I stared at the numbers on my laptop screen. My maternity leave was ending soon, and no matter how I ran the numbers, the cheapest childcare option was still out of reach.
A woman using a laptop | Source: Midjourney
A woman using a laptop | Source: Midjourney
“If only that place near the mall still had space,” I muttered.
“I still don’t understand why you want to waste money on daycare when I can watch this little angel for free,” Kelly, my MIL, chimed in. She peered over my shoulder as she swayed baby Lily in her arms. “Those prices are ridiculous!”
My jaw clenched involuntarily. From the moment Jordan had introduced us six years ago, his mother had made it clear no woman would ever be good enough for her precious son.
A tense woman working on a laptop | Source: Midjourney
A tense woman working on a laptop | Source: Midjourney
The passive-aggressive comments about my cooking and the cleanliness of my house were already too much to bear. I had no desire to give her an opening to become overbearing about Lily, too.
“I don’t know…” I replied hesitantly.
Kelly tutted. “It’s simple, Lauren. Just say ‘yes.’”
I looked at my beautiful daughter sleeping peacefully in Kelly’s arms. “I’ll think about it, Kelly.”
A woman holding a baby | Source: Pexels
A woman holding a baby | Source: Pexels
When I discussed Kelly’s offer with my husband that evening, he thought it was the perfect solution.
“I know you two have had your differences,” Jordan said. “But she raised me just fine, didn’t she? And it doesn’t have to be a permanent arrangement. You said that woman from the daycare center you liked would contact you when they had an opening, right?”
I nodded. “Okay. We’ll have Kelly watch Lily for now.”
A dissatisfied woman | Source: Midjourney
A dissatisfied woman | Source: Midjourney
“But you have to ensure she understands we want her to follow normal babysitting rules, okay? Even if she is family. No guests, no extended phone calls, no afternoon glasses of wine,” I added. “If I tell her, it’ll probably start a fight.”
“I’ll tell her.” Jordan leaned over to kiss my cheek. “Don’t worry, babe. I’m sure everything will be fine.”
And he was right. It was fine… at first.
A thoughtful woman in a living room | Source: Midjourney
A thoughtful woman in a living room | Source: Midjourney
For the first week, I got a steady stream of updates from Kelly on how well Lily ate and slept, how her mild diaper rash was doing, and photos of their walks in the park. I’d come home from work to find dinner waiting and the house tidier than I’d left it.
Maybe this arrangement could work after all.
“Thank you for everything this week,” I said sincerely that Friday. “It’s been a huge weight off our shoulders.”
Two women speaking | Source: Midjourney
Two women speaking | Source: Midjourney
Kelly smiled, her eyes never leaving Lily’s face. “Being a grandmother is the greatest joy of my life. I should be thanking you.”
I was ready to put all my doubts behind me until the nanny cam incident.
When I got home on Thursday evening, Kelly was standing in the kitchen, nervously wiping her hands on her pants. Her smile seemed forced, her eyes not quite meeting mine.
“How was your day?” she asked too brightly.
A woman with a forced smile | Source: Midjourney
A woman with a forced smile | Source: Midjourney
“Fine,” I replied slowly, setting down my bag. “Where’s Lily?”
“Napping in her crib.”
I nodded, searching Kelly’s face. “Is everything okay?”
She sighed dramatically, reaching into her pocket. “Actually, there was a little accident today. I was cleaning around the shelves and this fell.”
She handed me our nanny cam. Its screen was shattered beyond repair.
A broken camera | Source: Midjourney
A broken camera | Source: Midjourney
“I’m so sorry,” she continued. “I know how expensive these things are.”
I turned the broken device over in my hands, my suspicion mounting.
Kelly had been tidying up, but she’d always steered clear of any tech gadgets. Anything more complicated than a feature phone intimidated her. The idea of her spontaneously deciding to dust around our tech gadgets seemed wildly out of character.
A woman glancing to one side suspiciously | Source: Midjourney
A woman glancing to one side suspiciously | Source: Midjourney
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, keeping my voice neutral. “These things happen.”
“You’re not upset?”
“Of course not. Accidents happen.”
Later that night, after Kelly had gone home and Jordan was asleep, I examined the damaged nanny cam more closely.
The screen was destroyed, but when I connected it to my laptop, I discovered the audio files were still intact.
Ports on the side of a laptop | Source: Pexels
Ports on the side of a laptop | Source: Pexels
I hesitated, finger hovering over the most recent recording. Was I being paranoid? Maybe, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that Kelly had wrecked the nanny cam to hide something. I had to know for sure.
I clicked play.
At first, everything sounded normal. Kelly singing lullabies, Lily cooing, and the gentle creak of the rocking chair.
Then, the distinctive sound of our front door opening.
A woman staring at something in disbelief | Source: Midjourney
A woman staring at something in disbelief | Source: Midjourney
“Hello?” Kelly called out.
“It’s just me,” a man’s voice responded.
A voice I didn’t recognize. Who on earth was in my home with my child?
“You sure she won’t find out?” the male voice asked, closer now.
A woman looking at something with concern | Source: Midjourney
A woman looking at something with concern | Source: Midjourney
Kelly laughed. “Relax. She’s at work. We have hours.”
The sound of footsteps. Cupboards opening and closing. The clink of glasses.
“Wine?” Kelly offered.
“Don’t mind if I do.”
More laughter. Flirty giggles.
A grim woman | Source: Midjourney
A grim woman | Source: Midjourney
Kelly wasn’t just babysitting. She was using my home as her personal dating venue!
I slammed the laptop shut and paced the room, trying to calm my racing thoughts. Eventually, I crawled into bed next to Jordan, but sleep refused to come.
By morning, I had formulated a plan.
“Have a good day at work,” Kelly chirped as I kissed Lily goodbye the next morning.
“You too,” I replied, forcing a smile. “See you this evening.”
A smiling woman in her home | Source: Midjourney
A smiling woman in her home | Source: Midjourney
I walked out the door, got in my car, and drove away.
But instead of heading toward my office, I circled back and parked a block away from our house. I gave Kelly thirty minutes — enough time to think I was safely at work — before quietly approaching our home.
The sound of laughter reached me before I even opened the door. Taking a deep breath, I turned my key in the lock and stepped inside.
A key in a door lock | Source: Pexels
A key in a door lock | Source: Pexels
There they were. Kelly and a silver-haired man I’d never seen before, sitting at my dining table. Two half-empty wine glasses between them.
And not a baby monitor in sight.
“Where’s Lily?” I demanded, making them both jump.
Kelly’s face drained of color. “Lauren! What are you doing here?”
A shocked woman | Source: Midjourney
A shocked woman | Source: Midjourney
The man shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Uh, I should go—”
“No,” I said firmly. “You should stay. Because I’d love to know why my mother-in-law is inviting strangers into my house and drinking with them while she’s supposed to be babysitting.”
A heavy silence filled the room. I could hear Lily fussing in the other room — probably had been for a while.
Kelly recovered first, her shock morphing into indignation.
An angry woman | Source: Midjourney
An angry woman | Source: Midjourney
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic! It’s just a little company! Greg is a very nice man from my church group.”
“I don’t care if he’s the Pope,” I snapped. “You’re still ignoring my daughter for the sake of your date!”
“She’s in her crib, perfectly safe,” Kelly huffed.
“Safe, maybe, but I can hear her fussing from here,” I snapped, already heading toward the nursery.
A hallway in a house | Source: Pexels
A hallway in a house | Source: Pexels
Lily’s face was scrunched up when I entered the nursery. I checked her diaper — it was soaked.
“Oh no! I wasn’t ignoring her,” Kelly called from the doorway.
I was already changing Lily and held up her soaked diaper like it was evidence in a criminal case.
“Really, Kelly? Look at this… you know she needs to be changed immediately so her rash can heal.” I turned to face her then. “You won’t be babysitting her anymore.”
A woman speaking angrily | Source: Midjourney
A woman speaking angrily | Source: Midjourney
That afternoon, I sat Jordan down and told him everything. Jordan’s face darkened with each detail. I’d rarely seen him angry, but by the time I finished, he was seething. He called Kelly and put it on speaker.
“Mom, what were you thinking?” he demanded the moment she answered. “Lauren told me everything.”
“Oh, I see,” Kelly replied. “She’s turning you against me now.”
A man speaking | Source: Midjourney
A man speaking | Source: Midjourney
“I heard the recording myself,” Jordan said. “You brought a stranger into our home while you were supposed to be watching Lily. After I told you not to.”
“I was lonely!” Kelly protested, her voice rising. “Greg is just a friend!”
“You left Lily in her crib with a soaked diaper while you were having wine with some man we’ve never met.”
“You’re overreacting! Lily’s rash is practically healed because of me; because I take such good care of her! If your wife was at home, caring for your child like she’s supposed to—”
“Don’t,” Jordan warned.
An angry man | Source: Midjourney
An angry man | Source: Midjourney
“I’m sorry, Mom, but we can’t trust you anymore. We’ll find other childcare arrangements.”
“You can’t mean that!” Kelly cried. “She’s my granddaughter!”
“And she’s our daughter,” Jordan replied.
He ended the call then and immediately called a locksmith.
“Just to be safe,” he said as the man changed all our locks.
A tool box | Source: Pexels
A tool box | Source: Pexels
“Do you think we did the right thing?” I asked softly as we lay in bed that night.
Jordan was quiet for a long moment.
“Yes,” he finally said. “My mom crossed a line. If she thought she could treat our house like a social club and our daughter as an afterthought, she was dead wrong.”
I reached for his hand in the darkness, squeezing it tightly.
Two people holding hands | Source: Pexels
Two people holding hands | Source: Pexels
We’d have to figure out childcare all over again. But as I drifted off to sleep, one thing was certain: no amount of free babysitting was worth the cost of our daughter’s wellbeing, or our peace of mind.
Here’s another story: When Mandy asked me to watch her kids for a few hours, I didn’t think twice. But hours turned into a shocking phone call: my husband and his sister were already boarding a flight to Mexico. No discussion. No warning. Just me, two kids, and a week-long betrayal I never agreed to.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
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