Chapter 4 - The Silent Mother-in-Law
Ever since the day Carlos and Valeria got married, I noticed a darkness in her priorities. She was a woman who cared infinitely more about the pristine state of her long, intricate acrylic nails and being perpetually glued to the glowing screen of her smartphone than she did about the well-being of her own children.
I would watch her scroll for hours, oblivious to the world, while Mateo and Leo sought her attention, only to be shooed away like pesky flies. But I kept my mouth firmly shut.
"She is your son's wife, Rosa, do not interfere," I would repeatedly tell myself.
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I had always heard the stories; mothers-in-law who meddle, who criticize and nag, always end up pushing their children away. The absolute last thing I wanted in this world was to lose Carlos.
So, I stayed quiet. I became a ghost in my own home, helping out however I silently could. I swept the dusty patio, washed the towering piles of dishes when she left them rotting in the sink for days, and tried to pour all my love into the brief moments I spent with my grandchildren. Because of my failing health and my wooden cane, my room is on the ground floor, right next to the living room and perilously close to the kitchen.
