Veronica had hidden the baby socks in the back of her bedroom closet because buying them had felt too hopeful. Three weeks later, her mother-in-law handed them back to her as if they were a gift.
When Ethan and I decided to start trying for a baby, I had one request.
“Please don’t tell your mother.”
He laughed.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
I gave him a look.
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
His mother, Diane, wasn’t a bad person.
But privacy meant something different to her than it did to me.
If Ethan mentioned we were thinking about replacing the couch, his aunt knew by dinner.
If I told Diane I had an important appointment, she’d call two days later asking how it went.
She called it being close.
I called it exhausting.
Trying for a baby felt different.
I didn’t want questions every month.
I didn’t want relatives watching what I drank at dinner or asking whether I was “glowing.”
For once, I wanted something to belong only to Ethan and me.
Three weeks later, Diane came over for dinner.
Nothing about the evening seemed unusual until she was leaving.
At the door, she handed me a small shopping bag.
“What’s this?”
She smiled.
“You’ll need these soon.”
Inside were tiny white baby socks.
For a second, I couldn’t move.
Then I looked at Ethan.
He looked just as confused as I felt.
“Mom, what is this?” he asked.
“Oh, relax. It’s just a little gift.”
My face was burning by the time the door closed behind her.
“You told her.”
“What? No.”
“Then why is your mother giving me baby clothes?”
“I have no idea.”
He sounded sincere, which somehow made me angrier.
“She didn’t just randomly decide to hand me newborn socks three weeks after we started trying.”
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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