I remember that day as if it was yesterday because I rushed to pick up my phone when I stepped on a Lego brick and it hurt like hell. It was Brian, my husband’s boss, calling me to check up on Daniel because he hadn’t showed up for work in two days. Well, that was strange, because as far I was concerned, my husband was stuck at work all weekend. I also remember him complaining about that massive project that would have him locked up in his office for days.
That call I got was a wake up call. I was lied to without ever having a second taught about Daniel’s fidelity. Instead of crying, I just started laughing sort of hysterically.
At first, I thought of leaving the kids out of it, but then I decided I wasn’t going to become a liar myself in order to protect his image. So I called the kids downstairs and told them their father was a liar and that we were going shopping, and we were having a huge one.
I grabbed Daniel’s black card, the one he kept for emergencies only and decided my dignity being completely shredded did qualify as an emergency.
Next thing, we went to the mall and I bought a bunch of expensive things for my kids; including the ones I considered too expensive even for Christmas presents. I got myself a bucket of the most expensive wine, got three super pricey dresses in three different colors, and some luxurious high heels. It was right after the purchases were made that Daniel kept calling me and texting me like crazy, but I ignored every attempt to contact me because I was too busy spending his “hard” earned money.
When I finally decided to answer one of his calls, he was already at home, wondering where we were. But instead of giving him any explanations, I asked him where he was Friday to Sunday. At first, there was an awfully long pause before he said he was at Mercy General Hospital in Trenton with his father.
That threw me completely off tracks. For the ten years we were married, he barely mentioned his father who had abandoned him when he was a teenager. I did recall at that moment that Daniel once swore he would never forgive his father, he wouldn’t even attend his funeral once he was dead, and now this.
When I asked him why he would hide something like that from me, he said he was ashamed to admit he still cared for the man who left him behind and never looked back.
Daniel then dropped another bomb. It turned out his father moved on with his life and re-married, and Daniel had a sixteen-year-old half-sister, Hannah, who struggled handling doctors and medical forms all by herself. So, he’d been sleeping in the lobby chair, buying her meals, and trying to make sense of the whole thing. Apparently he had written twelve texts but deleted each one because he was a coward.
And my anger vanished instantly. It would have been nice to be able to remain mad at him since he had lied to me, but imagining a scared man trapped in a hospital halls just overwhelmed me. So I told him to stay put, grabbed the kids and all their bags of stuff, and drove directly to Trenton.
And when we got there, Daniel looked completely destroyed. His clothes were rumpled, he was sporting a scruffy beard, and he had big bags under his eyes. But he dropped to the floor and embraced the kids so fiercely that it was painful to see. In a corner of the waiting room, I found Hannah. She was wrapped up inside a huge grey hoodie, looking frightened and tiny. She even resembled Daniel.
She got up stiffly and began saying sorry right away, assuming that I would be furious with her. “Did you eat anything?” I asked, and seeing how she responded that all she had been able to eat throughout the entire day was a granola bar, I shot a death glare at Daniel, opened our bags, and began giving everyone something to eat and drink. In a few minutes, kids broke the ice entirely and showed her how to assemble the Lego we had bought. Daniel thanked me, but I reminded him that I was still furious for lying to me.
His father died calmly early on Monday morning. Daniel cried in the corridor, and I sat next to him right there on the floor.
At the funeral, it became clear Hannah had absolutely no one. She also didn’t have a place to stay. So when we asked her where she was going, she said she’ll try the youth shelter. Without a second thought, my kids asked her if she wanted to stay with them and share their bedroom.
I saw how this girl tried to disappear so that she wouldn’t trouble us. Looking into her eyes, I told her to get in the car before she messed up my very expensive mascara.
The following months were hard. Daniel agreed to therapy and said that he never intended to be the sort of man who lies for safety. We went to couples’ counseling too, and I happily informed the counselor of what a wonderful job I did with his credit cards.
Hannah adapted well to our household; she had a good sense of humor and was exceptionally talented at math to the extent that she was soon helping Owen with his homework, and she could tally grocery expenses faster than my cell phone calculator could. And yes, she knew she could stay with as us long as she needed it.
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Bored Daddy
Love and Peace
