My husband missed the birth of our first child – after discharge I found an empty house and a sinister note in the child’s bed

I always thought the happiest day of my life was the day I married Michael. But then we found out I was pregnant and I thought the day our baby was born would be the happiest.

Little did I know that this would be the beginning of a nightmare. Michael had promised me that he would be there and hold my hand when we welcomed our first child into the world.

We had planned every detail together, from the music that would be played in the delivery room to the tiny hat he would put on our baby’s head.

But when the time came, Michael simply wasn’t there.

I remember the sympathetic smiles of the nurses as they assured me that he was probably just late. With each passing minute, the sinking feeling in my stomach got worse.

I had been calling him for hours and leaving desperate voicemails, but he didn’t respond. As the contractions got stronger, so did my fear. Did I really want to go through this alone? What could have stopped him from being here?

“Come on, Michael,” I said through gritted teeth.

When my daughter arrived, I was overwhelmed with joy, but the joy was marred by the empty seat next to me where my husband should have been. Where was Michael? Why hadn’t he shown up?

My mother was with me the whole time, holding my hand when Michael should have been there, but I could also see the worry in her eyes. And if she knew something, she certainly didn’t tell me.

“Just relax, Elena,” my mother said. “Now focus on Emily. And on yourself; your body needs a moment.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m just worried.”

After two days in the hospital, I was finally released. My mom helped me carry Emily to the car and we drove home. The drive was quiet and my mom kept drumming her fingers on the steering wheel.

I tried to calm myself down and told myself that there had to be a reasonable explanation for Michael’s absence. Maybe something had happened at work. Maybe he had had an accident and was in another hospital.

The scenarios became wilder with every mile we drove.

But nothing could have prepared me for what I found when we got home.

The house was eerily quiet. I pushed open the door, half expecting Michael to be waiting inside with some excuse that I could forgive based on the look on his face.

“Michael?” I called, my voice echoing through the empty rooms. “Michael, are you here?”

No answer.

“Be quiet, Elena,” my mother said. “Emily is sleeping.”

I ignored her and hurried up the stairs. I had to check the nursery; maybe he was in there, just waiting for us to get home. We had spent weeks decorating our daughter’s nursery exactly the way I had envisioned it during my pregnancy.

But when I opened the door to the children’s room, my breath caught in my throat.

The room was almost empty. The crib was still there, but the decorations, the stuffed animals, our daughter’s clothes and the blankets we had chosen together were gone. All that remained was a single piece of paper, neatly placed in the crib.

I love you and our baby, Elena. But I have to leave forever. Ask your mother why she did this. I took some of Emily’s things to remember you both by.

I stared at the note and tried to make sense of the words. What did Michael mean? Why did he have to go? And what did my mother have to do with all this?

“Mommy!” I cried, trying to get downstairs as fast as my postpartum body would allow. Clutching the note tightly, I rushed into the living room where she was sitting on the couch with Emily sleeping in her arms.

“What is this?” I demanded, holding out the note to her. “What have you done? Where is my husband?”

She looked at me with heavy eyes. And for a moment I saw something flicker that I couldn’t quite identify. Guilt? Regret?

“I didn’t want you to find out this way,” she said quietly.

“What? Find out what?” I almost shouted at her. “What are you talking about? Tell me now!”

She took a deep breath, as if steeling herself for what she was about to say.

“I found out something about Michael, honey. And it was just too important to keep to myself. He had to know that I knew.”

“What did you know? Why are you speaking in riddles?” I asked, closing my eyes in exhaustion.

“He was having an affair, honey,” she said. “With someone from his office. What a disgrace.”

The words hit me like a blow and I had to sit down quickly.

“No, Mom,” I caught myself saying. “That can’t be true. Michael wouldn’t do that to us. He loves me! And he was so excited about our baby and about our little family growing!”

“I wish it wasn’t true, honey. Do you think I enjoyed being right?” she asked quietly. “I overheard him talking to someone on the phone. They were talking about meeting at a motel. I confronted him and he admitted it. He’s meeting with his boss, a woman who is far richer than we could have ever imagined. She made him offers he couldn’t refuse.”

“You mean… the promotion? It wasn’t just hard work? And he didn’t get the car just because he did a big deal for the company?” I gasped.

My chest felt tight, as if all the air had been sucked out of the room.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, tears streaming down my face and my pelvis aching. “Why didn’t you give me a chance to talk to him? A chance to fix it?”

“Oh, honey,” my mother said soothingly. “I gave him a chance. I told him he had to tell you everything or leave forever. I knew that if he told you everything, it would be a sign that he was still a good person who could make up for his mistakes. But do you see this? He chose to leave you and Emily.”

For a moment, I didn’t want to believe my mother. I wanted to believe Michael and that there was more to this story. How else could my mother have sat there and held my hand during labor, knowing the truth?

That didn’t make sense to me.

Well, one thing made sense to me. My mother had never liked Michael as much as I had hoped. She tolerated him and was fine with him taking care of me. But beyond that, there was nothing. They had no relationship other than me.

What if my mother just wanted to get rid of him?

Unknowingly, I was saying all these thoughts out loud.

“Really? Elena! Do you think I would intentionally hurt my daughter and jeopardize her relationship with her father?” my mother cried. “He hurt you because he chose to have an affair. I can tell you everything you need to know, but you have to believe me.”

This couldn’t be true. My husband, the man I had trusted with my life, had cheated on me and my mother had forced him to leave without giving me a chance to hear him out.

“You shouldn’t have made this decision for me,” I said. “You should have let me decide what I wanted to do!”

My mother grabbed my thigh tightly.

“I’m so sorry, Elena,” she said. “I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t want you to suffer any more than you already did; this pregnancy has been a huge strain on your body and mind, my darling.”

She seemed serious, but I couldn’t help but be angry with her. All I could think was that everything I had known and believed in had been ripped away in an instant.

My husband was gone, probably with his mistress, my mother had betrayed my trust, and I was left alone with a newborn and a broken heart.

Emily’s eyes opened and before I knew it, her little mouth twisted into a scream.

“She’s hungry,” my mother said. “Maybe one day, when Emily goes through something where she needs her mother to protect her more than to give her a choice, you’ll understand why I did what I did.”

I nodded.

“I’m sure you’re right, Mom,” I said, pulling my shirt off my arm to feed my little girl. “But I need some space for a while. I need to get used to being a single parent.”

“But you are not alone, Elena!” my mother exclaimed. “Michael may have decided to leave you, but I am still here. I am here to love and support you. And your little girl.”

“I know that,” I said. “But that’s the decision I make.”

“I’ll make you something to eat and then I’ll leave,” my mother said. “Please, let me do this. Let me plan the meals for a week. Okay?”

“Good,” I said, grateful for the help even though I didn’t want to look at it.

In the days after we returned to the hospital, I thought more carefully about Michael’s behavior. Of course he was having an affair. There were endless late nights and dinners with “colleagues for work.” It was now clear that Michael and his boss were getting closer during these intimate hours.

I tried to reach Michael several times, but the phone always went to voicemail. Until the day he answered by chance. I could tell he had no intention of answering the phone because his voice was heavy with sleep.

“Michael?” I asked.

“Elena?” he gasped.

“Is it true?” I asked.

“Yes. All of it,” he said. “I’m not coming back. I was looking forward to starting my life with you and our baby, but I’ve grown fond of Gretchen and our life together. I have to give this a chance. And the least I can do is transfer the house into your name only. Gretchen’s lawyers will do that soon.”

I couldn’t believe my ears.

Michael never contacted me again, and I never contacted him again either. He disappeared from my life as quickly as he had entered it. But at least my daughter didn’t meet him and didn’t know anything about it.

She was definitely separated from Michael.

What would you have done?

If you liked this story, here is another one for you:

My mother thought I was cheating on her daughter and wanted to teach me a hard lesson

When Mike plans a surprise weekend for his and Steph’s anniversary, he hires an event planner to do most of the work. But when a nosy mother-in-law gets wind of Mike’s relationship with another woman, things spiral out of control…

So let me play you a scene. It’s hilarious now, but when it happened, it was anything but.

My name is Mike and I have been happily married to my wife Steph for ten years. We had a perfect little life with our eight-year-old son Jack. Steph and I are the kind of couple that people envy.

As silly as it sounds, since we got married we have been completely in sync, finishing each other’s sentences and so on.

At least we were until my mother-in-law Karen intervened.

“I’m going to surprise Mom for our anniversary,” I said to Jack as we played with a ball outside one afternoon.

“Don’t even think about whether you want another kid,” Jack said, giggling as he spoke.

Well, I didn’t plan on doing that, but I wanted to surprise Steph with a romantic weekend getaway for our anniversary.

I wanted everything to be perfect, so I hired an event planner to take care of everything.

“Catherine,” I said to her as I sat across from her in her office, “this weekend has to be perfect. I know it’s small compared to the events you’re planning, but it has to be perfect for Steph. She deserves it.”

Catherine was beaming, and I thought she actually looked quite beautiful. Not as beautiful as my wife, but beautiful nonetheless.

She was also great to work with. She was professional, attentive and, yes, attractive.

Read the full story here .

This work is inspired by real events and people, but has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

The author and publisher make no claims as to the accuracy of events or 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.