“You don’t get to tell me what to do! Wait till Scott gets home. My son will put you in your place!” she said.
I didn’t answer. Then I picked up my phone.
“Come home. Now.”
His reply came minutes later.
“Can’t, babe. Swamped with back-to-back meetings till late. Let’s talk tomorrow.”
I didn’t explain. I just typed.
“Be here after work. We need to talk today. It’s important.”
When he arrived, I stayed in the bedroom.
“She cursed at me! She broke one of my favorite bowls! Scott! Your wife is uncontrollable!”
My bowl. My soup. My kitchen. My home.
“How could you talk to her like that?” he said.
“Do you want to know what really occured?” I looked at him, frowning.
“She wouldn’t make that up,” he said. “I know my mother, Hope.”
The disdainful hit harder than I predicted.
“She smacked the bowl out of my hands, Scott. She screamed in my face over a bowl of soup. That’s what occured. And let’s not forget about how disruptive she is when I’m trying to work.”
His silence was an answer I didn’t want.
And then he said the four words that changed everything.
“I don’t believe you.”
To his mother, not the woman he’d chosen to marry.
“Pack your things,” I said. “Both of you. You’re leaving tonight.”
“What?! You can’t be serious! Hope! We’re married…”
“Yes, we are. But this is my home. It’s in my name, bought and transferred to me before we ever met. Neither of you has any legal claim to stay.”
But I was already walking away. I entered the bathroom, closed the door behind me, and dialed my brother.
My brother arrived with two of his friends, Marlon and Yusuf, just as he said he would.
They were all ex-military. They didn’t touch him. They didn’t have to.
At first, Scott tried to argue. Gloria screamed, cried, and requested explanations that no one was interested in giving.
She even tried appealing to David, but his face remained illegible.
“Ma’am, please stop talking and start packing,” Marlon said simply.
My brother crossed his arms and stood near the door, blocking any thought of escape from her mental map.
I didn’t say much. I didn’t need to.
