1.
I put my phone down and took several deep breaths to calm myself. This was the last straw. It was time for me to act and end this situation once and for all. I sat down on the couch and planned how I was going to end the marriage of my son to the horrible woman he was married to. I had tried to stop the marriage before it happened. But he is his mother's son and loves a good challenge and doesn't like to be told he shouldn't do something. It only makes him want it more. So I'd had to accept the fact that he had made his choice and it was not my business. He was an adult after all.
But this woman he was married to had a vendetta against me right from the start. She had made it her mission to make sure Andrew knew how horrible his childhood had been, how awful his family had treated him and how she was not going to allow it anymore. And she had driven a wedge in our family that would never be repaired. I hated her. And the feeling was mutual. Kay placed the blame for every problem in her marriage to Andrew squarely on my shoulders. And she never missed an opportunity to tell me as much. By text. She never said anything to my face. Well, nothing outright; she was very good at passive aggressive comments. Her poisonous influence had eroded Andrew's relationships with his friends, and his family. I could see the unhappiness in him every time we were together. The tightening in his jaw, the put upon look on his face, his frustration with his wife's demands. And yes, I realized he had made his choice and now had to live with it and make the best of it, but it didn't make me hate her any less. The only reason I even gave her the time of day was because of the sweet little girl they were raising. A happy, beautiful baby that I loved with all my heart. And I could see that Andrew was over the moon with her too.
As I sat and thought about a solution to this situation, it occurred to me that breaking up the marriage would not work. She would still be in his life and there was no doubt in my mind that I would not see Bree again if Andrew and Kay split up. She would poison that child against her daddy and his family. So it seemed to me the only thing to do was to get rid of Kay permanently. I couldn't believe I was thinking these things. But she was making my son miserable and it was only a matter of time before she did the same to my granddaughter. I could already see her unreasonably high expectations of the baby. I had to admit I wanted to kill her. I could see no reason why not.
I thought and thought about how and when I would do it. I was supposed to go up there for dinner the coming weekend. It was Bree's birthday celebration. I was surprised I was still invited but Kay said she wouldn't stand between me and my granddaughter. Yeah right, I thought. There would be lots of food and her family would all be there. I would be the only one there from Andrew's family because Kay had alienated everyone else. I decided I would kill her that day. And then we could get on with our lives. Without Kay. It would be a horrible accident. A freak tragedy. Something no one could have seen coming. I just had to think what it would be.
The day of the party arrived and I still wasn't sure what I had planned. I decided I would just watch and wait for an opportunity. I thought of poisoning, but I wanted to be sure it would work. A push down the stairs? Accidentally slicing her with a knife? Dropping something heavy on her head. I suddenly felt a sense of despair that I wouldn't be able to come up with anything effective and I would just end up in jail and she would still be around with more ammunition to use against me.
At the party Kay was cool, but polite. No one could tell how vicious she had been to me just a few days before and I was pretty sure no one could sense the depths of hatred I was feeling towards her. It was all very polite. I actually felt a little bit of pity for her because she would never see her daughter grow up. But that pity was replaced by the joy I felt at knowing that her reign of terror over our family was about to come to an end. I imagined a closer happier family, who came together to help Andrew through his grief and help him raise Bree. It would be just the way I had always wanted our family to be.
As the party went on I watched Kay's every move, waiting for an opportunity or an inspiration. I held and played with Bree as much as I could. It was so hard to share her with the other relatives. The time came for opening presents and we gathered around. Kay had Bree on her lap and helped her open her presents. And I noticed something. The way she was with Bree, loving, kind, and gentle. And Bree responded to her with joy and adoration. She loved her mommy! And it was plain to see that Kay loved her daughter. I sat there watching with a growing sense of the wrongness of what i had been planning to do. Yes, I hated Kay. Because she hurt me. Because she rejected my attempts to be kind to her. Because she made my son unhappy. Or did she? Watching the two of them together, making sure the party ran smoothly I could tell they cared about each other. They worked well together. And they parented well together too.
By the time we all sat down to eat the birthday dinner I'd had a change of heart. I couldn't deprive that baby of her mother. Or my son of his wife. What had I been thinking? I may never love, Kay, I probably will never even like her much. But she is the mother of my grandbaby and the wife of my son. They are a family. I needed to accept that. I needed to keep the things I had witnessed that day in the front of my mind. Because all that really mattered was family.
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