My boyfriend and I had been together for three years, but his mother never seemed willing to respect me.
At first, she repeatedly called me by his ex-girlfriend’s name. Whenever I corrected her, she laughed and claimed it was an innocent mistake.
Then she began calling me Janet.
My name is Jenny, and there was no Janet in the family. I knew she was doing it deliberately, but my boyfriend kept insisting that his mother was simply forgetful.
A few weeks before Thanksgiving, she smiled across the table and said, “Why don’t we let Janet make the turkey this year?”
Everyone laughed.
I forced a smile and replied, “That’s a wonderful idea.”
On Thanksgiving, I arrived carrying a large covered dish. His mother looked delighted, clearly expecting me to embarrass myself.
When she lifted the cover, she didn’t find a turkey.
Inside was a framed collection of screenshots from messages she had sent to my boyfriend’s ex. In them, she called me “Janet” as a private joke and repeatedly begged the ex to return before her son proposed to me.
The room went silent.
She began yelling that I had humiliated her, but my boyfriend kept reading. His expression changed as he finally realized that her “mistakes” had always been intentional.
He demanded that she apologize.
She refused, so we left together.
Dinner was ruined, but after three years, my boyfriend finally stopped defending the woman who had been quietly trying to destroy our relationship.
