I Found Love Again 3 Years After My Husband’s Death — One Day My Daughter Said, ‘Mommy, New Dad Asked Me to Keep a Secret from You. Is That Okay?’

Later that day, I took Maggie to my mother and told her what was going on.

“Darling, I hope you get the answers you need,” she said, pushing a plate of cookies toward me. “You and Maggie have been through too much.

The last thing you need is to worry about a man who is supposed to be your peace.”

I nodded.

She was right, of course. Jacob’s presence in our lives had been peaceful, and he had lit our lives in a light that had been dimmed by Charles’s death. But since Maggie’s confession, I had felt nothing but anxiety and a sense of dread that refused to leave me.

That night, I camped out in a hotel room nearby.

I sat on the bed eating a tub of ice cream, watching the camera feed obsessively. But as the hours went by, nothing happened. Jacob lounged in front of the TV, drinking milk from the carton, eating chocolate-covered pretzels, and just…

being.

The next morning, as I sat by the window eating my breakfast, my paranoia felt consuming and ridiculous. The day went by without anything out of the ordinary. Jacob lazed around the house.

I went to bed thinking that I was just being unreasonable.

Until a notification buzzed:

MOTION DETECTED.

My heart pounded as I opened the app, switching to where motion had been detected. There he was, Jacob, standing in the basement, kissing the woman in red. I watched as she whispered something in his ear, and they laughed.

He was cheating.

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