Whether there was a conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law depended on whether the son, as the middleman, was competent.
It never occurred to me that my relationship with Audrey was deteriorating because Liam was deliberately causing trouble. I had always trusted him.
"Humph!" My son saw me coming back and threw the ball aside with a little resentment, then hid in the tent to play with building blocks.
Thinking that my son was only five years old but was surrounded by conspiracies and tricks, I felt my heart hurt. It was so painful that I was almost suffocating.
He used to ask me to hug him every day, liked to touch his face against mine, loved to call me "mom" behind my back, and would only fall asleep if he hugged me.
Later, he would rather sleep with Mrs. Lopez than with me.
He no longer called me mom and even called me by my name, Anna Smith.
He was unwilling to get close to me and even spoke harshly to me.
I thought my son was spoiled and pampered, so I thought about having another one.
But I never thought he was deliberately led astray by someone with ulterior motives.
It's my fault. I ignored him.