My husband gave up our family of four for his mistress. I saw them again three years later, and it was great.
It felt like poetic justice to find my family three years after my husband abandoned them for his gorgeous mistress. I didn’t like that they died. I was able to move on and accomplish well without them because I found strength in myself.
I had two great kids, fourteen years of marriage, and a life that seemed rock solid. But when Stan brought her into our house one night, everything I cared about fell apart.
It was the start of the hardest and most important time in my life.
Before this, I was very occupied with my daily life as a mother of two.
Most of my days were spent driving people around, assisting with homework, and having family dinners. My whole universe was Max, who was 9, and Lily, who was 12.
I also thought we were a happy family, even though things weren’t always perfect.
The hard part is that Stan and I had to start over with our lives. As soon as we met at work, we hit it off.
Stan asked me to marry him not long after we became friends, and I didn’t have a good excuse to say no.
Even though we experienced a lot of problems throughout the years, our friendship remains strong. I didn’t realize how stupid I was to think that all the difficult times we had together had made us closer.
He has been working late a lot lately. But that’s how it is, right?
There were a lot of projects to finish and deadlines coming up. These were only the price of having a good career. I told myself that Dad still loved us, even though he wasn’t as involved as he used to be.
I wish I could be sure that wasn’t true. I hope I could find out what he had been doing behind my back.
On Tuesday, it happened. I remember this because I was making Lily’s favorite soup for dinner with the little alphabet noodles.
When the front door opened, I heard the strange sound of heels clicking on the floor.
When I noticed the time, my heart skipped a beat. Stan went home sooner than he usually does.
“Stan?” I yelled and used a dish towel to clean my hands. My gut constricted when I came into the living room and saw them.
Stan is with the one he loves.
Her hair was sleek, her smile was sharp and made you feel like prey, and her physique was tall and impressive. She stood close to him, as if she belonged there, with her well-groomed hand resting softly on his arm.
But my husband, Stan, was nice to her, which I hadn’t seen in months.
In a voice full of contempt, she looked at me and said, “Well, darling.” “You weren’t making anything up.” She truly did calm down. That’s really bad. Her bones are in great shape.
It was hard for me to breathe for a while. What she said really hurt me.
“Excuse me?” I choked out.
Stan sighed as if I was the one who was being unreasonable.
“Lauren, we need to talk,” he replied, crossing his arms. “Hello, I’m Miranda.” I want to get a divorce too.
“Are you breaking up?” I asked the same question again because I didn’t get what he was saying. “What about our kids? What about us?
He said, “You’ll be fine,” in a low voice, as if he were talking about the weather. “Child support will be sent.” Miranda and I are being serious, though. I brought her here to show you that I’m not going to change my mind.
He punched me one last time with a cruel indifference that I didn’t think he could do, as if that wasn’t enough.
“By the way, Miranda is spending the night, so you can either sleep on the couch or go to your mom’s house.”
It was hard to trust what I was hearing.
I was incredibly mad and upset, but I wouldn’t let him enjoy my breakdown.
I turned around and ran upstairs instead, shivering as I grabbed a suitcase from the closet.
I told myself to keep calm for the sake of Lily and Max. I cried as I packed their suitcases, but I kept going.
Lily looked up from her book when I stepped into her room. She sensed right away that something was wrong.
“Mom, what’s going on?” she said.
I bent down next to her and ran my fingers through her hair.
“We’re going to Grandma’s for a bit, my dear.” “Please put some things in your bag.”
“But why? Where is Dad? From the door, Max said,
I said, “Adults make mistakes sometimes,” without thinking twice. But we’ll be fine. I promise.
I’m delighted they didn’t want more. We left the house that night and I didn’t look back.
Even though my previous life was over, I had to retain it for my kids.
When I went to my mom’s house that night with Lily and Max sleeping in the backseat, I felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. I had a lot of questions going through my head.
What could Stan do? What do I need to tell the kids? What should we do with the ashes of this treachery to start over?
My mom opened the door when we got there.
She hugged me and asked, “Lauren, what happened?”
But I couldn’t say what I wanted to. I just shook my head and let the tears fall.
For the following few days, I was busy with legal papers, putting the kids off at school, and trying to explain things to them that didn’t make sense.
The divorce happened quickly, and I obtained a settlement that didn’t seem right at all. I bought a smaller house with my part of the money from the sale of the house.
I purchased us a tiny house with two bedrooms. I could live there without worrying about being betrayed.
Losing the house and the life I imagined I would have would be the worst part. Seeing Lily and Max comprehend that their dad wouldn’t be coming back was the hardest part.
Stan sent child support checks on time at first, but that didn’t work.
There were no further calls or payments after six months. I told myself that he was busy or that he just needed some time to get used to things.
But as the weeks stretched into months, it became evident that Stan was no longer a part of my life. He had also left the kids behind.
Later, I found out from others we both knew that Miranda had a big part in this. She had made him think that keeping in contact with his “old life” was a waste of time.
Stan had done what she asked since he always wanted to make her happy. But he didn’t have the guts to face us when we started to have money troubles.
I had to stand up for Lily and Max, even if it shattered my heart. Even though their father couldn’t provide them stability, they had the right to it.
I slowly started to rebuild, not just for them but also for myself.
Three years later, I had a rhythm in my life that I enjoyed.
Max’s interest of robots had increased, and Lily was now a teenager. The joy and laughter that permeated our small home demonstrated how far we had come.
We weren’t bothered by our past anymore.
At that time, I thought I would never see Stan again, but fate had other intentions.
Everything came full circle on a dark afternoon.
I observed them while I was holding my umbrella and bags in one hand after I had finished shopping for food. Stan and Miranda were sat at an old, run-down café outside across the street.
Also, it looked like none of them had been lucky with time.
Stan looked skinny. He used to wear fitted clothes, but now he wears a wrinkled shirt and a tie that hangs freely over his neck.
He was so tired that his hair was turning gray and his face was wrinkled.
Miranda looked put together from a distance, even if she was still wearing expensive clothes. Her heels were worn out, her once-luxurious purse had scratches on it, and her clothes were faded.
I didn’t know if I should laugh, cry, or keep going when I saw them.
But for some reason, I didn’t do anything. I assume it’s just interest.
Stan’s eyes sprang up and met mine, as if he could sense me. For a moment, hope dawned on his face.
He stood up and almost knocked over his chair as he yelled, “Lauren!” “Wait a minute!”
I wasn’t sure what to do, but I decided to move closer and gently put my things under the awning of a local business.
When Miranda saw me, her face also got ugly. She swiftly glanced away, as if she didn’t want to confront someone she knew she couldn’t beat.
Stan’s voice trembled as he said, “Lauren, I’m so sorry for everything.” “Can we please talk?” I need to see the kids. I need to fix things.
“Fix things?” I asked. “Stan, it’s been more than two years since you’ve seen your kids. You quit paying child support. What do you think you can fix right now?
He said, “I know, I know” at first. “I made a mistake. I agree with Miranda. He stared at her with a lot of stress. “We made some bad decisions.”
Miranda finally spoke out and said, “Oh, don’t blame me for your losses.” “You lost all that money on an investment that was supposed to be a sure thing.”
“You made me believe it was a good idea!” Stan shot back at her.
Miranda rolled her eyes.
She looked at her scuffed-up luxury bag and remarked, “You bought me this instead of saving for rent.”
I could sense the tension between them. It felt like years of rage were finally seeping out.
I saw them as two broken people who had harmed themselves for the first time instead of the glamorous pair who had ruined my marriage.
Miranda finally got up and looked disgusted as she put on her old clothing.
“I stayed because of the child we had together,” she answered coldly. This was more for me than for Stan. “But don’t think I’m going to stay here for long.” “Stan, you’re on your own.”
Her heels clicked on the sidewalk as she went away, leaving Stan slumped in his chair. He didn’t stop her; he just let her go. He turned around and looked at me again.
“Please, Lauren. I’ll stop by. I’ll talk to the kids. I genuinely miss them. I miss us.
I looked at him for a long time, hoping to see the man I loved in his face. But I only saw someone I didn’t know very well. A man who wouldn’t give up anything.
I shook my head.
“Stan, give me your number,” I said him. “The kids will call you if they want to talk to you. But you won’t come back to my place.
He cringed at the intensity of my tone, but he still nodded and scrawled his number down.
“Thanks, Lauren,” he said. “I’d be grateful if they called me.”
I turned away and put it in my pocket without looking at it.
I felt like I was done with something as I walked back to my car. Honestly, it wasn’t retribution. But I felt I could go on with my life without Stan feeling bad about what he had done.
No one could take away the love and strength that my kids and I had built up over the years.
And for the first time in a long time, I grinned. Not because Stan failed, but because we made progress.
