When I Returned from the Hospital with Our Newborn, My Husband Had Changed the Locks – Twenty Hours Later, He Showed Up, Pounding and Screaming

Ray’s car sat in the driveway. The house was quiet. The curtains were drawn as usual. Everything looked normal except for the fact that I was locked out of my own home with my newborn.

I knocked gently. Then louder.

“Raymond?” I called, shifting the baby carefully. “The key isn’t working. Can you open the door?”

Silence stretched long enough to make my stomach drop.

Then his voice came through, muffled, like it was being filtered through something heavy.

“Penelope… please just go.”

I stared at the door. “What?”

“I need space,” he said. “Please don’t make this harder.”

For a second, I laughed, because it was so absurd my brain tried to protect me by treating it like a joke.

Continue reading…