“He said what? He never even knew about Mercer. I never, ever said that I wanted to start over, with or without Zack, with or without someone new.”
“Zack is our son, and we love him. We will fight for him,” Mercer warns. “We’ll fight, and with the ugly things Eli just said, I am confident we’ll win. That, plus the text messages and history of not paying his child support.” Mercer stands closer to me, as if he’s trying to literally make us one united front, pulling me tight against his chest. “We don’t want it if it comes with threats. I will provide what you can not. What youchoosenot to give.”
Eli looks completely bowled over that his mother is taking my side. “Mom!” he gasps. “You said you were on board with this. You already ordered a new bedspread for Zack’s room.”
Linda blinks back tears. “Well, if I ever get to see him again, then he’ll use it when he spends the night.” She looks at me and shakes her head, sniffing in. “I’m sorry, Madelyn. I lost my head when Eli told me that you were never going to allow me to see Zack again.”
My mouth drops open. “He said what?”
“That’s not true!” Mercer chimes in. His glare fixes on Eli. “You shame your wife for bearing you a child, you don’t support your son, and you’ve lied to your mother?” He seems at a loss for words, or maybe afraid to say more. He stays close to me, but his tentacles lash angrily on the ground.
“Lied?” Linda looks at Eli with a stricken expression. “He wouldn’t lie about something like that.”
“Want to see my texts to him before I blocked him? I told him you were welcome to come any time. I said there’s a nice hotel intown. I said you could take Zack to the park and the beach. That I’d be happy to see you!”
“Mom, she blocked me. Remember? What kind of a mother would block the dad from getting to his son? What if there was an emergency?” Eli protests, his voice full of faux indignation.
I know it’s risky, but it bursts out of me. “Where were you when he almost drowned? When he had a fever of 103 when he was only fourteen months old? When the doctors thought he had an umbilical hernia when he was six months old? You were nowhere. You’ve never responded to texts when he’s been sick or hurt—and Mercer is the one who saved his life when a second parent was needed.” I pat my pockets and grab my phone. Find my old texts and shove my phone into Linda’s hand.
Eli reactively snatches at it, and Mercer’s tentacle snaps out with a sound like a whip crack. “Don’t hide your words now,” he mutters, voice low and dark. “You were man enough to say this to the woman you once claimed to love. You are ashamed to let your mother see those same words?”
I show Linda Eli’s last text before I blocked him, along with the text I sent in response.
Eli: You didn’t have to keep it. I told you it would ruin our lives, and he did. We would still be together if you hadn’t had him. You’d still be sexy, too, instead of some flabby single mom who had to leave town to find someone willing to date your fat ass.
Madelyn: Tell your mom she can visit any time. There’s a nice hotel in town. She can take Zack to the beach and the park. I’ll be happy to see Linda.
Madelyn: But you? You stay the hell away from my son. Stay away from me. You’re not a good father, and you turned out to be a shitty husband. I feel bad for Linda because she raised such a crappy man, which is probably why she’s sobbing. She’s lost her chance totry for a decent human being with Zack. Have the day you deserve, and you are officially blocked. If there’s some emergency, have your mother call.
Linda’s face pales as she reads the exchange. Mercer hesitates, slowly stepping back as Linda’s face turns white as snow. “I’ll go check on Zack, but I’ll be right back,” he tells me as Zack remains at the window, nose now pressed to the glass.
I nod at him as he slips away, glowering at Eli. Eli, who looks like he’s not sure if he can pull this off.
“I never said that, Mom. Ever.”
“You can delete a text from your phone, but it doesn’t always disappear from the other person’s conversation,” I explain, knowing my mother-in-law has never been very tech savvy. “I know Zack loves you. I know that even if we haven’t been best friends, you mean a lot to him. I never tried to block you from talking to him or seeing us. If you want to get an idea of why I blocked Eli, just keep scrolling back.” I fix my gaze on him, an eerie calm settling over me. “It’s one thing to be divorced and not get along. It’s another to constantly body shame me.” I no longer hold back. I press forward. “Udders. Fat ass. Mooing at me when I breastfed.”
Linda’s anger overflows faster than mine. I guess she’s had less time to spread it out. “Eli,” her voice is quivering, lips white with rage. “You. Did.What??”
“I didn’t... I didn’t want a baby, Mom,” Eli hisses. “You know that. I wasn’t ready. I told Madelyn I might never be ready.”
“And then you changed your mind. You changed your mind the day of your buddy’s daddy shower, and changed it backafterI was pregnant. You can’t do that with someone’s baby. They’re not a pair of shoes you can return.”
“Look, she got herself preg—”
Linda’s voice explodes, a blast of arctic air. “Silence!”
Eli looks stunned. He’s always been the spoiled only child, and his mother adores him.
But not right this minute. “Got herself pregnant? Did you actually just spout that foolishness to me? Eli, I’m sixty-five. I know exactly how a child comes to be, and you have to be involved! You have to be mature. There are tons of procedures, pills, and devices to prevent a pregnancy, but you most assuredly were involved and chose not to use one! And to insult the mother of your child? Your wife?” Linda looks at me and shakes her head, an inscrutable look on her face, so many emotions swirling that I can’t pick one out. “Madelyn is so beautiful. And she’s a wonderful mother. Have you heard how well Zack speaks for his age? How clever and loving Zack is?”
“No. He hasn’t. If you’ve told him, that’s really the only way he’d know,” I whisper.
Eli opens his mouth to protest, but there’s nowhere to go on this one. Instead, he changes his tactic. “You were bawling, Mom. You missed him so much. I had to do something.”
“Yes! Like ask for shared custody, or visitation, or... Or, for heaven’s sake, Eli, this is a beautiful little town, and I’m a widow with no career and no other grandchildren! I could buy a summer home here. It’s very picturesque.”
I have to smile, just a little. Only my mother-in-law would use words like “picturesque” while chewing out her deadbeat son.
