My husband, Gregory, cheated on me with his cousin, Tina. After she had his child, he immediately filed for divorce. On the day the divorce waiting period ended, I sent him a medical report congratulating him on becoming a dad. Upon receiving the report, he completely broke down. “Samantha, explain to me what’s going on!” I replied, “Do I really need to tell you that you have a fertility issue and can’t have kids?” I met my husband, Gregory Hill, during a college club event. He fell head over heels for me and quickly began pursuing me. Eventually, I was moved by his sincerity and passion, so I agreed to be with him. Over the four years of college, we developed a deep bond and promised to marry after graduation, but my parents didn’t approve. After all, I was an only child from a wealthy family in a big city, well-loved and spoiled. Gregory, on the other hand, came from Appalachia. He didn’t have a comfortable upbringing or strong connections; he worked hard to earn his way to college in the city. To marry him, I was willing to clash with my parents and even threatened to cut ties with them. Eventually, my parents relented, fearing I’d struggle without their support. They agreed to the marriage and gave me a house and a car as a wedding gift. Gregory was ambitious and capable. He started his own business right after graduation, but faced numerous obstacles in the early days. His small company was on the brink of collapse due to a lack of stable funding. Seeing that his business was about to fail, I made the decisive choice to sell the house my parents had given me to provide him with startup capital. We moved into a cramped, damp one-bedroom apartment. For me, this hardship was nothing; I was just happy to be with Gregory. Gradually, his business began to improve, and we moved into a newly bought house. We lived a simple yet happy life for two years, but Gregory and I had been unable to conceive a child. It was strange; ever since his company stabilized, we hadn’t intentionally avoided pregnancy. We thought if I became pregnant, we’d just have the baby since we could financially support it now. However, I still hadn’t gotten pregnant, so I decided that Gregory and I should go get checked out. His company was growing, and he was so busy managing everything that it took a while for him to carve out time to accompany me to the doctor. After the checkup, Gregory rushed back to work, leaving me to wait for the results. When the results came in, I was utterly stunned. I was in good health, but Gregory had a fertility issue. Sitting alone on a hospital bench, I felt dizzy and didn’t know how to face this reality. This explained why we hadn’t been able to conceive in two years of marriage. But Gregory was very prideful, and I feared that learning the truth would devastate him. Moreover, my parents already disapproved of our marriage; if they knew Gregory couldn’t have kids, they would surely pressure me to divorce him. So, I planned to keep this a secret. If it came to it, we could always adopt later. That evening, when Gregory got home from work, he asked, “What did the tests say? Is there a problem?” I smiled gently and replied, “No, we’re both fine. The doctor said pregnancy is a matter of chance; as long as we take care of our health, exercise, and avoid late nights, it will happen eventually.” Gregory nodded with a neutral expression. “That’s good.” Although he didn’t say much, I could tell he wasn’t entirely satisfied with this outcome. After that day, we didn’t mention the baby issue again. I had just been promoted to a supervisory position at work, and with my increased responsibilities, I had even less time to think about it.
One day, when I came home from work, Gregory surprised me by cooking dinner. I guessed he might want to discuss something important. I was right. He told me he wanted to bring his mom and cousin, Tina, to live with us. Initially, I was reluctant. With more people in the house, there would inevitably be conflicts and tensions. Moreover, managing the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship was already challenging; adding a cousin into the mix felt overwhelming. But Gregory insisted, “My dad passed away when I was young, and my mom worked hard to raise me alone. Now that I can support her, I can’t leave her in the small town. Besides, Tina’s parents passed away, and she has always relied on us. I’ve always considered her like a sister.” So, I reluctantly agreed to let them move in. Before long, my mother-in-law and Tina arrived, dressed simply and exuding an air of humility. “You must be Samantha! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you!” my mother-in-law said warmly, rushing over to shake my hand. I felt a bit overwhelmed. I responded politely but distantly, “Mom, you both can settle in comfortably here. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” “Absolutely!” my mother-in-law nodded eagerly, while Tina seemed indifferent. Tina was 20 years old and, though she dressed plainly, it was clear she was a pretty young woman. According to Gregory, Tina hadn’t gone to college after high school because his mom needed help at home, so she stayed to care for her. Tina was diligent, jumping right into chores and cooking as soon as she arrived. However, she didn’t seem to like me very much. Sometimes, she’d be laughing and chatting with Gregory one moment, and then her face would drop the second she saw me. Today was Sunday, and after my shower, I went to my bedroom to change. On my way back to the bathroom, I noticed my recently changed underwear was missing. “Mom, did anyone come to the bathroom just now?” I asked my mother-in-law, who was watching TV in the living room. “Oh, Tina went in a bit ago,” she replied. I walked over to Tina’s room and knocked on the door. “Tina, did you see my underwear that I just changed out of?” Tina appeared unhappy and said, “I washed them.” Washed them? In just a few minutes? “Did you hand wash them for me?” I asked, surprised. “Not at all. I just tossed them in the washing machine with the other clothes,” she pouted. “What? You can’t just throw them in the washing machine! That’s so unsanitary!” I exclaimed as I hurried to stop the washing machine. Inside, I found all of our clothes mixed together, including socks, along with my recently changed underwear. That set was from a pricey brand my friend abroad had sent me, and it was barely worn. Now, not only was it dirty, but it was also wrinkled and ruined by the washing machine. Fuming, I confronted her, “I didn’t ask you to wash my underwear! Who washes their underwear with everyone else’s? Don’t you realize how unsanitary that is?” To my surprise, she didn’t back down and shouted back, “It’s just a worn-out underwear set! What’s the big deal? Besides, when Gregory was living at home, didn’t his underwear get washed with mine?” I was so stunned; I didn’t expect Tina to have such a bad attitude, even calling her brother by his name. My mother-in-law rushed in, hearing our argument, and instead of calming things down, she took Tina’s side. “Samantha, don’t be upset. Tina is still young and doesn’t understand. As a sister-in-law, you should be more tolerant,” she pretended to be the good guy while protecting Tina. I was at a loss for words, and feeling like I shouldn’t create family drama, I turned to Tina and said, “Fine, just apologize to me and we can move past this.” Tina remained unfazed, and it took several cues from my mother-in-law before she reluctantly said, “I’m sorry!” Then she turned and slammed the door behind her. I stood there staring at my mother-in-law, who continued to defend Tina. I waved my hand, indicating there was no need for more discussion; it was over.
I thought that what happened today was just a minor incident, but it turned out to be just the beginning. Tina seemed to be intentionally provoking me; each time she did laundry, she would take Gregory’s clothes and wash them separately, deliberately leaving mine behind. I didn’t want to get into it with her; she was just a sheltered girl and didn’t know better. However, my tolerance didn’t dissuade her annoying behavior; in fact, it made her bolder. One day, I noticed some of my cosmetics had gone missing. Given there were only a few of us in the house, it was obvious who took them. While Gregory was in the living room chatting with my mother-in-law, I marched straight into Tina’s room. I heard a loud scream, “What are you doing? Samantha, are you out of your mind?” There she was, wearing a revealing tank dress, barely concealing her modesty. I yanked open the drawer of her desk and found my missing cosmetics lying inside. I held up a bottle of foundation and approached her. “What is this?” She feigned indifference and replied, “It’s foundation. What’s the problem?” I couldn’t help but laugh in frustration. “I know it’s foundation! More importantly, I know it’s my foundation!” “That’s nonsense! This is mine!” she stubbornly defended. I smirked, “Oh really? What brand is it? What shade? Which counter did you buy it from?” She fell silent, glaring at me with daggers. At that moment, Gregory and my mother-in-law heard the commotion and rushed in. Tina, upon seeing Gregory, immediately leaped into his arms, completely disregarding what she was wearing. “Greg, this woman is accusing me of stealing her stuff! You have to stand up for me!” she said, feigning tears. Gregory gently rubbed her back and comforted her softly, “It’s okay, don’t cry. I’ll figure out what’s going on.” Then he turned to me, “Samantha, is there some misunderstanding? Tina isn’t like that.” I let out a scoff. “Misunderstanding?” I held the foundation up for them to see. “I have this little habit where I write the date on the bottom when I open a new cosmetic. You can check for yourselves.” When they looked at the bottom, they saw the small date I had written, and their expressions turned awkward. Gregory spoke first, “Samantha, Tina probably just thought these were new and interesting. After all, she hasn’t seen this kind of stuff in Appalachia. I’ll apologize for her. Please don’t be upset.” My mother-in-law added insincerely, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t raise her properly; you can blame me!” This whole family was acting so put upon that it made me look like the villain. I felt incredibly frustrated and said, “Just have her return all my things, and I won’t argue with you!” Tina reluctantly handed the items back to me. Seeing her sulking, Gregory consoled her, “Don’t be sad. I’ll buy you new stuff tomorrow, the best and most expensive.” Hearing this made me both sad and infuriated. My husband was siding with his sister for her wrongdoings and disrespecting me. I was at my wit’s end and retreated to my room.
Not long after, Gregory came into my room. “Samantha, I know you’re upset, but Tina has lived in a small town her whole life and hasn’t seen much. She’s really quite innocent and pitiable,” he said. I didn’t respond, unwilling to engage in this pointless conversation. Seeing I wasn’t reacting, he continued, “I know we’re from different backgrounds, and you might have some biases. But I hope you can look at our years of feelings and give me some grace. Can we just let this go?” Gregory’s words sounded condescending to me, and I was so annoyed I didn’t want to say anything to him. Noticing my silence, he left the room. The next day, true to form, Gregory bought Tina a bunch of expensive cosmetics, but he also got me something. This time, he didn’t say any passive-aggressive remarks but instead held up a new designer bag, soothingly telling me not to be upset. Seeing his sincere attitude, I decided not to dwell on the issue any further. In the afternoon, Tina saw the bag Gregory had bought for me and grew incredibly jealous, saying, “Ugh, relying on a man isn’t a real accomplishment.” I shot back, “I’m your sister-in-law; please speak respectfully! Instead of being jealous, why don’t you think about how to improve yourself?” After I said that, Tina fell completely silent, though I could see her eyes rolling in disdain. Maybe my words struck a chord; she began to learn how to do makeup and dressed up more, going out every day. One night, seeing her heavy makeup and a dress so short it might as well be nonexistent, I kindly warned her, “It’s late; you shouldn’t be going out alone.” “Why do you care? What gives you the right to tell me what to do?” she replied dismissively. I was irritated and snapped, “Tina, please remember your place. I’m your brother’s wife, your sister-in-law!” She just scoffed, as if I were a joke, and ignored me as she walked out. I felt my temples pounding in anger. My mother-in-law had gone to bed early, and Gregory was out of town for work, so no one was around to keep an eye on her. Forget it; I didn’t need to get worked up over this. The next morning, just as I was heading out to work, I ran into Tina, who had just come home.
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