Fifteen Years After My Divorce, I Found My Ex-Mother-in-Law Digging Through a Dumpster

At first, Dorothy talked like she was confessing to something and needed to get it off her chest.

“I told him,” she said, still staring at the pavement. “After the divorce, I told Caleb he had to change.

Or not talk to me again.”

She let out a dry laugh.

“He said I was a bad mother. Said I always took your side.”

Heat rose up my neck.

“And then?” I asked.

“One night, he showed up at my door.

Just… there.” She rubbed her hands together, like she was trying to warm them. “He had a little boy with him.”

I frowned. “His?”

She nodded.

“Two years old. He said the mother left, and he didn’t know what to do.”

My chest felt like someone had stacked bricks on it.

Continue reading…