Later that day, I took Maggie to my mother’s and filled her in on what was going on.
“Darling, I hope you get the answers you need,” she said, pushing a plate of cookies towards me. “You and Maggie have been through so much. The last thing you need is to worry about a man who’s supposed to bring you peace.”
I nodded in agreement.
She was right, of course. Jacob’s presence in our lives had brought a sense of calm, and he had reignited a spark that had been dimmed by Charles’s death. But ever since Maggie’s confession, I had been consumed by anxiety and a sense of impending doom that just wouldn’t go away.
That night, I holed up in a hotel room nearby. I sat on the bed, mindlessly eating a tub of ice cream, and stared intently at the camera feed. But as the hours ticked by, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Jacob just lounged in front of the TV, drinking milk straight from the carton, munching on chocolate – covered pretzels, and doing… nothing.
The next morning, as I sat by the window, sipping my coffee and eating breakfast, I started to feel like my paranoia was getting the better of me. The day passed without any sign of trouble. Jacob just lazed around the house. I went to bed that night thinking I had been overreacting.
Until a notification buzzed on my phone:
MOTION DETECTED.
My heart pounded in my chest as I frantically opened the app and switched to the camera where the motion had been detected. There he was, Jacob, standing in the basement, passionately kissing the woman in red. I watched in horror as she whispered something in his ear, and they both burst out laughing.
He was cheating on me.
In my own home.
Fueled by a rush of adrenaline, I sped back to the house and pulled into the driveway just as Jacob was walking her to her car. When he saw me, his face contorted into a look of horror.
“Oh, honey! You’re home already? In the middle of the night?” he stammered, clearly caught off – guard. “This is the designer I told you about.”
“Really?” I scoffed sarcastically, crossing my arms defiantly. “She makes house calls this late?”
“She does… she’s really busy,” he tried to explain.
“Right, and I just watched you making out with her in my basement, Jacob. Is that part of her job?”
Jacob froze, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. The woman rolled her eyes in annoyance and turned to him.
“Finally, she knows,” she snapped. “Hillary, you’ve finally woken up. Jeez. How could you not have seen this sooner? Now, you, Jacob, can come back to me.”
“What?” I gasped in disbelief.
“We’ve been together for 10 years, sweetheart. He told me that he was only with you because you had a nice house and a stable income. You being a sad widow was just an added bonus, really.”
Her words felt like a stinging slap across my face. I stared at Jacob, waiting for him to deny it.
But he didn’t. He remained silent.
“Get out,” I demanded, my voice cold and firm. “Both of you. Get out right now.”
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” she asked him, clearly frustrated.
The woman stormed off, slamming the car door behind her. Jacob tried to apologize, but I just pointed to the street.
“Out. Now,” I hissed through gritted teeth. “Don’t you ever come back.”
The next day, I packed all of Jacob’s things into bin bags. I initially thought of leaving them outside his mother’s house, but then I had a better idea.
I left them at a construction site. I figured the workers could make good use of them. Then, I drove to my mother’s house, eager to see my little girl.
“What happened?” my mother asked, looking at me with concern.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow,” I said. “Today is all about Maggie.”
I loaded Maggie into the car and took her for ice cream. As she happily dug into her sundae, I leaned over and said,
“You did the right thing by telling me the truth, sweetheart. I’m so proud of you.”
She smiled brightly, her face lighting up the way only a child’s can.
“No more secrets, Mommy,” she said.
“That’s right,” I said, pulling her into a warm hug. “But when we get home, I need you to know that Jacob won’t be there. He’s not going to be with us anymore.”
She was quiet for a moment, and then she spoke.
“Mom? I didn’t like New – Dad that much anyway.”
Jacob was gone, and so was the life I had envisioned for us. But as I looked at Maggie, I realized that I didn’t need him. I had her, my home, and the strength to keep going.
Sometimes, losing the wrong person is the first step towards making room for the life you truly deserve.