Working as a nurse, Zoe often relied on her mother-in-law, Denise, to babysit Leo, her son.

But when the little boy becomes visibly shaken by his grandmother’s presence, Zoe has to question the old woman’s actions, only to discover that Denise has a hidden agenda.

Zoe, a nurse, relied on her mother-in-law, Denise, to babysit her son, Leo. But when Leo became visibly distressed around his grandmother,

Zoe grew concerned. Eventually, Leo revealed that Denise had been trying to swab his mouth with a cotton bud, scaring him.

Confronting Denise, Zoe discovered she had been attempting a secret DNA test, suspecting Leo wasn’t Andrew’s

son due to his blonde hair. Furious, Zoe demanded that if she and Leo took a test, Andrew should as well—to confirm his own paternity.

Shockingly, the results revealed Leo was indeed Andrew’s son, but Andrew’s biological father was not the man he had always believed.

Denise’s long-hidden affair had fueled her paranoia, ultimately fracturing her relationship with Andrew.

He and Zoe chose to distance themselves from her, focusing on their son and moving forward as a family.

I had always thought that my mother-in-law, Denise, was a little overbearing, but I chalked it up to her just being protective of my son, her only grandson, Leo.

A smiling older woman | Source: Midjourney
A smiling older woman | Source: Midjourney

She was one of those women who carried herself with a certain authority that made you straighten your back and rethink your words. This had become more pronounced when Jeremy, her husband, passed away a few years ago, allowing Denise to reclaim her role as head librarian of the local library.

“Why shouldn’t I?” she asked Andrew, my husband, one day. “I have time now, so there’s no need to just have my part-time role there. And I can have my book club meetings at the library, too.”

“Okay, Mom,” Andrew said. “You do whatever you want.”

She wasn’t mean, exactly, but Denise had a way of making you feel small without even trying. But still, she lived two roads away and was always willing to babysit Leo whenever I had a shift at the hospital, and considering Andrew’s unpredictable hours at the law firm, Denise usually had to step in often.

“It’s what grandmothers are for, right, Zoe?” she would say whenever I asked her to come over.

And despite how her moods could shift without a moment’s notice, she was reliable and didn’t complain about it once.

But lately, Leo had been acting strange whenever Denise came over. At first, it was small things. He would cling to my leg a little longer than usual when I tried to leave or hide behind the couch when he heard her car pull up in the driveway.