\u201cThen call her now!\u201d<\/p>\n
Beverly and Arthur spun around.<\/p>\n
I had only returned for my coat, but I\u2019d just heard Beverly say she would call Elise<\/strong> after I left.<\/p>\n That was impossible.<\/p>\n Less than an hour earlier, Colin had told me Elise was his mother\u2019s daughter\u2014and that she had died as a little girl.<\/p>\n \u201cThen call her,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n Beverly went pale.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t how you were supposed to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFind out what?\u201d<\/p>\n Before anyone could answer, Colin walked in.<\/p>\n I confronted him.<\/p>\n \u201cIs Elise really dead?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen who is your mother calling?\u201d<\/p>\n Silence.<\/p>\n Finally, Arthur said:<\/p>\n \u201cMake the call, Beverly.\u201d<\/p>\n Beverly reluctantly dialed the number and put it on speaker.<\/p>\n After two rings, a woman answered.<\/p>\n \u201cBev? Everything okay?\u201d<\/p>\n I stared at the phone.<\/p>\n A living woman named Elise.<\/p>\n I turned to Colin.<\/p>\n \u201cYou told me she was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen who is that?\u201d<\/p>\n His face changed.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not my sister.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman suddenly asked:<\/p>\n \u201cIs that Natalie? Is Natalie there?\u201d<\/p>\n My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know who I am?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked at Colin.<\/p>\n \u201cWho is she?\u201d<\/p>\n He swallowed.<\/p>\n \u201cMy first wife.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Everything went silent.<\/p>\n His ex-wife was named Elise.<\/p>\n Suddenly, all those \u201cmistakes\u201d made sense.<\/p>\n \u201cElise would\u2019ve known not to serve this with potatoes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s an interesting color, Elise.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cElise always made time for family.\u201d<\/p>\n Beverly hadn\u2019t been confusing my name.<\/p>\n She had been comparing me to Colin\u2019s ex-wife.<\/p>\n When I confronted her, she finally admitted she had grown close to Colin\u2019s first wife after losing her own daughter, also named Elise.<\/p>\n She had loved them both in completely different ways.<\/p>\n But that didn\u2019t excuse what she had been doing to me.<\/p>\n Then I looked at Colin.<\/p>\n \u201cHow long did you know?\u201d<\/p>\n He hesitated.<\/p>\n \u201cMonths.\u201d<\/p>\n I felt betrayed all over again.<\/p>\n \u201cYou knew your mother was comparing me to your ex-wife and never told me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI thought I was protecting you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cYou were protecting her.\u201d<\/p>\n That night, I made one thing clear.<\/p>\n Beverly could love Elise.<\/p>\n She could miss her daughter.<\/p>\n She could remain friends with Colin\u2019s ex-wife.<\/p>\n But I would never again be expected to compete with either of them.<\/strong><\/p>\n And Colin finally understood that keeping the peace with his mother could no longer come at the expense of his marriage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My MIL Kept Calling Me Elise \u2014 Then I Learned There Were Two Elises \u201cThen call her now!\u201d Beverly and Arthur spun around. I had only returned for my coat, but I\u2019d just heard Beverly say she would call Elise after I left. That was impossible. Less than an hour earlier, Colin had told me…<\/p>\n