When Elena learned she was pregnant, she and her husband Michael were over the moon. The arrival of their sweet bundle of joy was planned very carefully. They purchased a bunch of things for the nursery – soft toys, colorful blankets, a spacious crib, plenty of baby clothes.
When the delivery day finally arrived, Elena was rushed to the hospital by her mother because Michael didn’t answer his phone.
Not having Michael there felt strange. Elena didn’t want him to miss the birth of their baby daughter so she constantly tried to reach him on the phone, but each of the calls went straight to voicemail.
The nurses gave her sympathetic looks, as though they wanted to tell her that he was going to be there, he was probably in the middle of something, or he was just running late if he even had the chance to hear her voice messages.
As Elena’s contractions became stronger, her fear escalated. Was she really about to face this alone? What could possibly have kept him away?
Her mom was there with her to hold her hand, but she missed her husband’s presence.
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Sadly, Michael didn’t make it. He failed to witness his first child’s birth. What’s most, he was still not picking up his phone.
Elena was worried sick, she asked from her mother to call the nearby hospitals and see if her husband was in any of them. He must have been involved in an accident, that would be the only thing that would stop him from being by Elena’s side during the most important day of their lives.
However, her mother assured her that Michael was fine. It was though as she knew what was going on.
Two days later, Elena was discharged from the hospital.
She entered her mom’s car together with her baby daughter, Emily, and prayed to God Michael was home waiting for them.
Once home, however, the place was empty and eerily silent. She started shouting Michael’s name, but there was no answer.
“He must be upstairs, in the baby’s room, waiting for us,” she thought to herself. Exhausted from giving birth two days prior, she barely gathered the strength to get to the second floor.
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Once she opened the nursery’s door, she was welcomed with the most unpleasant surprise. Some of Emily’s things were missing, including a couple of toys Elena and Michael picked out together, and the baby blanket they bought. Inside the crib there was a tiny note that read, “I love you and our baby, Elena. But I have to leave forever. Ask your mom why she did this. I’ve taken some of Emily’s things to remember you both.”
Elena’s world collapsed. She started yelling her mom’s name and went downstairs to confront her, but her mother was unusually calm, as though she was ready for this confrontation.
“Mom, where’s my husband?” Elena kept asking.
Her mom said she was going to tell her everything once she calms down. It turned out that Michael was having an affair with his boss who was filthy rich and spent plenty of money on him. She even bought him a brand new car.
Michael told Elena that he earned a promotion and a car because he was working really hard. Was he lying to her, or it was her mom who wasn’t telling her the truth.
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Elena’s mom was never fond of Michael, so Elena thought she was the one who told him to leave and maybe threatened him with something. Her mom, however, denied she was involved in Michael’s decision to leave Elena and their child.
She explained that she learned of his affair and told him to either put an end to it or leave. Apparently, he chose the latter.
At that point, Elena was mad beyond words. She said her mother was supposed to tell her about her husband’s affair so she could talk to him about it. It wasn’t on her mother to solve that issue on her own.
Elena tried reaching Michael over and over again, but he never returned the calls, until one day, he decided to speak to Elena.
He told her that her mother was right. He did have an affair with his boss and wanted to give that relationship a chance. Elena couldn’t believe her ears. She was crushed.
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However, over the first few weeks after this incident, she realized that being a single mom was way better than being together with a cheater.
Michael never reached out again. He didn’t even express a desire to meet his daughter, and Elena came to understand that it was for the best if her daughter never encountered the father who had abandoned her.
