying that I should never have accepted to be a bridesmaid if I didn’t want to participate.
She also reviewed my Facebook profile to note what I had spent my money on (for example, I posted about joining a bowling league for fun). She said I should have spent that money on the wedding.
An angry woman talking on her phone | Source: Shutterstock
The wedding was two days after Christmas, and her family didn’t even celebrate Christmas that year because of the wedding.
Meanwhile, I was criticized for not spending more time with her, even though I traveled three hours by train the day after Christmas to hang with her the night before her wedding.
Apparently, I should have stayed the night of the wedding to hang with the other two bridesmaids, but I opted to drive home with my boyfriend as I needed to work.
Initially, the bride said she would pay for my makeup on the wedding day, but she changed her mind two weeks before the event.
She asked me to drive for two hours and buy an expensive makeup brand. Despite knowing I was broke after Christmas shopping, I accepted her wish and purchased the makeup. However, she still thought I had an attitude about this.
Two women arguing | Source: Shutterstock
I was also criticized for not giving a gift, although the bride said, “Being a bridesmaid was gift enough.”
After these events, the bride stopped talking to me and blocked me on Facebook. After months of being mistreated, I finally cut my best friend and her sister out of my life.
The last time I saw either of them was the wedding day, which was five years ago. I never even got to see the wedding photos. It’s so sad to see long-term friendships ending over nothing.
She should have told me about her expectations instead of expecting me to guess them and then judge me for not meeting her demands. She also should have talked to me directly instead of involving her sister.
2. She Was Mean as Hell
u/sojadedblond: A friend took out a $7500 loan for her wedding. Okay, that was not too bad. It was workable and sounded pretty reasonable. Then, she asked her fiancé to take out a $25,000 loan. (She forced him by saying she’d leave him if he didn’t.)
A woman arguing with a man | Source: Shutterstock
He had much better credit and got the loan. Then, my friend begged his parents to pay for their honeymoon while they had no idea she had asked their son to take out a loan.
They thought her parents were paying for a modest outside wedding at a local garden, and she repeatedly lied to them until a few weeks before the wedding. She kept threatening to leave her fiancé if he didn’t do things as she wanted them done.
Anyway, his parents were so happy to pay for a cruise (a nice Alaskan cruise) for their honeymoon, but that wasn’t enough for her.
She then lied to her parents, saying that his parents were only giving them $250 for the honeymoon. Her parents were shocked as they were paying for the wedding and reception and thought the groom’s family would at least pay for some of the honeymoon.
Two champagne glasses | Source: Unsplash
They encouraged her to get a better job (she worked 20 hours a week as a receptionist at a nail salon) or to at least go full-time at her current job, but she flat-out refused, saying she had so much to do in planning for the wedding/honeymoon, etc. She was an absolute nightmare.
She and I hadn’t talked since high school (we weren’t very close, more like acquaintances), and she had gotten my number from a mutual friend to call and ask if I’d sing at her wedding.
During that phone call, she told me about everything that happened. She added that she wanted her fiancé to take off two and a half weeks instead of the nine days he’d already taken.
When she asked me what she should do about the honeymoon, I told her she was being a little unreasonable and very demanding with people.
I said it gently and kindly. I wasn’t just like, “Wow, you’re being the worst person ever right now, and your fiancé is really stupid to marry you for a lifetime.”
A woman talking on the phone | Source: Shutterstock
I said, “It seems like you’re putting a lot of pressure on everyone around you to do things your way and only your way. This is Evan’s wedding, too. Maybe ask him what he’d like. Planning this together instead of you alone can be much more fun. You guys will be together for a lifetime, so putting this much stress on everyone, yourself included, just makes things so much harder than they have to be.”
She was quiet for a few seconds, then said, “Uh, okay, I deserve this wedding, and Evan will give me what I want. I don’t want you to sing at the wedding. You’re so mean for telling me I don’t deserve a beautiful wedding!”
When I tried to explain that I thought she could have a gorgeous wedding, just with less stress and anxiety, she said, “You’re just like everyone else. You don’t want me to be happy! My dad keeps telling me to get a better job, and Evan fought to get the loan, and you saying this makes me want to give up!”
After that, she burst into hysterical tears and hung up. It was bizarre. She was like that in high school: very dramatic, mean, and selfish. However, I don’t remember her being that crazy and delusional. They got divorced 14 months after the wedding.
3. The Bridezilla Tried to Scam the Bridesmaids
u/ShamedShamingShamer: Several years ago, a friend asked me to be a bridesmaid at her wedding. There were six bridesmaids and one maid of honor (MOH).
Women sitting together | Source: Shutterstock
The bride had picked out her dress already, one for the MOH and one each for the bridesmaids. The dresses were lovely but a bit expensive at $400 each.
Two bridesmaids, including me, were still in college, and the rest had graduated. Since I was still studying, my budget was super tight.
Once the bride picked the dresses for us, she asked the MOH to coordinate with us for the fittings. The MOH told us she would pay for our dresses using her credit card because she wanted Air Miles. She asked us to pay her directly and said we could repay her in installments if needed (I definitely needed to). We all agreed.
All the bridesmaids picked their dresses together, but I couldn’t join them because of my exams. As a result, I decided to go myself the following week.
The MOH said she would pay for mine on the group trip but to call her if there were any issues with the dress. She said she would handle it.
Wedding dresses hanging in a shop | Source: Pexels
When I tried the dress at the shop, it looked perfect, and I was happy. The shop owner went to attend to another client while I was changing back into my clothes, but she confirmed that we were all set.
As I was walking out of the door, a shop employee yelled, “Hey! That will be $200!” I was stunned and totally mortified. I apologized and explained how I thought the MOH had paid for it the weekend before.
The shop owner immediately rushed towards us, diffusing the situation by confirming that the MOH had already paid for the dress. When I turned to leave the store, I realized the shop owner had said $200 and not $400.
Long story short, the dress was only for $200. When I confronted the MOH about it, she spilled the beans.
A shocked woman | Source: Shutterstock
Apparently, the bride and MOH plotted together to charge us double to help pay for the bride’s dress. I let the rest of the bridesmaids know, and four of us dropped out of the wedding immediately.
4. The Last-Minute Floral Fiasco
u/Haceldama: I am a florist, and we once had a bridezilla visit our shop. The bride came with her mother at 9 a.m.
They wanted to order a bridal bouquet, a mother-of-the-bride Cattleya orchid corsage, a boutonniere for the groom, and six smaller ones for the groomsmen.
The wedding was scheduled for noon, and they gave us only three hours to fulfill their order. They wanted everything ready by the time they were done with their makeup appointment at the beauty parlor a few doors down.
A flower shop | Source: Pexels
The bride was flipping through the FTD sample book and pointing out the style and flowers she wanted. She wanted to order garden roses with long sweeping trails of stephanotis and variegated ivy, all three of which would require at least a week’s advanced order with our suppliers.
The bride was shocked when we told her we didn’t always carry extremely expensive and highly perishable flowers. My boss told them that since they didn’t place an order beforehand, they would be limited to what we had in stock and simple styles that could be assembled quickly.
The bride and her mom kept pointing at the book and arguing that we should have those specific flowers in stock. My boss eventually took the book off the desk and tossed it behind the counter.
The bride vacillated between tears and petulant whining that we would ruin her big day. My boss, who disliked brides in general, told her she had ruined her day by not ordering flowers before her wedding day.
A sad bride sitting in a room | Source: Shutterstock
The mom tried chewing out my boss for lacking customer service skills. My boss told her she was welcome to go down the street to another florist and ask their flower department to make their order with whatever they had in stock.
The mom said she’d do just that and reassured the bride that she’d have her flowers done by the time her appointment was over. Both women stormed out.
I figured that was that, but my boss told me and the other girl to start on six simple dendrobium orchid bouts. Meanwhile, she threw together a ribbon-wrapped bridal bouquet with white roses nearly past their prime.
Twenty minutes later, the bride’s mother slunk back in and meekly asked if we could still assemble what they needed. We did. We also charged her a huge rush fee.
5. The Bridezilla Meets Karma
u/[deleted]: My friend called me one day and asked me to be her maid of honor. At first, I was thrilled. But then things took a bizarre turn.
Two women smiling at each other | Source: Pexels
She started oddly, asking me to dye my hair blonde, then demanded $1000 for her bachelorette. I was shocked but things worsened when she insisted I lose 10 pounds. I was taken aback by her demand.
Fuming, I thought about teaching her a lesson. But before I could do anything, karma intervened.
A week after our heated conversation, just a day before her wedding, she called me in a panic. “WHAT DID YOU DO??? I just got a call from my bank!” she said.
It turned out that her bank had frozen her account due to suspicious activity. In her pre-wedding frenzy, she had made so many extravagant purchases that the bank suspected fraud.
A bride screaming at her phone | Source: Shutterstock
One of my exes had his account frozen once and she needed advice as to what I’d done to help my ex-boyfriend. I worked as a banker back then. I refused to help her and hung up.
Have you ever seen a bride throw tantrums and get too demanding with her family and friends? Share your experience with us in the comments section.
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