Leave

I could see the disgust on my mother's face and it killed me that my own family could do this to me. Emerson stood his ground. He didn’t flinch, didn’t back down. Instead, he calmly faced her, never losing his composure.

“Kristen, listen to me. I respect you, I would hate for us to be at odds. After all, you're going to be my mother-in-law," Emerson said, his voice respectful, although I could hear the mocking in his tone.

My mother’s face turned into pure disgust and anger the moment those words left Emerson's mouth. She recoiled as if the very idea repulsed her.

“Never, never! You will never be my son-in-law!”

“Well,” Emerson responded calmly, “I just asked your daughter to be my wife, and she said yes.”

“Emerson,” she spat his name as though it burned her tongue, “what kind of joke is this? You’re older than me! How can you even think of becoming my son-in-law? Don’t the two of you have any shame? Don’t you feel any embarrassment? The humiliation!….” She pointed an accusatory fing