My mother had been alone for almost seven years.<\/p>\n
So when she finally told me she was seeing someone, I couldn’t have been happier.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis name is Daniel,\u201d she said one evening, smiling like a teenager.<\/p>\n
I teased her.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel? Is he nice?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does he do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe travels for work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere does he live?\u201d<\/p>\n
She laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou ask too many questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
I smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m your daughter. It’s my job.\u201d<\/p>\n
She told me they had met online and had been talking for several months.<\/p>\n
Daniel called her every night.<\/p>\n
He sent flowers.<\/p>\n
He remembered little things.<\/p>\n
He even knew how she liked her coffee.<\/p>\n
There was only one strange thing.<\/p>\n
I had never met him.<\/p>\n
Not once.<\/p>\n
I’d never seen a picture of him either.<\/p>\n
Whenever I asked, Mom would say, \u201cHe’s private.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought it was unusual, but I didn’t want to interfere.<\/p>\n
My mother deserved happiness.<\/p>\n
And she was genuinely happy.<\/p>\n
Her whole personality had changed.<\/p>\n
She laughed more.<\/p>\n
She dressed up again.<\/p>\n
She started playing her favorite music while cooking.<\/p>\n
I hadn’t seen that version of her in years.<\/p>\n
Then, one Saturday morning, she called me.<\/p>\n
\u201cSweetheart, he’s coming!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel!\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart jumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinally!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re having dinner tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
I immediately volunteered to host.<\/p>\n
I spent the afternoon cooking Mom’s favorite meal.<\/p>\n
I cleaned the house.<\/p>\n
I bought flowers.<\/p>\n
I even changed my outfit three times.<\/p>\n
I wanted to make a good impression.<\/p>\n
After all, this man might become part of our family.<\/p>\n
At exactly seven, the doorbell rang.<\/p>\n
My mother practically ran toward the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s him!\u201d<\/p>\n
She grabbed my arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can’t believe you’re finally meeting him!\u201d<\/p>\n
She opened the door.<\/p>\n
I stood behind her, smiling.<\/p>\n
Then I saw him.<\/p>\n
And my smile disappeared.<\/p>\n
The man standing on our doorstep wasn’t a stranger.<\/p>\n
He wasn’t some mysterious man I’d never heard of.<\/p>\n
He was someone I knew better than anyone.<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
My hands went cold.<\/p>\n
Because Daniel…<\/p>\n
was my fianc\u00e9.<\/p>\n
The man I had been engaged to for almost two years.<\/p>\n
The man who had kissed me goodbye that morning.<\/p>\n
The man who had told me he was going on a business trip for the weekend.<\/p>\n
He stood there holding a bouquet of flowers.<\/p>\n
For my mother.<\/p>\n
Nobody moved.<\/p>\n
My mother looked at him.<\/p>\n
Then at me.<\/p>\n
Then back at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Her voice trembled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou two know each other?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel’s face had gone completely white.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
I couldn’t even finish the word.<\/p>\n
My mother turned toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is he?\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the man who had promised to marry me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s Daniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
She smiled nervously.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know. He’s my boyfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n
I swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
My voice broke.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s my fianc\u00e9<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n The flowers slipped from his hand.<\/p>\n They hit the floor.<\/p>\n My mother took a step backward.<\/p>\n Daniel whispered my name.<\/p>\n I looked at him.<\/p>\n \u201cDon’t.\u201d<\/p>\n He froze.<\/p>\n \u201cDon’t say my name like nothing happened.\u201d<\/p>\n My mother suddenly grabbed the edge of the table.<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n Neither did I.<\/p>\n But then I remembered something.<\/p>\n Three months earlier, Daniel had started taking calls outside.<\/p>\n He’d become protective of his phone.<\/p>\n He had suddenly begun traveling more.<\/p>\n And whenever I asked where he was going, he’d say,<\/p>\n \u201cJust work.\u201d<\/p>\n I had trusted him.<\/p>\n My mother had trusted him.<\/p>\n We had both been fooled.<\/p>\n But then Daniel said something that made everything even stranger.<\/p>\n \u201cI can explain.\u201d<\/p>\n I laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease do.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked at my mother.<\/p>\n Then at me.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn’t know she was your mother.\u201d<\/p>\n Silence.<\/p>\n My mother stared at him.<\/p>\n \u201cYou knew my name.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn’t know you were related.\u201d<\/p>\n I shook my head.<\/p>\n \u201cYou met my mother online. You knew her full name. You knew where she lived.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you never thought to mention that to me?\u201d<\/p>\n He couldn’t answer.<\/p>\n My mother suddenly whispered,<\/p>\n \u201cHow did you even meet him?\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel looked terrified.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough a dating site.\u201d<\/p>\n Mom’s face changed.<\/p>\n She walked toward him.<\/p>\n \u201cYou told me your name was Aaron.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked down.<\/p>\n \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n I stared at him.<\/p>\n \u201cAaron?\u201d<\/p>\n My mother began to cry.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the name he used with me.\u201d<\/p>\n I felt sick.<\/p>\n Daniel had created an entirely different identity.<\/p>\n He had been dating my mother while pretending to be someone else.<\/p>\n And somehow, he had been dating me at the same time.<\/p>\n I thought the betrayal couldn’t get worse.<\/p>\n Then my mother walked to her purse.<\/p>\n She pulled out a small envelope.<\/p>\n \u201cI received this yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n She handed it to me.<\/p>\n Inside was a photograph.<\/p>\n It showed Daniel standing beside another woman.<\/p>\n I stared at it.<\/p>\n \u201cWho is she?\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel didn’t answer.<\/p>\n My mother whispered,<\/p>\n \u201cHe told me she was his sister.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n \u201cShe’s not your sister, is she?\u201d<\/p>\n He closed his eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n My heart sank.<\/p>\n \u201cWho is she?\u201d<\/p>\n He finally whispered,<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife.\u201d<\/p>\n The room went silent.<\/p>\n My mother covered her mouth.<\/p>\n I couldn’t breathe.<\/p>\n My fianc\u00e9 was married.<\/p>\n He had been dating my mother.<\/p>\n And he had been dating me.<\/p>\n But there was one final detail we hadn’t discovered.<\/p>\n My mother turned the photograph over.<\/p>\n Written on the back was an address.<\/p>\n She looked at me.<\/p>\n \u201cI went there yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n My heart raced.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n She shook her head.<\/p>\n \u201cI met his wife.\u201d<\/p>\n I stared at her.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n Mom looked directly into my eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cShe told me something about Daniel that he never expected us to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n I turned toward him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did she say?\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel suddenly stepped forward.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease don’t.\u201d<\/p>\n Mom’s expression hardened.<\/p>\n \u201cShe said Daniel didn’t choose us by accident.\u201d<\/p>\n I frowned.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n My mother opened her purse again.<\/p>\n This time, she pulled out a folder.<\/p>\n Inside were copies of bank statements, photographs, and messages.<\/p>\n She placed them on the table.<\/p>\n Then she whispered,<\/p>\n \u201cHe wasn’t looking for love.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe was looking for someone to pay his debts.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n And suddenly, all the expensive dinners, flowers, weekend trips, and romantic promises made sense.<\/p>\n He hadn’t been building a future with either of us.<\/p>\n He had been building a plan.<\/p>\n And the two women he thought would never meet…<\/p>\n were now standing together.<\/p>\n For the first time that night, my mother and I looked at each other.<\/p>\n We didn’t need to say anything.<\/p>\n We both knew what came next.<\/p>\n Daniel had walked into our house expecting two women who trusted him.<\/p>\n Instead, he had walked into the one room where both of his lies had nowhere left to hide.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My mother had been alone for almost seven years. So when she finally told me she was seeing someone, I couldn’t have been happier. \u201cHis name is Daniel,\u201d she said … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyreadmystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyreadmystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyreadmystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyreadmystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyreadmystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/happyreadmystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25994,"href":"https:\/\/happyreadmystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25941\/revisions\/25994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyreadmystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyreadmystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyreadmystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyreadmystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}