Dan slammed his fork down, startling both of us.
“Mom, we need to talk.”
Karen blinked, confused. “Talk about what?”
“These rules… they’re insane,” Dan said, his voice rising. “I’m miserable, Lucia’s miserable, and this is not how we’re going to live our lives.”
Karen looked taken aback.
“But, Dan, I just want to make sure you’re being taken care of! I thought this was how marriage was supposed to be.”
“No, Mom, it’s not,” Dan replied, his tone firm. “Lucia isn’t my servant, and I’m not a child who needs everything done for me.
These rules are stupid, outdated, and completely unrealistic. We’re building our own family with our own rules, and that doesn’t include treating my wife like a maid.”
“But Dan—”
“No, Mom.” Dan stood his ground. “You’re not going to come to us with these outdated views anymore.
I love Lucia for who she is, and we’ll run our marriage how we want, not by some list of ridiculous rules.”
Karen sat there, stunned into silence. She hadn’t expected Dan to push back like this.
I smiled, finally feeling a sense of relief. I grabbed the ornate box from the kitchen counter and handed it back to Karen, but this time, there was a little note tucked inside: “Thanks, but no thanks.”
Karen slowly left the room, her shoulders slumped.
She now understood that her influence over our marriage was over.
Soon afterward, I turned to Dan. He wrapped an arm around my waist, smiling apologetically. “I’m sorry I didn’t say something sooner.”
I leaned into him, my heart finally feeling lighter.
“Better late than never.”
And with that, we began building our marriage — free of lists, rules, and outdated expectations.
Source: amomama
