For about a year, my son had been living with Kate, but I had never met her parents. This struck me as odd, so I decided to investigate.

I have always raised my son to hold the highest respect for women his grandmother, mother, wife, and daughter. To me, thats the mark of a truly decent man: how he honours the women in his life. My husband and I put heart and soul into giving our son a proper upbringing, a solid education, and everything he could ever need to carve out a bright future for himself. By now, we meant to let him make his own way, but in the end, we bought him a comfortable two-bedroom flat. Although he was earning, supporting himself, he simply couldnt muster enough for his own place.

We didnt gift him the flat outright, nor did we even tell him wed bought it. Why? Well, our son had moved in with a girlEmily. Theyd been living together for about a year, but wed never met her family, which struck me as peculiar.

Later, I discovered through an old friends neighbour that Emilys mother carried a bit of history. Shed thrown her husband out the moment he started earning less than usual, which was only the beginning of the oddities. Not long after, she began seeing a married but wealthy man, who, by all appearances, acted as a proxy father for Emily. As for Emilys grandmother, she wasnt far behind her daughter; she, too, kept company with a married man. Shed strong-arm her daughter and granddaughter into coming out to help manage her house in the countryside, which had already sparked several rows between my son and his prospective mother-in-law.

What truly unsettles me in all this, though, is seeing how mother and grandmother have slowly turned Emily against her own father. The poor girl so clearly cares for him, but her relationship with him is on the precipice because of those two women.

And then, just when I thought it couldnt get any more complicated, Emily decided to drop out of university. She claims a man ought to provide for his family which, to an extent, I agree with. I raised my son to be reliable. But God forbid he runs into hard times. Whats the safeguard then? How will Emily support her husband if life grows difficult? Just to be certain, I signed the flat back into my own name. I know full well Ive raised a lamb, as the saying goes. Its true; whatevers earned before marriage isnt split in a divorce. Still, Emily is a shrewd young woman, and she could quite easily fleece my boy right down to his socks.