From My Mom to My Co-Wife Pt. 01

Note: This is loosely based on our real-life. I (Nancy) can only be 100% sure of the things I personally witnessed. The rest are recreated from my mom Jan's and husband Mike's recounting. I also cannot be sure of they "felt" at any moment, only what I saw or was told later. There are some moments that are so personal, I didnt ask about, so there is a certain amount of creative liberty. I do have their permission to write our story but they are by no means active contributors.

Looking back two years ago, we were a "normal" middle aged couple living in a decent sized town in middle america. My husband Mike owns his construction business he inherited from his family and I dabble in arts while helping him out with work when needed. I didnt grow up here and moved when we got married. Met Mike in college and we both kept in touch and after a couple of years of long-distance flirting, we never officially said we were exclusive, he just up and popped the question one day. It took him another year to get a yes but it honestly was the best decision of my life.

I am incredibly close to my mom who made sure I went to college and built a proper life. Moving away from her was tough but the fact that I was only moving 5 hours away helped. We regularly have her over for Christmas and visits during summer.

Mike happened to have some government approval work in the town right next to my mom and I insisted that he visit her. The way it worked out is that he was able to time his work such that he could check-out of his hotel and visit her on the way back home.

Now you have to understand that Mike is the nicest human being ever and everyone around him LOVES him. What no one other than me knows is that there is another side to him. He is the head of our household and that is that. He would never embarrass me by flaunting that around but I know better than to step out of line. Not even my mom has any clue about this side of his personality.

Now back to what happened on his visit. I have done my best to understand what happened but it is mostly from talking to my mom. What Mike and I didnt realize was that my mom was struggling a little financially and had let the house run down a little. Now she still is fiercely proud of her ability to maintain it but the big ticket items simply had to be put off. Mike being a construction guy, couldnt help but notice the run down siding, the barely acceptable roof and not to mention patched up windows. What he saw inside, I think pushed him over the edge. The house was cold-ish and he could tell she was struggling with her old appliances.

Mike had this look on his face that she had never seen before and through dinner my mom assumed the government permitting work did not go well. once they were done with dinner, Mike said to her,

"We need to talk Jan. I wont have you live like this."

"It is fine Mike. Dont worry about me."

"Why exactly should you put up with this though? We have a massive house just for the two of us."

"Really Mike, I will be fine. I dont want to bother you two."

This is when Mike flipped into the person only I knew. He looked her in the eye and said "I am not asking Jan. Pack your essentials and you are coming with me tonight. I will send guys over later to take care of the rest."

My mom says she can still recall the exact feeling. She felt a mix of love and fear for her son in law in that moment. The thought of arguing back to him never even occurred to her.

She nodded and headed to pack. On the drive over, he told her unprompted, "You will not be a guest in the house. Do you understand? I will treat you exactly as I treat Nancy. No better, no worse. You will be a part of my family. What is mine is yours. Okay?"

My mom was a little shell shocked at the turn of events and just kept quiet.

"I have always maintained a level of deference to you since you are Nancy's mom, but I want to be clear that you are coming to be part of MY family. I know you are wondering what that means, just know that Nancy is very happy with it and I think so will you."

They drove straight home and arrived at around 2am. I of course had no idea whatsover that my mom was coming too and had altogether different plans in mind. Imagine me opening the door wearing his favorite lingerie and finding my mom standing there with him with two large suitcases!

I knew better than to ask questions so I ushered them both in after hugs. I figured both would want to go to bed and we would talk it out in the morning. So I started to say that and Mike just cut me off and said make some coffee for us. I said "Okay let me put me put a robe on and I will turn the machine on" and he gave me an absolute death stare "I said make some coffee Nancy." This was certainly not the voice he uses in front of guests. I just jumped straight up off the coach and ran over, looking ridiculous in my baby doll and trying my best to not show the crotchless panties. I realized later that he wanted to show the level of obedience he expected from the women of the house up front so my mom knew that this time her experience would be very different from any time before.

Mike sat us down at the dining table as we had our coffee and explained what had happened and repeated what he had promised my mom. He referred to her as Jan, which struck me as different since he would always say "your mom" in the past.

I didnt have any questions and neither did mom have much to say so we were done in about 15 mins. We both of course knew without having to tell each other that we would have a much longer chat with each other in private. All I ended up saying was "you are the sweetest man in the world and I am so happy to have you both here."

As we were all getting up to go to our beds, Mike says quietly, "Jan, Nancy will lend you some night clothes and take you shopping tomorrow." Mom looked a little confused but all kinds of puzzle pieces fell into place in my head. Mike was not kidding when he said he was going to treat her the same as me. Mom asked me when we were in her room why she needed my night clothes and I had to explain "mom, Mike doesnt like women wearing pajamas or just pants in general. Have you never wondered why I always wear dresses? When you were visiting as a guest, he just looked past it but now that you live here, he expects you to follow his rules. You okay with that?"

To my utter surprise, she replied, "I like that he knows what he wants and says it like he means it. I guess you really do need to take me shopping tomorrow. I might as well have not bothered to pack my suitcases. You look amazing honey. Go show that wonderful man what he has been missing the last week."

To be continued...