Life with Emmett had always felt like a dream: a chaotic, beautiful dream that I wouldn’t trade for the world. We met during our senior year in college. He was the quiet guy who always sat in the back of the lecture hall, while I was the one who couldn’t stop talking.
A young woman and man looking at each other while sitting in a classroom | Source: Midjourney
I remember the first time we spoke. I had dropped my books, scattering papers everywhere, and Emmett had quietly helped me gather them up.
“You know,” he had said, handing me a stack, “it might be easier to carry these if you didn’t have so many.” His voice was calm, almost teasing.
I grinned, not missing a beat. “Where’s the fun in that? Besides, you wouldn’t have had the chance to be my knight in shining armor.”
He blushed a little, that shy smile of his peeking through, and that was it. I was hooked.
A young couple kneels down to pick up fallen books on a college campus | Source: Midjourney
After graduation, we married in a small ceremony. “Just us and a few close friends,” Emmett had insisted. “I don’t need anything fancy. Just you.”
Our life together was filled with those little moments that made everything worthwhile. We were a team, both at home and in our careers. Emmett’s job as a systems analyst meant he was meticulous and methodical, while I balanced it out with my more free-spirited nature.
Our home buzzed with laughter, the pitter-patter of little feet, and the occasional chaos that comes with raising two rambunctious boys.
A happy couple with their two sons | Source: Midjourney
“Mom, look! I made a skyscraper!” Darren, our six-year-old, would shout, proudly displaying his latest Lego creation.
“Watch out, it’s gonna fall!” Dean, our five-year-old, would counter, already running toward it with a toy car ready to crash into Darren’s masterpiece.
“Boys, let’s keep the city standing, alright?” I’d chime in, trying to keep the peace, though usually failing spectacularly.
Emmett would often watch these scenes with a smile, shaking his head. “They get that from you, you know. All that energy.”
“Oh, and what about their stubbornness? I’m pretty sure that’s all you,” I’d tease back.
A couple looks at each other and smiles | Source: Midjourney
We had our fair share of mishaps too, like the time Darren decided to redecorate the living room walls with permanent markers.
Emmett had walked in, taken one look at the colorful chaos, and simply said, “Well, I guess we’re repainting sooner than I thought.”
Through it all, we always found a way to laugh. That’s why his reaction this past Tuesday threw me for a loop.
It was just another regular day, or so I thought. The boys were home early from school, and I was juggling work emails while keeping them entertained.
A woman working on her laptop from home | Source: Midjourney
They were peering into the wastebasket in Emmett’s home office, their little faces full of curiosity.
“Mom, can we have this paper?” Darren asked, holding up a crumpled sheet.
I glanced at it and smiled. “Sure, why not? Let’s make some paper planes.”
Emmett had mentioned clearing out some old documents, so I didn’t think twice. I handed the stack to the boys. “Let’s see who can make the coolest plane!”
Darren’s brow furrowed as he carefully folded the edges. “Mom, is this how Dad makes them?”
I laughed. “Maybe. But I bet yours will fly even better.”
A woman making paper planes with her sons | Source: Midjourney
Dean, tongue sticking out in concentration, was quick to chime in. “I’m gonna make mine zoom super high!”
We spent the next hour crafting planes, the room filled with giggles and the rustling of paper. Once they were done, I snapped a photo of their creations, the boys grinning from ear to ear.
“Let’s show Dad!” Darren suggested, his eyes lighting up.
“Good idea,” I agreed, sending the picture to Emmett with a quick message: “Love, look what your sons did!”
Two young boys holding paper planes and smiling | Source: Midjourney
I expected a cheerful response, but instead, my phone buzzed with a message that made my heart skip a beat.
“Where did they get the paper?” Emmett’s text was terse, a sharp contrast to his usual tone.
Confused, I replied, “Umm… from the dustbin in your home office. You were going to throw it away anyway, so I let the boys practice on it.”
His response was almost immediate: “There is private information! No matter what, DO NOT READ IT. I will be home in ten.”
A pensive man holding a phone in his hands | Source: Midjourney
I stared at the screen, my mind racing. Private information? We’d never kept secrets from each other before — at least, none that I knew of.
Darren tugged on my sleeve, oblivious to the tension. “Mom, can we play outside now?”
“Sure, sweetie,” I murmured, trying to keep my voice steady. “Just give me a minute.”
As the boys ran off, I turned back to the paper planes, my heart pounding. Emmett had never been so secretive. What could possibly be on those papers?
I hesitated, but the curiosity was too much. I reached for one of the planes, unfolding it with trembling hands.
A curious woman looking at a paper plane in her hands | Source: Midjourney
I unfolded the last plane, my fingers trembling as the paper straightened out. The words on the page made me forget how to breathe. There, in stark black and white, was a will: a document that Emmett had been working on in case of his death.
But that wasn’t what made my stomach drop; it was who he was leaving the majority of his estate to. It wasn’t me, or our boys, or even anyone in his family. It was a woman whose name I’d never heard before.
“Brianna?” I whispered to myself, the name sounding foreign on my lips.
A woman gasps while holding a paper plane in her hands | Source: Midjourney
Who was this woman? And why was Emmett planning to leave almost everything to her?
I felt my world tilting on its axis. This couldn’t be real. I glanced up, half-expecting Emmett to burst through the door and tell me it was all some horrible mistake, that the papers were old or misplaced. But the room was silent except for the ticking of the clock on the wall, each second stretching out like an eternity.
My mind raced, grasping at any explanation that made sense.
A woman sitting alone in her living room while looking at the front door of her house | Source: Midjourney
Maybe she was an old friend? A relative I didn’t know about? But no matter how hard I tried to rationalize it, nothing fit. I needed answers, and I needed them now.
Just as the panic started to rise in my chest, I heard the front door open. Emmett was home. I shoved the papers back into a messy pile, my heart pounding as his footsteps echoed down the hall. He appeared in the doorway, his face pale and drawn, like he already knew what I’d found.
A sad man standing in his living room | Source: Midjourney
“Camille…” His voice was soft, almost pleading, but I cut him off before he could say anything else.
“Who is Brianna, Emmett?” I asked, holding up the will with a trembling hand. “And why are you leaving everything to her?”
He took a deep breath, his shoulders slumping as if the weight of the world had just settled on them. “It’s…complicated,” he began, but I shook my head.
“Complicated? We have two boys, Emmett! We’ve been married for almost a decade. How can this possibly be ‘complicated?’ Who is she?”
A woman looks angry and serious while standing in her living room | Source: Midjourney
Emmett ran a hand through his hair, his eyes filled with a sadness I’d never seen before. “She’s… someone from my past. Before we met. I—I haven’t thought about her in years, but I can’t forget what happened.”
“What happened?” My voice was barely a whisper now, dread pooling in the pit of my stomach.
He swallowed hard, his gaze dropping to the floor. “When I was in college, I got a girl pregnant. Brianna. I was young, stupid, and scared. I wasn’t ready to be a father. So…I left. I left her and our child. A daughter I’ve never met.”
An angry and hurt young woman holding a baby | Source: Midjourney
I stared at him, the words barely sinking in. “You have a daughter?” The question hung in the air between us, heavy with disbelief.
“Yes,” he admitted, his voice cracking. “Joanne. Her name is Joanne.”
A wave of emotions crashed over me: anger, betrayal, heartbreak. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You’ve had a daughter this whole time, and you never told me? You’ve been keeping this secret from me? From us?”
A woman feels hurt and betrayed while standing in her living room | Source: Midjourney
“I’m so sorry, Camille. I thought…I thought I could just bury it, that I could move on. But as I’ve gotten older, the guilt has been eating away at me. I’ve been living with this regret every single day. And now…I want to make it right.”
“Make it right?” I scoffed, holding back tears. “And how exactly were you planning to do that? By leaving us with nothing? By giving everything to them?”
An extremely angry and upset woman screams at her husband | Source: Midjourney
He shook his head quickly. “No, it’s not like that. I’ve set aside money for you and the boys. I just… I just wanted to make sure Joanne was taken care of, too. I owe her that much. I’ve been a coward for too long.”
I sank onto the edge of the bed, my legs feeling weak. “So, what? You thought writing her into your will would somehow erase the past? That it would make up for abandoning your daughter?”
A closeup of a sad and thoughtful man holding a paper and pen | Source: Midjourney
“No,” Emmett whispered, coming to sit beside me. He reached for my hand, but I pulled away. “I know it won’t. But it’s all I can do now. I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you, but I couldn’t find the words. I didn’t want to lose you, Camille.”
“Lose me?” I let out a bitter laugh. “Emmett, you should have thought about that before you decided to keep this secret for all these years. Do you know how this makes me feel? Like our entire marriage has been a lie.”
A couple arguing | Source: Midjourney
“It hasn’t been a lie,” he insisted, his voice desperate. “I love you, Camille. You and the boys are my everything. This was a mistake I made a long time ago — a mistake that’s haunted me every day. But it doesn’t change how much I love you.”
I stood up, needing to put some distance between us. “I need time, Emmett. I need time to process all of this. You’ve dropped a bomb on our family, and I don’t know if we can ever be the same.”
“Please,” he begged, his voice breaking. “Don’t walk away from this. Don’t walk away from us.”
A man looks sad and desperate | Source: Midjourney
I turned to face him, tears streaming down my face. “I’m not the one who walked away, Emmett. You did. And now, I have to figure out if I can live with that.”
With that, I left the room, my heart heavy with the weight of everything I’d just learned. My world had been turned upside down, and I didn’t know how to put the pieces back together. All I knew was that nothing would ever be the same again.
A woman looks hurt and disappointed while sitting alone in her room | Source: Midjourney
What would you have done if you were in my place?
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This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the 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.
