The Forever Husband

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“Wait, just for a moment. Eric, why are you so hard on her?” Grace asked gently.

“Don’t, Mom,” Eric warned. “This is something Hope and I have never agreed on, and you don’t want to get yourself into the middle of an old argument.” He looked at his wife, but she didn’t meet his gaze. “I’m sorry if I offended you, Hope. I just hate to see you hurt by them.” Then he looked back at his mother. “Her parents don’t like me. They never did,” he explained. “I guess that makes me overly defensive when they do something hurtful.”

Hope stood silently beside Grace, listening to Eric’s comments. Her teeth sank into her lower lip as she considered her parents’ discontent with most areas of her life. It had been a long time since she’d thought of how unkind they had been to her husband over the years when he had been nothing but considerate and respectful to them.

Eric continued. “I can accept their feelings toward me, but why Hope allows them to make hurtful comments about the way she lives her life, I really don’t understand. I think that if she stood up to them, just once, they’d be so shocked by it, they might back off for a while.”

Grace released her gentle hold on Hope and pulled out a nearby kitchen chair to sit down. She looked from her son to her daughter-in-law, each standing on opposite sides of the kitchen, both looking as if they’d prefer being someplace else.

“Eric, I’m sorry my mother and father have been so unfair to you.” Hope shook her head regretfully. “There was nothing much I could do about it. From the time we were kids—the more I loved you, the less they liked you.”

Eric stared at her, clearly surprised by her admission. “I wasn’t looking for an apology.”

“But you deserve one,” she replied.

“I just want you to stand up for yourself once in a while,” he said. “Deference to their position in your life is one thing, but listening to their constant faultfinding is too much. You’ve been polite and kind to them for as long as I can remember.”

Hope was about to respond when Grace intervened on her behalf.

“Do you think it’s easy to be kind, polite, even loving to people who are hateful? People who pay little attention to your feelings, your choices in life? How do you think Hope feels when her folks take off on one of their tirades against Christianity, or against you and your marriage?” Grace’s questions stung; that was apparent from Eric’s downcast expression.

“Mom, I really think she has a right to defend herself.”

“And say what? That they’re narrow-minded, sharp-tongued people who ought to open their eyes and see her for who she is? A lovely, young Christian mother whose doing a fine job of raising two children, by herself?” Grace emphasized the last two words.

Hope was tired of the struggle she’d known with her parents, but she certainly didn’t feel worthy of Grace’s compliments. She’d made more mistakes than she would ever want to own up to. Especially to Eric. “Grace, please—”

“Let me finish, dear,” Grace interrupted. “Do you think it’s weakness that keeps her quiet when she is told how disappointed they are with her?” her mother-in-law asked.