My mother-in-law took our dirty clothes home while I was sick — I couldn’t believe what he did with her, but karma took care of it

From the moment I married David, Linda made it clear that I was not her ideal daughter-in-law. He criticized everything he did, including how he cooked and folded clothes.

I even thought about how I should raise my children.

I thought keeping her distance would help, but Linda never liked being left out. And when I fell ill, she saw an opportunity to do what she wanted.

I didn’t realize how strange things would get until it was too late.

My husband David and I have been married for five years, and we have two precious children, Nathan (5) and Lucas (3).

Like any mother of two young children, my life is a whirlwind of messy rooms, sticky fingers, and endless piles of dirty laundry. And like any normal mother-in-law who doesn’t particularly like her daughter-in-law, Linda always had something to say about how she ran my house.

From the beginning, it was clear that he did not approve of me.

“You don’t give them enough protein,” he said, inspecting my kitchen with a frown.

Or: “David has never liked shirts folded like this. I taught him something better than this. “

Or my personal favorite: “You should dress the boys with something more presentable. You never know who is watching. “

He had an opinion on everything, and it was exhausting.

But instead of arguing, I took a different approach. I just stopped participating and kept our interactions to a minimum. I was careful not to give him any reason to start one of his grueling talks.

The best thing was that David agreed that it was for the best.

“You don’t have to force a relationship with her,” she said to me one night as we cleaned up after dinner. “I know it can be a lot. I’ll take care of her. “

And so he did.

He called her regularly, visited her, sent her gifts, and did everything a son would do to make his mother feel loved. And not once did I try to interfere with their bond.

In any case, I encouraged him to keep in touch with her. Just because he didn’t like it didn’t mean he had to cut ties.

But Linda was not one to let things go. He realized my absence.

“Why don’t you come with David anymore?” I was wondering.

“Before you called me more often,” he wrote to me at random.

It was almost as if he missed having someone to criticize.

It was annoying, but I let it go. It was fine as long as it didn’t cause serious problems. I could bear some nosy questions if that meant I didn’t have to see her that often.

Everything was fine in my life up to two weeks before Valentine’s Day. It was then that I woke up with a fever and a blocked nose.

I was sick. And things were about to get worse for me because I had two young children who depended on me.

What started as a mild fever quickly turned to exhaustion, body aches, and a cough that did not stop. And, of course, as soon as I started to feel a little better, Nathan and Lucas also caught it.

It was nothing serious. It was just one of those lingering viruses that knock you out for days. But when the worst happened, I felt like I had been hit by a truck.

I was exhausted.

He hardly had the energy to do the basics. Dirty clothes piled up. The dishes remained in the sink longer than they should.

In short, the house was a disaster.

So when the children and I recovered, I decided to do something nice. I invited my sister and my parents to spend the afternoon.

The boys haven’t seen them in a long time, and I thought that a while as a family could do us all good.

I didn’t tell Linda about this little lunch. Why would I do it?

But somehow he found out.

It was exactly 1:30 in the afternoon when the bell rang.

As soon as I opened the door, Linda came in with a smile.

“I heard you were not feeling well, my dear,” he said. “I thought I’d stop by to help you.”

Help? Linda?

He had never “helped” in all the years he knew her. All he did was give useless advice and make petty comments.

I looked at David, who was near the sofa. She raised her eyebrows, surprised, and I realized that he hadn’t invited her either.

“Very kind of you,” I said cautiously.

Linda smiled, but it was not her usual expression of sufficiency. It was … sweet. Suspiciously sweet.

“How are the boys?” He asked, ruffling Nathan’s hair. “My poor things, they had a hard time.”

Nathan giggled and Lucas approached her. He pampered them a moment before turning to me.

“And you, darling? You are very pale. You shouldn’t be up already. “

Was he … being nice? I thought. What happens?

“I’m fine,” I said, still watching her closely. “I’m just tired.”

“Of course you are!”

He glanced around the room and his gaze fell on the pile of dirty clothes in the corner. He had managed to put it all in baskets, but he couldn’t hide it. I hadn’t washed my clothes in weeks.

Linda scoffed. “Oh Evelyn. You shouldn’t have to deal with all of this in your state. “

Then she turned to David. “Why don’t I take something home? I’ll wash it and bring it fresh and folded. “

I stiffened. Since when do you do favors?

“It is not necessary,” I said quickly. “I can do it this weekend.”

But Linda waved at me. “Silly stuff. It is not a nuisance. I will be happy to help. “

Cute? Glad to help? What was happening?

There was something wrong with me. But before I came up with a polite way to refuse, David spoke up.

“It would be great, mom. Thank you”.

I turned to him, incredulous. Really?

“You see?”. Linda turned to me. “It is already fixed. I’ll take care of everything. “

He picked up a basket and started dragging it to the door before I could say another word. David even helped her load it into the trunk of her Car.

I felt uncomfortable, but what could I say? I was doing something good, wasn’t I?

At least, that’s what I thought.

Two days passed and I had almost forgotten about the laundry situation until David received a message from his mother.

He was in the kitchen, trying to convince Lucas to eat something other than cookies, when David came in with his phone. It seemed very confusing.

“You won’t believe it,” he said, showing the screen.

I wiped my hands on a napkin and took his cell phone.

It was a message from Linda. A long one.

David, I can’t believe what your wife has done. I’ve been sick all night. Fever, chills and the worst headache of my life. And do you know why? Because Evelyn didn’t bother to tell me she was contagious when she gave me her dirty clothes! I tried some things on before washing them, just to see if I wanted to keep them, since she had mentioned that she was going to get rid of some. And now I’m SICK! I can’t believe how irresponsible it is. You should have warned me!

I stared at the screen, my mouth open.

“Have you … tried my clothes on?” I asked.

“Yes,” said David. “It seems so”.

I almost gagged. “My dirty clothes. The one I put on while I was sick? “

David nodded.

“OMG”. I dropped the phone onto the counter as if it were contaminated. ” Gross!”.

“I don’t even know what to say,” David sighed.

“I do,” I said, picking up the phone and unlocking it. “She’s crazy if she thinks this is my fault.”

Before I could answer, my phone buzzed. Another message from Linda.

Medical expenses are not cheap, you know? Since your little trick has made me sick, I think it’s only fair that you cover my treatment. I will mail the invoice to you. Don’t think you can ignore it!

“Okay …” I said. “She has gone crazy. She has gone crazy. “

When I showed David the message, he told me not to pay him anything.

“I’m going to call her,” he said. “You have to stop with this.”

I crossed my arms and saw him come into the living room, call Linda and put the phone on speaker.

She took off after two timbrazos.

“I was about to call you!” He snapped. “Have you read my message? I hope you understand how serious this is. “

“Mom,” said David, already in a firm tone, “to see if I understood. You took dirty clothes, you tried them on, you got sick, and now you want Evelyn to pay for your treatment? “

“You should have warned me!” Linda replied. “How could it have been so neglected? You don’t know how miserable I feel now. “

David pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, mom. You were sloppy. You offered to do the laundry, not put it on. It was YOUR decision. “

Linda scoffed. “So now you take his side, as always?”

“No, I’m using basic logic,” said David. “You have no one to blame except yourself. And if you keep falsely accusing Evelyn, we’re going to have a real problem. “

There was silence on the other side. A long silence.

“So that’s it?” He finally spoke. “Are you going to let him treat me like that?”

David rolled his eyes. “You stole her clothes, you screwed up half of her, you got sick and now you’re trying to rip her off to get money out of her. If someone is treating someone here badly, it’s you. “

Another silence. So Linda muttered something in a low voice.

“What was that?” Asked David.

“I said some of those clothes were really pretty.”

“As you say?” I released. “What does that mean?”.

David just shook his head. “Mom, return what you have taken that belongs to Evelyn. You can’t keep anything. “

“But I…”

“Enough, mom!” David interrupted. “If you keep texting him about this, I’m sorry … I will not call or visit you soon. “

Another pause. And then … beep.

He had hung up.

David looked at me and sighed. “Well, it went as well as I expected.”

I took a deep breath and shook my head. “I can’t believe my sick clothes have been tried.”

David laughed under his breath. “Karma works fast, huh?”

A few days later a package arrived. Inside were a few shirts of mine, pants, and a sweater. They were all light pink.

Linda had spoiled my clothes.

For some reason, I was not angry. I guess I was too tired to argue with her about this.

“I guess I should have expected it,” I sighed as I raised a faded sweater.

David looked over my shoulder. “You won’t put them on again, will you?”

“You’re kidding? After where have they been? Burned pile. “

David laughed, shaking his head. “Well, at least we’ve learned something from all of this.”

“Oh yeah?”. I raised an eyebrow.

He smiled. “If your mother offers to do the laundry, say yes. If mine is offered? Run”.

I laughed. “Deal done”.