I Found My Late Husband’s Old Wristwatch in My Second Husband’s Nightstand Drawer

When Angela stumbles upon her late husband’s wristwatch inside her second husband Bryan’s nightstand drawer, her world shatters. She confronts Bryan, but his answers reveal a devastating truth that tears her life apart.

I don’t know how to begin, but maybe it’s best if I just tell it as it happened. There are days that start out ordinary, and then, in the blink of an eye, everything changes. This was one of those days.

A thoughtful woman | Source: Midjourney

A thoughtful woman | Source: Midjourney

I was tidying up the house, keeping busy, keeping my mind from wandering too much into the past. Bryan’s side of the bed was its usual mess, with socks kicked off hurriedly and his nightstand drawer slightly open.

I wasn’t snooping, I swear, but something about that open drawer caught my eye. Maybe it was just instinct, or maybe it was fate pushing me toward the truth.

When I opened it fully, I didn’t expect to find anything out of the ordinary. But then I saw it.

An open drawer | Source: Pexels

An open drawer | Source: Pexels

A wristwatch. And not just any wristwatch. It had belonged to my late husband Jeff. The one I gave him on our first anniversary, with the words “Forever Yours, A.” engraved on the back. My heart stopped and literally skipped a beat as I picked it up with trembling hands.

I knew that watch like I knew my heartbeat. But it shouldn’t be here. Bryan didn’t even know Jeff. I only met him six months after Jeff died. I felt a cold wave of confusion wash over me.

How could Bryan have this? It didn’t make sense. Nothing about this made sense.

A shocked woman | Source: Midjourney

A shocked woman | Source: Midjourney

I dropped the watch, my hands shaking too much to hold onto it. It fell to the carpet with a soft thud, but the noise echoed in my head like a bomb going off.

When Bryan came home that evening, I didn’t even let him take off his coat before I confronted him. My voice was tight, barely controlled, as I held up the watch in front of him.

“Where did you get this?”

The look on his face told me everything and nothing at the same time.

A man with an unreadable expression | Source: Midjourney

A man with an unreadable expression | Source: Midjourney

He went pale, eyes wide like he’d seen a ghost. He just stared at the watch, his mouth opening and closing like he couldn’t find the words. The silence stretched between us, thick and heavy, until I thought I might scream just to break it.

Finally, Bryan spoke, but his voice was so soft that I had to strain to hear him. “I… I didn’t want you to find out like this.”

“Find out what?” I snapped, my frustration bubbling over.

An angry woman | Source: Midjourney

An angry woman | Source: Midjourney

He looked away, running a hand through his hair, his whole body tense like he was bracing for impact. “Angela, there’s something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you from the beginning, but I didn’t know how.”

I felt a chill run down my spine. “What are you talking about?”

“Jeff was… Jeff was my brother.”

I stared at him, my mind rejecting the words. It felt like someone had punched me in the stomach, and I couldn’t breathe.

A woman gasping in shock | Source: Midjourney

A woman gasping in shock | Source: Midjourney

“Your brother? But Jeff never said he had a brother… and you never said anything either. We’ve been married three years! How could you—”

“I didn’t just not say anything, Angela. I hid it. Years ago, I changed my name, left the country, and cut all ties with my past. I was bitter, angry, and I couldn’t stand being around my family anymore. Jeff and I had a falling out. A big one. And I thought the only way to move on was to leave it all behind, including him.”

Bryan’s voice cracked, and he looked at me with such sorrow in his eyes that it made my heart ache.

A sad man | Source: Midjourney

A sad man | Source: Midjourney

“I didn’t know Jeff was gone until months later. By the time I came back, it was too late. He was already dead. I went to his grave, and that’s when I saw you.”

I could feel tears prickling at the corners of my eyes, but I blinked them back, refusing to let them fall. “You saw me there? At Jeff’s grave?”

Bryan nodded, his hands shaking. “Yes. I didn’t know who you were at first, but when I found out, I… I don’t know, Angela. I was drawn to you.”

A thoughtful man | Source: Midjourney

A thoughtful man | Source: Midjourney

“Maybe it was guilt, or maybe it was something else, but I couldn’t stay away. And then… then we fell in love.”

I felt like the room was spinning. This man, the one I had trusted, had kept this from me? This wasn’t just some mistake; this was my entire life, everything I thought I knew, turned upside down.

“But the watch,” I managed to say, my voice shaking as much as my hands. “How did you get Jeff’s watch?”

A woman speaking to her husband | Source: Midjourney

A woman speaking to her husband | Source: Midjourney

“After I came back, I found my mother at Jeff’s grave. She forgave me, even though I didn’t deserve it. And she gave me this,” he gestured to the watch, his voice heavy with regret. “It was the only thing she had left of Jeff. A way to make peace, she said. I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid you’d hate me.”

I stood there, staring at the man I thought I knew, and I couldn’t make sense of anything anymore.

Close up of a woman's face | Source: Midjourney

Close up of a woman’s face | Source: Midjourney

His words kept circling in my head, wrapping tighter around my heart, choking the life out of me. Jeff’s brother. How had I missed it? How could I have been so blind?

“Angela, please,” he started, taking a step closer. But I held up my hand to stop him, needing distance, needing to breathe. I couldn’t look at him without seeing all the lies, all the secrets that had been hiding in plain sight.

“I… I can’t do this,” I said, my voice sounding foreign, hollow.

A woman standing in a kitchen | Source: Midjourney

A woman standing in a kitchen | Source: Midjourney

The room felt like it was closing in on me, the walls pushing in until there was no space left to think, to feel anything but the overwhelming weight of betrayal.

“Angela, listen to me,” Bryan pleaded, his voice breaking. “I know I should have told you from the beginning, but I didn’t want to lose you.”

“But you already have,” I whispered, barely able to say the words out loud. They hurt too much, like shards of glass scraping against my throat.

A heartbroken woman | Source: Midjourney

A heartbroken woman | Source: Midjourney

“You lost me the moment you decided to hide this from me. You let me fall in love with a lie.”

He shook his head, desperation in his eyes. “No, it wasn’t a lie. My love for you is real. Everything we’ve built together, it’s real. I swear to you, Angela, I never meant to deceive you.”

“Maybe not,” I said, my voice trembling as I fought to keep it together. “But you did. You deceived me every day you looked me in the eye and didn’t tell me the truth. I trusted you, Bryan. I trusted you with everything I had left after Jeff, and now… now I don’t even know who you are.”

A woman pointing her finger | Source: Midjourney

A woman pointing her finger | Source: Midjourney

The silence that followed was heavy and suffocating. Bryan’s shoulders slumped, his face a mask of sorrow and regret. I could see the pain in his eyes, but it didn’t change the fact that I felt like I’d been living in someone else’s story, a story I didn’t sign up for.

I turned away from him, the tears I’d been holding back finally spilling over.

“I need to pack,” I muttered, more to myself than to him. I needed to move, to do something, anything, to keep from falling apart completely.

A woman in a darkened hallway | Source: Midjourney

A woman in a darkened hallway | Source: Midjourney

“Please, Angela, don’t go,” Bryan begged, but his voice sounded distant. It was as if it was coming from the other end of a tunnel. “We can work through this. We can—”

“There’s nothing to work through,” I interrupted, choking on my own words. “I can’t stay in this marriage, Bryan. Not after this. I can’t stay with someone I don’t even recognize anymore.”

I walked to the bedroom, each step feeling heavier than the last. My hands shook as I pulled out a suitcase, the sound of the zipper echoing in the room.

A woman packing a suitcase | Source: Pexels

A woman packing a suitcase | Source: Pexels

Bryan stood in the doorway, his face pale, watching me pack with a helplessness that almost broke me. Almost. But the anger and betrayal were stronger, driving me forward and pushing me to leave behind everything we had built.

“Angela, please,” he said one last time, his voice so soft, so broken, it was almost a whisper.

But I couldn’t stop. If I stopped, I’d crumble, and I couldn’t afford that. Not now. Not ever.

A woman hanging her head | Source: Midjourney

A woman hanging her head | Source: Midjourney

I zipped up the suitcase and lifted it from the bed. My heart pounded as I walked past him without a word. As I reached the front door, I hesitated, just for a moment.

Part of me wanted to turn back, to give him one last look, but I couldn’t. I knew if I did, I might lose the strength I’d gathered to walk away.

So I stepped out the door, the cool evening air hitting my face like a slap. I didn’t look back as I walked to my car and climbed in, each step feeling like I was tearing my heart out.

A woman in a car | Source: Midjourney

A woman in a car | Source: Midjourney

But I kept going because there was no other choice. The man I loved, the man I thought I knew, was a stranger. And I couldn’t live with that. Not anymore.

Phil Collins reveals he can “barely hold a drumstick anymore”

He can barely walk and confessed that he can no longer sing.

With eight Grammy awards under his belt, Genesis drummer and lead singer Phil Collins is one of the most prominent musicians there are. He is one of only three musicians, alongside Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney, who have sold more than 100 million albums both as a solo act and a member of a band.

Born on January 30, 1951 in London, England to parents who possessed creative spirits, Collins fell in love with making music.

When he was just five, his uncle made him a drum kit out of tambourines, triangles, cymbals and toy drums, Collins recalled. “The old cliché is, ‘Well, at least it will keep him quiet’,” he told Interview Magazine.

Soon after, he found himself performing in shows at his parents’ boating club.

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“When I started playing seriously, the English beat thing was just happening, the Shadows and bands like that. It was the very early ’60s,” Collins recalled.

“I remember buying Please Please Me. I used to put the record player on very loud and set up my drums so I was facing the mirror, that way you don’t look at what you’re doing.

“Then when I was fourteen I went to a teacher to learn to read drum music. I figured when this rock-and-roll thing finished I would have to make a living playing in a dance band or in an orchestra pit. So I learned to read drum music, but I found that my capacity for reading was not anywhere near as good as actually playing by instinct.”

Youtube/LiveAid

It was in the 1970 that Collin’s life changed forever. He was already playing in some bands when he came across an ad by a group called Genesis which was looking for a drummer. He decided to get in touch with them and the rest is history. In the first years of Collins being part of it, the group released five albums with singles that reached the charts.

After the founder and lead singer of Genesis left the group, Collins took his place. He was both a singer and a drummer. Speaking of his new role, he said he didn’t really feel comfortable, but as the group failed to find a singer, he simply stepped in.

Besides being a member of Genesis, Collins also had a very impressive solo career. With smash hits such as In The Air TonightYou Can’t Hurry Love and I Don’t Care Anymore he soon became one of the best in the music industry.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8i5vZqHX5A/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=14&wp=540&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fmodishtips.com&rp=%2Fphil-collins-reveals-he-can-barely-hold-a-drumstick-anymore%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1WalnBHccfN_pwi5ssU4h1P2oAs0rzKmLsb7Y9hNWFMUdnvIj-rSvs_2A#%7B%22ci%22%3A1%2C%22os%22%3A1435.5999999046326%2C%22ls%22%3A1096.3999999761581%2C%22le%22%3A1375.7999999523163%7D

When he decided to leave the group and focus on his solo career, Collins said: “Having been with Genesis for 25 years, I felt it time to change direction in my musical life.

“For me now it will be music for movies, some jazz projects and of course my solo career. I wish the guys in Genesis all the very best in their future. We remain the best of friends.”

However, in 2017, he decided to reunite with the band. Last year, they announced a world tour, The Last Domino, but had to put it on hold because of the pandemic.

Shutterstock/ Featureflash Photo Agency

And as fans were looking forward to seeing the group on stage together, Collins gave an interview with BBC Breakfast which made many concerned about his health. He and his band mates announced that it will be Collins’ son Nicholas who would do the drumming and Collins will only sing.

“Nic is a great drummer, but he is capable of sounding like early Phil. For Mike and I, that was always quite exciting,” Genesis band member Tony Banks said.

“It means you can play some of the songs that you haven’t played with Phil as the drummer for a long time.”

Youtube/7NEWS Spotlight

Speaking of why he’s not getting behind the drums, the musician revealed: “I’d love to but you know, I mean, I can barely hold a stick with this hand. So there are certain physical things that get in the way.

“I’m kind of physically challenged a bit which is very frustrating because I’d love to be playing up there with my son,” adding that he doesn’t know if he wants to be touring any longer.

“We’re all men of our age, and I think to some extent, I think it probably is putting it to bed,” he said. “I think yeah, I think just generally for me, I don’t know if I want to go out on the road anymore.”

Shutterstock/Jimmie48 Photography

During the past few years, Collins experienced certain health issues which left him struggling to get on his feet. Speaking to Billboard, he revealed that after a surgery in 2009, he was left with dislocated vertebra, nerve damage. He had also suffered a foot fracture that left him feeling like he’s walking “on sticks.”

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