From the very first day I brought my wife home to meet my parents, my mother had been against our marriage. She did everything she could to separate us, even threatening to disown me.
But I stood by my wife.
My mother's reason was simple: she believed my wife came from a poor family and wasn't worthy of marrying into our wealthy one.
Yes, I came from a wealthy family, and money had never been a problem for me. But my wife came from a humble background.
Eventually, my father and I convinced my mother to accept my wife. She attended our wedding and even gave us her blessings.
But her hatred for my wife never truly disappeared. Because of that, after I got married, I stopped visiting my parents' house.
"How did you find out my wife is missing?" I asked suspiciously as my mother stepped closer.
"Oh, my in-law called to ask if I had seen her daughter. Why would she run away, leave you divorce papers, and abandon her one-week-old twins if she wasn't seeing another man?" my mother said, her voice dripping with contempt.
"So many things can happen to a woman after childbirth," I replied. "One of them is postpartum depression. For all we know, my wife could be going through that, and she needs me now more than ever. So, if you know where she might have gone..."
"Why would you even think that? Is that how little you think of me?" my mother snapped. "After your wedding, I haven't been in contact with either you or your wife."
"Then why are you here?" I shot back. "Since you don't care about us, why did you come to my house?"