As Diane runs around doing last-minute errands for her daughter Marissa’s wedding, she comes across her soon-to-be son-in-law—with another woman! Begrudgingly, she tells Marissa and then comes up with a plan to teach Stefan a lesson…
As I bustled through the busy streets, juggling errands for my daughter Marissa’s wedding, I couldn’t help but feel a nagging sense of unease.
An older woman holding shopping bags | Source: Midjourney
Call it mother’s intuition or something like that, but there was just something about Stefan, my daughter’s fiancé, that had never quite sat right with me.
He always seemed a bit too smooth, a bit too charming, like someone who was used to getting what he wanted without much effort.
Marissa, on the other hand, had worked through issues with her self-esteem and self-confidence, spending hours at the gym and the hair salon. She worked hard on herself, to get what she felt she deserved.
A young woman at the gym | Source: Midjourney
“I’m telling you, Brian,” I told my husband one day. “Our daughter is too good for this man.”
“I agree, she’s our little girl. But at the same time, there’s nothing we can do.”
He was right, of course. Marissa adored Stefan, and I had tried to keep my reservations to myself, not wanting to spoil her happiness.
A couple sitting and staring at each other | Source: Midjourney
But then, I saw Stefan’s true colors in the most unexpected way.
It was the day before the wedding, and I was exhausted from a whirlwind of preparations. I had insisted that my daughter spend the day at a spa, getting a full-on pamper session, while I got my nails done, picked up both our dresses, and finalized the decorations.
A woman at a spa | Source: Midjourney
“It’s all set, Diane,” Tracy, the wedding planner, told me at her office. “I just need you to choose between the two backup flower options. But don’t worry, we’re back on track. Go ahead and rest. The mother of the bride needs to be just as refreshed as the bride.”
“I’m definitely going to do that,” I reassured her. “I’m just going to grab a coffee and then head straight home for a bubble bath and a head massage from my husband.”
A smiling woman sitting at her desk | Source: Midjourney
“Get some carbs, too,” Tracy laughed as I walked out.
So, I did just that. I decided to take a break and grab a coffee at a cute little café across the road from Tracy’s office. As I entered, I was greeted by the comforting aroma of fresh pastries and coffee.
Coffee and croissants on a table | Source: Midjourney
“Just what I needed,” I muttered to myself.
But then, my heart nearly stopped.
There, in a corner of the café was Stefan. And he wasn’t alone. A young woman was there with him, laughing and touching his arm, their heads close together.
A couple sitting in a café together | Source: Midjourney
Then, right in front of the bustling café, they kissed. It was a tender, intimate kiss, the kind that spoke of familiarity and affection.
To the rest of the world, they looked like a cute little couple. But to me? This was the ultimate betrayal to my daughter.
I stood there, stunned, unable to process what I was seeing. My hands shook as I pulled out my phone and snapped a photo.
A woman holding her phone | Source: Midjourney
Thankfully, the photo was safely in my gallery when Stefan looked up. Our eyes met for a brief, horrifying moment. He quickly pulled away from the woman, but it was too late.
The damage was done. My eyes had seen the truth.
A close-up of a man’s eyes | Source: Midjourney
“Diane?” Stefan called.
I just shook my head and hurried out of the café, my mind and heart racing.
How could he do this to Marissa? The woman who loved him to her core and who would move heaven and earth for him! And on the eve of their wedding, no less?
An upset woman touching her face | Source: Midjourney
I knew I had to tell her, but how could I break her heart like this?
As I drove home, my anger simmered. Stefan needed to learn a lesson.
I dialed Brian’s number.
A woman driving | Source: Midjourney
“Hi, honey,” Brian answered. “I’ll be home soon, I promise. I just need to pick up some Thai food for Marissa. She said she wanted to have our favorite family meal tonight.”
“We need to talk,” I said, cutting him off.
I quickly told Brian everything as I drove closer to our house.
A man looking at his phone | Source: Midjourney
When I got home, I found Marissa in her room, surrounded by her wedding jewelry. Her face lit up when she saw me, but the look on my face must have given away that something was wrong.
“Mom, what happened?” she asked, concern taking over her beautiful features. “Is everything okay?”
I sat down next to her, taking a deep breath.
A young woman sitting on a bed | Source: Midjourney
“Marissa, I need to show you something,” I said, pulling out my phone. I showed her the photo of Stefan with the other woman.
Marissa stared at the screen, her face paling.
“No, this can’t be real,” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes.
An upset young woman | Source: Midjourney
I put my arm around her, holding her as she sobbed.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” I said. “I wish it wasn’t true.”
Through her tears, Marissa looked at me, anger and betrayal flashing in her eyes.
A mother comforting her daughter | Source: Midjourney
“Mom, I can’t marry him. I just can’t. I won’t. I have to call off the wedding.”
I nodded. I couldn’t blame her at all. She was devastated. The man she adored had been cheating on her.
But then an idea struck me. There was a way to make Stefan face the consequences of his actions in a way he wouldn’t forget.
A determined older woman | Source: Midjourney
“Darling, what if we turn the tables on him? Make sure he knows exactly what he’s losing?” I asked.
She looked at me, confusion mingling with her tears.
“What do you mean, Mom?” she asked.
An upset woman | Source: Midjourney
I explained my plan, and slowly, a determined look replaced the hurt on her face. She agreed, and we set it in motion.
We spent the rest of the evening in near silence, eating the Thai food that Brian had brought home.
A close-up of a plate of food | Source: Midjourney
The next morning, Marissa and her best friend Leah headed to the resort where she and Stefan were supposed to spend their honeymoon.
The reservation was in Marissa’s name because Brian and I had gifted the couple their honeymoon, so there was no issue with her using it.
A beautiful resort | Source: Midjourney
As for Brian and me, we went to the wedding venue, where guests were already gathering, helping themselves to drinks and canapés. They were blissfully unaware of the drama unfolding behind the scenes.
Stefan spotted me as soon as I arrived. He rushed over, looking anxious.
“Where’s Marissa?” he asked me, trying to keep his voice calm.
Guests mingling at a wedding | Source: Midjourney
I smiled, keeping my tone light. It was almost as if I hadn’t caught him cheating on my daughter just the day before.
“Oh, she’ll be done soon; she had a mishap with her hair stylist.”
He frowned but nodded, trying to mask his discomfort.
A close-up of a groom | Source: Midjourney
As the minutes ticked by and the wedding band began to play, the tension grew. Finally, with all the guests present, I took the stage.
Holding the microphone, I called for everyone’s attention.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here today. We have a slight change in plans,” I began.
An older woman standing with a microphone | Source: Midjourney
There were a few gasps in the crowd, but I continued.
“My daughter isn’t here right now. She’s on her way to the resort where she and Stefan were supposed to spend their honeymoon.”
A murmur of confusion spread through the crowd. Stefan shifted uncomfortably.
Shocked guests at a wedding | Source: Midjourney
“But Marissa did want me to show you something very important.”
With that, I clicked a remote, and the photo of Stefan kissing the other woman appeared on the screen behind me. That, in itself, tugged at my heart because Marissa had wanted photos of her and Stefan to be playing in the background during the ceremony.
Now, the screen was used to show his infidelity.
A couple kissing | Source: Midjourney
Gasps filled the room. Stefan’s parents stood up, their faces a mixture of shock and fury. The murmurs turned into an uproar as people processed what they were seeing.
“Marissa isn’t late,” I said to Stefan simply. “She deserves so much better than this, and now, everyone knows the truth.”
Stefan’s parents approached me, anger across their faces.
An upset older couple | Source: Midjourney
“How could you do this?” his mother hissed. “We paid for this wedding!”
I met her gaze, unflinching.
“Your son did this. Not me. He betrayed Marissa, and she has every right to walk away.”
An embarrassed older couple | Source: Midjourney
Everything was chaotic after that. Guests were whispering, and some were even leaving. Stefan looked defeated, slumped in a chair, while his parents tried to salvage what they could of the situation.
I called Marissa to check in as Brian spoke to some of our family and friends.
“Mom, I made the right decision,” she said boldly. “I’ve been thinking, and I know it now.”
A smiling young woman | Source: Midjourney
“You did, sweetheart,” I replied. “And now, you can move on without looking back.”
After that, Brian and I helped ourselves to the wedding buffet before heading home.
A wedding buffet | Source: Midjourney
What would you have done?
If you enjoyed this story, here’s another one for you.
My Best Friend Gave Me the Wrong Dress Code for Her Wedding — I Decided to Outplay Her Smartly
When Emily’s friend, Elle, gets engaged to her boyfriend, Brian, the supportive bestie is over the moon. Emily does everything she can to help Elle plan her dream wedding. But then Elle starts acting secretive and gives Emily a wedding invite with the incorrect dress code. Thankfully, a mutual colleague gives Emily the correct details, allowing her to show up to the wedding to teach Elle a lesson.
“I’m engaged, Em!” Elle said, rushing through my door while I was sitting on the couch and reading a book.
A woman reading on a couch | Source: Unsplash
“What?” I exclaimed, standing up to hug her tightly. “I’m so happy for you, my girl!”
Elle sat on the couch and showed me her hand.
“Look at this rock!” she said.
A close-up of an engagement ring | Source: Unsplash
Of course, I was over the moon for her. We’d been through so much together, and now it was her turn to walk down the aisle.
For my wedding, a few years ago, Elle had been right by my side. She helped me plan every little detail, from the font on my wedding invitations to the menu selections.
“It’s more like you and Elle are getting married,” my husband, Grant, laughed one evening when I told him everything that Elle and I had planned.
A laughing man | Source: Unsplash
“Well, she’s been around longer than you,” I replied, showing him the mock-up for our wedding invitations.
And it was true, Elle and I had been friends since our childhood, having lived on the same street and gone to the same kindergarten together.
We shared every major milestone, from awkward teenage years to college graduation, together. We even ended up working at the same company, making sure to have lunch and tea breaks together every day.
So, naturally, I expected her to be just as involved in her wedding planning as she was in mine.
“Brian and I don’t want to be engaged for too long,” she said one day at the office while we were having tea and pastries.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
I Was Looking At a Photo of My Late Wife and Me When Something Fell Out of the Frame and Made Me Go Pale
The day I buried Emily, all I had left were our photos and memories. But when something slipped from behind our engagement picture that night, my hands started shaking. What I discovered made me question if I’d ever really known my wife at all.
The funeral home had tied a black ribbon on our front door. I stared at it, my key suspended in the lock, wondering who’d thought that was necessary.
A black ribbon attached to a doorknob | Source: Midjourney
As if the neighbors didn’t already know that I’d been at the cemetery all afternoon, watching them lower my wife into the ground while Rev. Matthews talked about angels and eternal rest.
My hands shook as I finally got the door open. The house smelled wrong — like leather polish and sympathy casseroles.
Emily’s sister Jane had “helped” by cleaning while I was at the hospital during those final days. Now everything gleamed with an artificial brightness that made my teeth hurt.
A home entrance hallway | Source: Pexels
“Home sweet home, right, Em?” I called out automatically, then caught myself. The silence that answered felt like a physical blow.
I loosened my tie, the blue one Emily had bought me last Christmas, and kicked off my dress shoes. They hit the wall with dull thuds.
Emily would have scolded me for that, pressing her lips together in the way she had, trying not to smile while she lectured me about scuff marks.
A heartbroken man looking down | Source: Midjourney
“Sorry, honey,” I muttered, but I left the shoes where they lay.
Our bedroom was worse than the rest of the house. Jane had changed the sheets — probably trying to be kind — but the fresh linen smell just emphasized that Emily’s scent was gone.
The bed was made with hospital corners, every wrinkle smoothed away, erasing the casual mess that had been our life together.
“This isn’t real,” I said to the empty room. “This can’t be real.”
A bedroom | Source: Pexels
But it was. The sympathy cards on the dresser proved it, as did the pills on the nightstand that hadn’t been enough to save her in the end.
It had all happened so suddenly. Em got sick last year, but she fought it. Chemotherapy took an immense toll on her, but I was there to support her every step of the way. The cancer eventually went into remission.
We thought we’d won. Then a check-up showed it was back, and it was everywhere.
A couple staring grimly at each other | Source: Midjourney
Em fought like a puma right up until the end, but… but it was a losing battle. I could see that now.
I fell onto her side of the bed, not bothering to change out of my funeral clothes. The mattress didn’t even hold her shape anymore. Had Jane flipped it? The thought made me irrationally angry.
“Fifteen years,” I whispered into Emily’s pillow. “Fifteen years, and this is how it ends? A ribbon on the door and casseroles in the fridge?”
A heartbroken man | Source: Midjourney
My eyes landed on our engagement photo, the silver frame catching the late afternoon light. Emily looked so alive in it, her yellow sundress bright against the summer sky, her laugh caught mid-burst as I spun her around.
I grabbed it, needing to be closer to that moment and the joy we both felt then.
“Remember that day, Em? You said the camera would capture our souls. Said that’s why you hated having your picture taken, because—”
My fingers caught on something behind the frame.
A man holding a photo | Source: Midjourney
There was a bump under the backing that shouldn’t have been there.
I traced it again, frowning. Without really thinking about what I was doing, I pried the backing loose. Something slipped out, floating to the carpet like a fallen leaf.
My heart stopped.
It was another photograph, old and slightly curved as if it had been handled often before being hidden away.
A stunned man | Source: Midjourney
In the photo, Emily (God, she looked so young) was sitting in a hospital bed, cradling a newborn wrapped in a pink blanket.
Her face was different than I’d ever seen it: exhausted, and scared, but with a fierce love that took my breath away.
I couldn’t understand what I was looking at. Although we tried, Emily and I were never able to have kids, so whose baby was this?
A confused man | Source: Midjourney
With trembling fingers, I turned the photo over. Emily’s handwriting, but shakier than I knew it: “Mama will always love you.”
Below that was a phone number.
“What?” The word came out as a croak. “Emily, what is this?”
There was only one way to find out.
A thoughtful man | Source: Midjourney
The phone felt heavy in my hand as I dialed, not caring that it was nearly midnight. Each ring echoed in my head like a church bell.
“Hello?” A woman answered, her voice warm but cautious.
“I’m sorry for calling so late.” My voice sounded strange to my ears. “My name is James. I… I just found a photograph of my wife Emily with a baby, and this number…”
The silence stretched so long I thought she’d hung up.
A man speaking on his phone | Source: Midjourney
“Oh,” she finally said, so softly I almost missed it. “Oh, James. I’ve been waiting for this call for years. It’s been ages since Emily got in touch.”
“Emily died.” The words tasted like ashes. “The funeral was today.”
“I’m so sorry.” Her voice cracked with genuine grief. “I’m Sarah. I… I adopted Emily’s daughter, Lily.”
The room tilted sideways. I gripped the edge of the bed. “Daughter?”
A shocked man | Source: Midjourney
“She was nineteen,” Sarah explained gently. “A freshman in college. She knew she couldn’t give the baby the life she deserved. It was the hardest decision she ever made.”
“We tried for years to have children,” I said, anger suddenly blazing through my grief. “Years of treatments, specialists, disappointments. She never said a word about having a baby before me. Never.”
“She was terrified,” Sarah said. “Terrified you’d judge her, terrified you’d leave. She loved you so much, James. Sometimes love makes us do impossible things.”
A man on a phone call | Source: Midjourney
I closed my eyes, remembering her tears during fertility treatments, and how she’d grip my hand too tight whenever we passed playgrounds.
I’d assumed it was because we were both so desperate to have a child, but now I wondered how much of that came from longing for the daughter she gave up.
“Tell me about her,” I heard myself say. “Tell me about Lily.”
A man speaking on his phone | Source: Midjourney
Sarah’s voice brightened. “She’s twenty-five now. A kindergarten teacher, if you can believe it. She has Emily’s laugh, her way with people. She’s always known she was adopted, and she knows about Emily. Would… would you like to meet her?”
“Of course!” I replied.
The next morning, I sat in a corner booth at a café, too nervous to touch my coffee. The bell above the door chimed, and I looked up.
It was like being punched in the chest.
A man in a coffeeshop | Source: Midjourney
She had Emily’s eyes and her smile. She even tucked her hair behind her ear like Em would’ve as she scanned the room. When our gazes met, we both knew.
“James?” Her voice wavered.
I stood, nearly knocking over my chair. “Lily.”
She rushed forward, wrapping her arms around me like she’d been waiting her whole life to do it. I held her close, breathing in the scent of her shampoo — lavender, just like Emily’s had been.
Two people hugging | Source: Midjourney
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispered against my shoulder. “When Mom called this morning… I’ve always wondered about you, about what kind of man my mother married.”
We spent hours talking. She showed me pictures on her phone of her college graduation, her first classroom, and her cat. I told her stories about Emily, our life together, and the woman her mother became.
“She used to send Mom birthday cards for me every year,” Lily revealed, wiping tears from her eyes.
A woman in a coffeeshop smiling sadly | Source: Midjourney
“We never spoke, but Mom told me she used to call now and then to ask how I was doing.”
Looking at this beautiful, brilliant young woman who had Emily’s kindness shining in her eyes, I began to understand Emily’s secret differently.
It wasn’t just shame or fear that had kept her quiet. She’d been protecting Lily by letting her have a safe, stable life with Sarah. It must have hurt Em deeply to keep this secret, but she’d done it out of love for her child.
A thoughtful man | Source: Midjourney
“I wish I’d known sooner,” I said, reaching for Lily’s hand. “But I think I understand why she never told me. I’m so sorry you can’t get to know her, but I want you to know, I’ll always be here for you, okay?”
Lily squeezed my fingers. “Do you think… could we maybe do this again? Get to know each other better?”
“I’d like that,” I said, feeling something warm bloom in my chest for the first time since Emily’s death. “I’d like that very much.”
A man smiling in a coffeeshop | Source: Midjourney
That night, I placed the hidden photo next to our engagement picture on the nightstand.
Emily smiled at me from both frames — young and old, before and after, always with love in her eyes. I touched her face through the glass.
“You did good, Em,” I whispered. “You did real good. And I promise you, I’ll do right by her. By both of you.”
Here’s another story: When a proud father stumbles upon unexpected footage from his daughter’s bachelorette party, his excitement for her wedding turns into heartbreak. Feeling like their bond has been shattered, he refuses to walk her down the aisle.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
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