CHAPTER - 24 Millie complains about her daughter's behavior

"Mom, you do know that we are not communicating like before. She hardly has any time for me. From the time Tina came into our life, Grace had changed a lot. She took over Tina's life and started to govern each and everything Tina does. She literally dictates how Tina must walk, eat, sleep, and everything… literally everything. Moreover, much to my disapproval, Tina follows her blindly. I do understand that this is a toxic relationship but I am helpless here..." Mason held his head in frustration.

"That's why I warned you before to bring your wife under control. She said she cannot be a gynecologist anymore because every time, she walks into the operating room, she sees the surrogate mother's face. So, why did you not convince her to become a general consultation doctor? She doesn't have to do surgeries or deliveries. But no… you have to build a hospital on her name and give her a crown. Now look, who is getting affected because of that? My grand-daughter, Tina." Millie complained.

"But, mom… Tina was getting influenced badly, even before, by Grace. As she stopped working, she became a full-time Nanny to Tina and tortured her day and night. She wanted to bring out the best version of herself in Tina. I had to give her some other responsibilities. So, at that time, I found that making her manage a hospital would be too much work. She would be busy most of the time. Moreover, I thought it suited her best compared to be a general consultant." Mason replied with his head lowered.

He knows that he did regret later, after what he had done. Mason wanted to hit himself for his stupidity. Why did he not see the future earlier? His consciousness almost poked his heart every day and every night.

What is the use of being a successful businessman, when Mason can't even understand his own wife well? Just by thinking about those terrible days, he felt like someone was hammering his head with an ax.

"Oh! Those were some days! I don't even want to talk about it or even remember them." Millie recalled that moment when Grace declared she decided to retire from her profession.

At first, she was happy but when she saw what was happening to Tina, she became frustrated. Millie sat back on the sofa relaxingly. She closed her eyes for two seconds to drive the images away that appeared in front of her eyes.

"What are you two discussing, so early in the morning? Looks like it must be an interesting topic looking at your expressions." a sweet voice echoed from the entrance.

They turned towards the entrance and saw Mason's mom and dad were standing next to the door. It looked like they had just finished their morning walk and came directly here.

"Kyl, How are you doing today?" Millie asked, trying to bring excitement in her voice.

"I am fine. So, what is that topic that you were talking about that made you both look so spirited earlier? It must be something exciting," Kylie asked once again.

She looked like her head would burst out if she did not know what they were talking about. Mason sighed but did not say respond to her. He exchanged eyes with Millie and stayed quiet. 

He knows her mother too well. She would never let go of any topic regarding Grace at any cost or at any time of the day. She loves to criticize her daughter-in-law, just like any typical mother-in-law would do.

"What could we even discuss about other than the Devil of this house, Grace!" Millie huffed and her face became hardened.

"Mil, I did not expect that you would start to criticize your own daughter so early in the morning. Just relax for a moment! There is still a lot more time left for the day to end as it had just started. We will get many other opportunities later in the day. Still, you didn’t tell me what you were talking about?" Kylie asked with gossiping curiosity.

She sat next to Millie and looked at her face with enthusiasm. Nobody would believe that the pose, elegant Kylie was so interested in gossiping about her daughter-in-law all the time. Millie understood that she would not let it rest until she knew the matter of their discussion. So, she decided to give a piece of her mind to Kylie by explaining it to her.

"What else? I was asking him, why did he build a hospital for that Devil? She doesn't know anything about management. Now all the responsibilities are falling on our granddaughter's head," Millie complained to Kylie.

"Why not? We have invested in several fields and this one was a good opportunity to explore the medical field too. Isn't Mason helping her with the management work most of the time? He even attended the last conference meeting." Mason's father Abel, who was silent until then supported his daughter-in-law, the minute he opened his mouth.

Kylie and Grace rolled their eyes and looked at each other. They surely understood about him way long back. When Grace reached them to marrying Mason, he was the one who agreed before she even explained the purpose of her visit. 

Grace had just entered their residence. The minute his eyes landed on her, he turned towards Kylie and whispered,

“I think this woman would suit our son. What do you think?”

When he asked Kylie that question, she was shocked. He had never talked about their son’s marriage before. She was surprised that he had already chosen a woman without even consulting her.

But the question, Grace asked after she met her for the first time, gave Kylie a heart attack. She never expected a woman to be so bold and open-minded. She was not against woman empowerment but she was still unable to digest that Grace came forward to fix her marriage with Mason on her own. 

“Aunty and Uncle, I would like to marry your son. If you give us your permission, then I will start to call you both Mom and dad,” Grace announced bravely.

‘What about her parents? Are they ok with their daughter behaving so inappropriately?’ Kylie wondered.

“Sure, sure! Go ahead,” Abel immediately gave his consent. 

Kylie pinched his arms and stopped him from speaking anymore.

“Did my son agree to marry you?” Kylie asked her.

“I did not talk to him yet. Once I get your approval, I will talk to him, Mom,” Grace said directly.

“Mom?” Kylie was shocked and her eyes started to twitch.

“Dad, Mom, I'm happy that you agreed to our marriage. I will go and inform Mason about this,” Grace said.

“Sure, sure, Go ahead. Congratulations,” Abel nodded his head in content.

Kylie was left speechless. It took her several minutes to understand what had just happened.

“Agreed? When did I agree to let her marry my son?” She questioned Abel.

Abel smiled at her and took the newspaper from the coffee table. He hid his face with that as he didn’t want to answer his wife’s question. Before she could even come out of her initial shock, the marriage date was fixed. Later, on the marriage day, other than her everyone looked happy.

She was still confused about what was happening around her. It took her a month after their son’s marriage to even realize that his son was now a family man. And he is not only her son alone. He is also a husband to another woman. 

There is another woman in her son’s life, that thought made her heart wretched. Until a few years ago, no one was there to support her against her daughter-in-law. But now after Grace’s own mother, Millie went against her daughter,  she became more than happy.

At least someone is not blind in this family. And Millie proved to be much better than her husband, who would definitely support his daughter-in-law’s decision with his closed eyes. When Kylie came back to the present, as she expected Millie was speaking against Grace. With a wide grin, she listened to their conversation.

"Yes, he did. It’s because of that, Grace is now angry with Tina. So, Tina wants to attend the conference meeting that is happening today. She swiftly rejected the help Mason offered, as Grace was upset about the previous day." Millie complained.

"Didn't Tina say she has some seminar in her college today?" Kylie asked them with sparkling eyes.

Kylie thought now her husband would see the true colors of Grace just like Millie.

"Yes, looks like she wants to do both. She has a seminar in the morning. I guess it's around nine O'clock. And the conference starts at three in the afternoon. So, she must be planning to finish the seminar in the morning and rush to the hospital for the conference. I am really worried about her. I feel like she is over-exhausting herself in recent days." Mason said as he was too worried about his daughter’s health.

"Why don't you make her understand that it's okay to relax once in a while? Aren't you here to take care of all those meetings?" Kylie asked him.