I know many of you think you have the worst mother-in-law on earth, but I think Andrea has a fair shot at the title ...

Hope and Luke and had been friends in college. She knew his father had died and that he looked after his mother.

"I met his mother, Andrea, at Luke's law school graduation. She was gracious, insisted that Luke escort me to the train station and even kissed me on the cheek."

But when they began to get serious, Andrea objected. She had other plans for Luke, including a green card marriage to a wealthy foreign girl whose parents had promised that there would be "something in it" for her.

"She became formal with me, then chilly, then psychotic."

Case in point: Whenever Hope visited Luke at the apartment he shared with his mother, Andrea would decide to clean.

"She would vacuum and dust whatever room we were in. We kept moving, she kept following. One night Luke and I were in his room, fully clothed, me on the made bed, he in a chair, when she decided to clean out his dresser by dumping the contents of the drawers on the bed or, more precisely, on me."

A few months after the dresser incident, Luke asked Hope to marry him.

"I thought about Andrea and about how clearly she hated me. I knew she'd be a factor in our lives as long as she lived. But I didn't want to lose the man I loved because of his mother. So I said yes."

During their first year of marriage, Hope was alone each weekend. Luke went to his mother's apartment to do her repairs and taker her shopping and to her doctor's appointments. Occasionally Hope went along "to be ignored and insulted."

Then Andrea had a series of medical crises. She couldn't live alone anymore. She offered Luke and Hope the down payment on a house. She assured them there were no strings attached. If they would "allow" her to live with them, she would feel like "an honored guest" in their home.

"I would be the lady of the house in all ways. I was highly suspicious but Luke pressed and begged and I was dumb enough to relent."

Andrea's first act, even before moving in, was to call the contractors and change the tile Hope had chosen for the kitchen floor. After they were all living together, she criticized Hope's cooking, housekeep, appearance and friends.

"She even accused me of trying to poison her. But she enjoyed having me as an unpaid attendant at her beck and call. And she treated Luke, a professional with an advanced degree who did everything for her, as if he were a complete disappointment. The atmosphere in the house became so toxic that I finally left."

Six months later, while Hope and Luke were trying to negotiate a reconciliation, Andrea was diagnosed with terminal cancer. "She died soon after I moved back in, cursing Luke on her deathbed."

Hope had hoped that once Andrea was gone, she and Luke would have a second chance. But there were too many bad feelings and they divorced. Hope is now happily remarried.

Her new husband is an orphan.

I knew it was love . . . I knew it was over . . . Fill in the blanks and send them, along with your questions and problems to [email protected].

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