When I arrived at the hospital to visit my wife Suzie and our brand-new twins, I felt an overwhelming rush of happiness and excitement.
Seeing them made my heart feel like it was dancing. There were so many balloons that both the nursery at home and the car were packed with them. It was surprising to see how tidy the nursery looked.
As we prepared to welcome our new family members, Suzie’s favorite songs played softly in the background on a really nice playlist. The music was perfectly arranged. I wanted to make Suzie’s homecoming even more special because I knew how tough her pregnancy had been.
However, when I entered her hospital room, I was speechless because of everything happening around me. Even though our daughters, Emily and Grace, were peacefully sleeping in their bassinets, Suzie was still missing.
There was just one piece of paper on the table next to the bed, and the room felt super quiet. Not much work had been done. I was so excited that my hands trembled when I picked it up. Her handwriting was easy to read, but the words were really odd:
Leaving. Make sure they stay safe and healthy. You should find out why your mother treated me the way she did.
Soon, I started to feel anxious. I rushed to the nurses’ station to ask where she had gone because I needed to know. They told me she checked out that morning, and I said I had everything they gave me. But they all insisted I didn’t. I was confused about why she was leaving, and this wasn’t how I thought it would happen. Everyone seemed surprised when she left. At least, that’s how I imagined she felt about how much she liked being there.
It felt amazing to walk my girls back to their house, holding them close. Every thought I had seemed worse than the last, and my mind was filled with questions. When I pulled into the driveway, my mom, Mandy, was waiting for me with a big smile and a baking dish in her hands.
But as soon as she saw me, her happiness faded. I tossed Suzie a note that was meant for her.
“What deeds did you perform?” You asked me to make it.
Even though she was looking at the page, her face started to lose its color. “What are you speaking about?”
“You really know my intentions!” I broke when things were really hard for me. “What acts did you perform against Suzie?”
My mom struggled to find the right words, even though she was sure she hadn’t done anything wrong. She hesitated and said, “I don’t know why she left.” At that moment, I believed everything was okay. Even though we didn’t see eye to eye, I didn’t push her to leave. I just stayed quiet.
What she said didn’t help ease my worries at all. Suzie had never really gotten Mandy’s full support before this. Suzie had her own way of handling things and liked to think she was pretty self-sufficient. Over the years, there had been plenty of arguments, snarky remarks, and tense silences between them. From another angle, had their relationship really grown to this point?
As I held Emily and Grace through the night, I tried to balance hiding my feelings and keeping them from crying too much. It was tough to do both at once. I remember that the note kept burning. No one understood why Suzie wanted me to talk to my mom. What was her reason? Maybe Mandy was hiding something from us.
To my surprise, I was the first one called early the next morning. Suzie hadn’t been able to reach her, and neither had any of her coworkers, neighbors, or friends. When her parents were contacted, they were just as frightened as she was, even though they didn’t know much about what was happening. I even reported a missing person to the police, but they couldn’t do anything since there was no evidence of a crime.
Weeks passed without seeing Suzie. I focused most of my attention on my girls when she was gone. Being with them was the only thing that motivated me to get out of bed each day. They were the only reason I felt like I could keep going. Late at night, when everything was silent, my thoughts kept drifting back to that note.
One time, while I was looking through a box of old family photos, I stumbled upon a letter. I was trying to…
It’s been a while since I wrote the note; I hadn’t even met Suzie yet. The person the letter was meant for, Clara, was a name I didn’t know. The letter got to my friend. After reading that this was the exact case, it was pretty clear to me that Clara was Suzie’s mom. The letter had choices that caused two families to grow apart, accusations of betrayal, and a fight that caused a lot of disagreement. All of these things were written down in the letter.
I found what my mother said to be very upsetting. Her accusation was that Clara was to blame because she had ruined her life and stolen from her. At the very bottom of the message, there was a strange warning that read:
You will feel bad about what you did. There will be bad things happening to everyone in your family house.
The discovery had a lot of deep meaning. Since my mom had a fight with her family, could it be that Suzie ran away because of that? I reached out to her almost immediately.
Mandy initially rejected all the accusations against her. However, the fact that the letter was sent made it seem like her defenses had been weakened. She mentioned that her relationship with Clara had been rocky for a long time due to something she didn’t want to discuss. She claimed that this experience created a bond between them. When talking about the incident, she said, “It happened a long time ago.” She didn’t think it was a big deal. “What does that have to do with Suzie leaving?”
I didn’t agree with her view, though. The note Suzie left for me made me feel like I was meant to be here right now.
While I was still in school, I learned some really terrible things. At that time, Suzie had kept everything hidden. I never imagined there was a notebook tucked away in a secret spot in her desk. The answers in it revealed that she was caught between her past and her feelings for me. She was struggling with two conflicting emotions.
Her fear that her family’s past will come back to haunt her was brought to light when Mandy judged her. She also talked about the time Mandy judged her. It really scared her to write on her blog that she had received a note from someone she couldn’t identify:
“Your past will never be able to be escaped.” There is no way that some crimes can be forgiven, no matter what the case is.
Does this have anything to do with the anger my mother felt? There’s also the idea that the story had more parts than I knew about at the time they happened.
I finally approached Mandy because I just couldn’t handle the uncertainty anymore. I needed to express my thoughts clearly, so I took the necessary steps. Up until then, I hadn’t really resisted anything. When it came to the note, the letter, and the diary, I made sure to get everything sorted out.
She said, “You just can’t understand,” as the conversation wrapped up. I could see tears beginning to well up in her eyes. “Clara and I used to be friends.” To explain a bit, she hurt me deeply, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive her. I was really taken aback when I found out you were planning to marry Suzie. Luckily, I wasn’t anticipating that at all. But I can honestly say that I never did anything to hurt her.
Even though it was clear from what she said that she was being honest, the damage had already been done when she said it. It doesn’t matter if Mandy did it on purpose or by accident; the things she did directly caused the cracks in my life.
The call came from a number I didn’t know, just as I was beginning to lose control of my confidence. As she stood across the room, Suzie was ready for her to come over. It didn’t matter that her voice was shaking; it was still hers when she spoke.
She whispered some words that sounded both apologetic and hurtful, saying, “I needed time.” What she said really stung. It felt like it was too late for me to continue because I had gained so much from the class. Just like your mom, there are other people who hide things too. Your mom isn’t the only one. In my family, we also have a habit of keeping secrets from one another. I don’t want to discuss certain things with you at the moment because I have to keep them private.
From her answer, it was pretty clear that Clara had done something wrong many years ago, which had hurt my mother indirectly. Suzie was told the truth for the first time when she found out she was pregnant. All the things she had to deal with finally got too much for her to handle.
She stated, “The way in which I left is something that I greatly regret.” “But I felt driven to protect our daughters from the ghosts of our past.”
Suzie managed to find her way back, even though everything felt different from before. Because trust was lost, it was crucial to allow the wounds to heal before we could move forward. Each day, we took steps to slowly rebuild what we had begun the day before.
Mandy realized she had messed up, but she wanted to make things better. She admitted her part in the chaos and apologized to Suzie, understanding that she had played a role in it. The road was bumpy, but we did our best to keep our balance and look out for Emily and Grace. Even though the journey was tough, we still managed to get through it.
I came to understand that love is not just about feeling happy and excited. It also involves dealing with tough truths and remembering the sad times from the past. You have to learn to keep going, even when it’s painful. Our family trip was challenging, but knowing it was our experience made it worthwhile to push through the hard moments.
