So, my husband Michael and I planned to be together for the birth of our first child. We had everything planned — down to the music and the tiny hat he’d put on our baby. But guess what? When the time came, he was a NO-SHOW.

The nurses kept trying to reassure me, saying he was probably just delayed. But deep down, I knew something was wrong. When our daughter Emily was born, I was overjoyed — but where was Michael?

After two days in the hospital, I went home with Emily, trying to convince myself that there was some reasonable explanation. Maybe work? An accident?

But nothing could’ve prepared me for what I found. The house was dead silent. I ran upstairs to the nursery, thinking he might be there preparing a surprise for me. But the room was practically empty. Just the crib was left, with a note inside. I picked it up, my hands trembling as I read the words scrawled in Michael’s familiar handwriting: “I love you and our baby. But I had to leave forever. Ask your mom why she did this to me.”

I was shocked. “Mom!” I shouted, and then clutched onto the note tightly as I thundered into the living room where she was sitting on the couch with Emily asleep in her arms.

“What is this?” I demanded, thrusting the note at her. “What did you do? Where is my husband?”

She looked at me with heavy eyes. “I didn’t want you to find out this way…” she said quietly.

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

She took a deep breath before saying “I found out something about Michael, honey. And it was just too big to keep to myself. He needed to know that I knew.”

“Knew what? Why are you talking in riddles?” I asked closing my eyes, suddenly exhausted.

“He’s been having an affair, darling,” she said. “With someone from his office. Imagine the nerve.”

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

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

“I wish it wasn’t true, darling. Do you think I enjoyed being right?” she asked softly. “I overheard him talking to someone on the phone. They were talking about meeting at a motel. I confronted him about it, and he admitted it. He’s been seeing his boss, a woman who’s much wealthier than we could have ever dreamed. She’s been offering him things he couldn’t refuse.”

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

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

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

“Oh, honey,” my mother said soothingly. “I gave him the chance. I told him that he had to tell you everything or leave, for good. I knew that if he told you everything, it would mean that he was still a good man with redeeming qualities. But see this? He chose to leave you, to leave Emily.”

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 during my labor, holding my hand while knowing the truth?

It made no sense to me.

Well, one thing made sense to me. My mother had never really taken to Michael in the way I had hoped. She tolerated him and liked that he took care of me. But there was nothing beyond that. They had no other relationship beyond me.

What if my mother just wanted him out?

Unknowingly, I said all these thoughts out loud.

“Really? Elena! You think I’d purposely hurt my daughter and jeopardize her relationship with her father?” my mother cried. “He hurt you by choosing to have an affair. I can tell you everything you need to know, but I need you to believe me.”

I couldn’t accept this truth. My husband, the man I had trusted with my life, had betrayed me, and my mother had forced him to leave without giving me the chance to even hear him out.

“You shouldn’t have taken that choice away from me,” I said. “You should have let me decide what to do!”

My mother gripped 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 more than you already did; this pregnancy was a lot on your body and mind, my darling.”

Though she seemed earnest enough, I couldn’t help but be angry with her. All I could think about was how everything I had known, everything I had believed in, had been ripped away in an instant.

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

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

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

“But you’re not alone, Elena!” my mother exclaimed. “Michael may have chosen to leave you, but I’m still here. I’m right there to love and support you. And your little girl.”

“I know that,” I said. “But this is the choice I’m making.”

“I’ll make you some food and then I’ll leave,” my mother said. “Please, let me do that. Let me plan meals for a week. Okay?”

“Fine,” I said, grateful for the assistance even though I didn’t want to look at her.

In the following days, I thought about Michael’s behavior closer. Of course he was having an affair. There were endless late nights and shared dinners with “colleagues over business.” It was clear now, that during those intimate hours, Michael and his boss were becoming closer.

Though I tried to contact Michael many times, it always went to voicemail. Until one day, when he answered by accident. I could tell he had no intention of answering the phone because his voice was thick 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 excited to start my life with you and our baby, but I’ve grown to love Gretchen and our lives together. I have to give this a chance. And the least I can do is transfer the house to your name only. Gretchen’s lawyers will do it soon.”

I couldn’t believe my ears.

Michael never contacted me again, and I didn’t reach out either. He disappeared from my life as quickly as he had entered it. But at least my daughter didn’t meet him and get to experience any of that.

She was safely away from Michael.