When her daughter starts behaving strangely, Jennifer questions everything. Eventually, Emma tells her the truth: she found a box containing her father’s secrets.
My daughter, Emma, has always been the rainbow child, wearing the brightest colors and drawing unicorns and butterflies.
But recently, her behavior has changed. She’s withdrawn, doesn’t eat properly, and always wants to sit outside.
At first, I didn’t think much of it because Emma is always going through phases. But then her teacher, Mrs. Silverton, called me in for a parent-teacher conference. She had just started kindergarten, but the school prided itself on checking in with parents.
“I don’t mean to alarm you, Jennifer, but there’s something worrying going on with Emma.”
She pulled out a yellow folder and showed me a series of Emma’s drawings, all dark and shadowy, even menacing.
I walked home from school in silence. I knew something was different with Emma, but I didn’t think it was that serious.
Later, while I was making noodles for our dinner, I decided to tell Emma.
“Honey,” I said. “I went to see Mrs. Silverton today.”
“Really? Why?” she asked curiously.
“She talked about the new drawings you made and how different they were from the usual ones.”
Crying woman | Source: Pexels
She looked at her bowl of noodles, twirling her fork in it—her response was silence.
Finally, she said it all.
“I found out Dad’s secret,” she said quietly.
“What secret, honey?” I asked her.
“Come on, I’ll show you, Mom,” she said, jumping up from the table.
William, my husband, lives with Emma and me only part-time because of his job. Sometimes he has to work away from home and the travel always takes its toll on him. So he decided to rent an apartment for the times he works away from home.
When Emma took me to William’s home office, I wondered what my daughter had discovered.
I watched as she walked over to William’s desk and opened the top drawer, pulling out an old box.
“I saw this when I came to get pencils,” she said.
Emma handed me the box before rushing into her room.
The moment I peered inside, my whole world fell apart.
Wooden box and notebook | Source: Pexels
Inside were photos: images of William hugging another woman and a group of three beautiful children, ages two to seven.
My emotions swung from shock to betrayal to heartbreak.
Underneath the photos was a small notebook with numbers scribbled on it. It looked like a replica of the notebook in my purse with all the emergency numbers ready.
I knew I had to confront William, but I didn’t know how to handle the whole situation. I just knew Emma needed some stability. It was already taking a toll on her.
I put everything back in the box and put it on the desk.
As I left the room, I found Emma standing in the hallway, her eyes wide with worry and confusion.
“Let’s go to bed,” I said. “I promise you everything will be okay.”
I dropped Emma off at school and then went home. I took another look at the small notebook and called Mia, the woman in the photos. I pretended to be their son’s teacher.
Even though I felt betrayed, everything went smoothly, thanks to William’s little notebook.
“Wait,” Mia told me. “Talk to your husband, William.”
I heard William’s voice on the phone, confirming my worst fears. I hung up immediately.
As the hours passed and it was time to pick Emma up, I needed to do something. I needed answers before I could look at Emma’s precious little face.
I picked up the phone again, called Mia and told her everything.
She was just as shocked as I was and revealed that she knew nothing about Emma and me.
Then I called my lawyer – I had to end my marriage to William. Emma deserved better. Mia deserved better, and so did her children. I deserved better too.
A few weeks went by and Mia came over – we sat and talked for hours and found out the truth – William had just used us both, keeping our families in different cities to keep us from finding out who we were.
My lawyer took over for Mia and I, making sure that we got justice. We also wanted all four children to get to know each other as siblings, because the children were siblings no matter what.
In the end, we stood together against a man who manipulated our lives, uncovering a story more convoluted than any soap opera.
Our lawyer made sure we got spousal support from William, even though we could never understand how William managed to marry us both, and kept up the lie for so many years.
I also put Emma through therapy to make sure my daughter recovered from this traumatic experience. But to be honest, I think the best therapy was Emma getting to know her half-siblings.