After Insisting on Getting Married

1

After my maternity leave ended, I found myself constantly shuttling between home and work to provide for my son's needs.

My husband, Frederic Heitkamp, feeling sorry for my daily struggles, suggested weaning the baby.

Thinking that my son was almost a year old and it was indeed time for weaning, I agreed and had Emeline Ells, my mother-in-law, take him back to their country house.

During my lunch break today, I was scrolling through short videos in the office.

By chance, I came across a video from a neighboring town, showing a family celebrating their child's first birthday.

I thought about how it would soon be time to prepare for my son's birthday, so I watched a bit more closely.

To my shock, the child in the video was none other than my own son!

I quickly paused the video, took a screenshot, and zoomed in to scrutinize it.

It was definitely my son, wearing the unique outfit my mother had made for him, one of a kind.

My heart raced as I sent the video and the screenshot to my husband and nervously called my mother-in-law.

The phone rang for a long time without anyone picking up, so I called Frederic instead.

"Hey, honey, check out the video and screenshot I sent you. Isn't that Norris?"

There was a brief pause before he tried to calm me down.

"Sandi, don't panic. I'll call my mom to find out what's going on."

"I just called her! No one answered! How can I not be worried!"

My voice rose in pitch, drawing curious looks from my coworkers around me.

My supervisor came over, looking at me with concern.

"Sandi, is everything okay?"

With thoughts of my son swirling in my head, I could barely think straight.

"Ms. Jones, I need to take a few days off."

Seeing the distress on my face, my supervisor nodded understandingly,

"You can go home. We'll sort out the leave paperwork when you get back."

I grabbed my bag and rushed out of the office, heading straight to my mother-in-law's house.

Throughout the journey, I kept calling her.

It took half an hour for her to finally answer.

The faint sound of clinking tiles from a mahjong game came through before it went quiet,

My heart sank.

"Emeline, where's Norris?"

There was a hesitant pause, and then she stammered.

"Uh, Norris... Norris is asleep!"

I was increasingly uneasy, especially about Emeline's habit of going to poker games.

When I sent Norris to the country house, Frederic and I had discussed this.

We agreed that Emeline should avoid her weekly poker nights while Norris was being weaned.

Firstly, the environment wasn't ideal for a child, and secondly, playing poker could be distracting, and I feared something might go wrong.

Frederic supported my view, and only after reaching an understanding with Emeline did I agree to let her take Norris.

But clearly, she had ignored our agreement and even lied to me.

"I'm bringing some things for Norris, and I'll be there in about twenty minutes."

"Oh! Why are you coming over so suddenly? You should have told me in advance."

Emeline's panicked tone confirmed my worst fears.

I hung up and pressed the accelerator harder.

When I arrived at the country house, I saw her talking on the phone at the entrance.

"Get Norris back here right away. My daughter-in-law is bringing things for him and will be here any minute!"

"Can't you come up with an excuse or something?" said someone on the other end.

I froze in shock and quickly approached her.

"Emeline, where's Norris?"

Emeline was stunned when she saw me, her mouth opening and closing as if searching for words.

I grabbed the phone from her and heard my sister-in-law, Vivien Heitkamp, on the other end.

"Oh, come on, Mom, I've already told the client. I can't bring Norris back until after the dinner. You've taken the money, and now you want me to return him? That's not how you run a business. You'll ruin my reputation!"

Vivien ran a wedding planning business in the town, handling events like weddings and birthday banquets.

But I couldn't understand why she would take Norris there.

Just the thought of my son being in an unfamiliar place made my heart ache.

I spoke into the phone, my tone sharp.

"Vivien, you'd better bring Norris back immediately. If you don't, I'll come over myself! Think of the consequences!"