Dear Pastor,

I am a young man from uptown and I am madly in love with a girl. The problem is that her mother is madly in love with me. I want to marry this girl but I am confused because her mother takes care of me. She even bought me a car.

There is now tension between the girl and her mother. I am 24, my girlfriend is 21 and her mother is 39 years old. What should I do?

M. S., St. Andrew, Jamaica

Dear M.S.,

Are you sure that your girlfriend's mother wants to have an intimate relationship with you? I wonder if you misunderstand her motive. Don't you believe that she loves you as a son-in-law and nothing more? Do you really believe that she wants to woo you away from her daughter?

You say that there is tension between your girlfriend and her mother. Are you trying to say that your girlfriend believes that her mother would like you to go to bed with her, so she is beginning to hate her mother? If you have good reasons to believe that your girlfriend's mother wants to become your lover, you should tell her that you are not interested and that you would prefer not to visit her home.

If your girlfriend accuses you of flirting with her mother, you should tell her that the time has come for all three of you to sit and talk and resolve the issue. Be very careful how you handle this matter because if your girlfriend's mother is wrongly accused, she may become very furious and accuse your girlfriend and you of trying to destroy her good name.

Pastor