“Don’t you just love that old thing?”
“Sutton, I thought I lost it!” he exclaimed.
“Nope, it’s here,” I said. “Come get it on Saturday. At 10 AM.
Or I’m going to throw it away.”
A man holding his phone | Source: Midjourney
Jacob tried to get out of it, and I knew what the reason was. My calculations were correct.
“Jessie’s due date is on Saturday,” he said. “I need to be with her.
I need to see my son the moment he comes out.”
But I was unfazed.
“Saturday, or it’s going in the bin,” I repeated.
“Fine,” he sighed. “I’ll be there.”
A pregnant woman | Source: Midjourney
On Saturday morning, I wondered if I had done the wrong thing. But Jacob deserved it.
He was ready to throw Danny and me away for his new family.
A new son.
“What do you want for breakfast, honey?” I asked Danny as he made his way into the kitchen.
“Pancakes,” he said, sitting at the counter across from me.
Pancakes on a counter | Source: Midjourney
How could Jacob have given up on this little boy?
When he arrived, I invited him in for a talk. He seemed almost relieved, as if hoping we could resolve things amicably. As if.
“I just wanted to swing by here before going back to the hospital,” he said.
“Jessie went into labor last night, and I took her in. It’s literally just a matter of time.”
A smiling man | Source: Midjourney
“Okay,” I said. “Do you want a cup of coffee?”
Jacob nodded and smiled, following me into the kitchen.
“While you’re here, let’s discuss how to split our parental rights over Danny,” I suggested.
“He needs stability in some form, irrespective of where we are with our marriage.”
Jacob, being the smug fool, thought that this was his ticket out of paying alimony.
A couple sitting at a kitchen counter | Source: Midjourney
“I’m sorry for everything, really,” he said, reaching out to hug me as the kettle went off.
I let him, knowing that this would seal his fate.
We ended up speaking for about an hour, with Jacob picking at the leftover pancakes from breakfast. He seemed at ease and not in a rush at all. Any woman would lose her mind, knowing that her partner was comfortably with someone else while she was in labor.
A pregnant woman sitting in a hospital bed | Source: Midjourney
What Jacob didn’t know, was that the nanny camera was on a shelf in the kitchen, recording everything with a timestamp.
Another thing that Jacob didn’t pay attention to was the familiarity between us. The entire time we sat together talking, he kept reaching for my arm or running his hand down my back.
Sure, it meant nothing to me. And probably nothing to him, too.
But I knew it would mean something to Jessie.
“Here you go,” I said when we reached the door, handing his keychain to him.
A close up of a camera | Source: Midjourney
Jacob’s eyes softened.
“Thank you,” he said. “You know how much this means to me.”
I nodded.
From the angle we were standing, if Jacob merely moved an inch, the recording could easily be mistaken for a kiss.
As he drove off, I picked up my laptop and got the footage from the nanny camera. It was time to finally get my revenge.
A woman using a laptop | Source: Midjourney
I hope he showers and changes his clothes between being with me and holding his newborn.
Congratulations on being stuck with this cheater for the rest of your life!
I attached the video and pressed send.
The fallout was glorious and immediate. It turns out that Jessie revoked Jacob’s access to her ward, telling security that she didn’t want him near her.
When he arrived, the matron wouldn’t tell him why he couldn’t see his newborn or Jessie. Security had to escort him out as he yelled and pleaded, making a scene.
A man standing in a hospital hallway | Source: Midjourney
Finally, something must have clicked because Jacob called me.
“What have you done?” he demanded.
“I just made sure that you take responsibility for your actions,” I replied coolly.
“Your second son doesn’t need a dad like you. Neither does Danny. Today was the last time you’d ever set foot in this house again.”
A smiling little boy | Source: Midjourney
For days after, Jacob harassed me with calls and texts, begging for an explanation, for forgiveness, for anything really.
“I’m living with my cousin because Jessie cut off all contact with me.
My mother doesn’t even want to talk to me, Sutton. She said that I ruined the lives of two innocent children and she’ll never forgive me. She’s embarrassed by me.”
“But that’s exactly what you did, Jacob,” I said.
“You did ruin two boys and their mothers, too.”
An upset man | Source: Midjourney
But do you know what was even better? As the months rolled by, I watched with satisfaction and a sense of melancholy as Jacob’s life fell apart.
His job suffered because he just wasn’t settled at all. His social circle seemed to dwindle, and he seemed to be a shadow of his former self.
I was doing well.
But then an interaction with Danny made me question if I was too harsh.
A pensive woman | Source: Midjourney
“Mom, why doesn’t Dad come home anymore?” Danny asked one night as I tucked him into bed.
I knew this moment would come, and now that it was here, I didn’t know what to say.
I sighed, stroking his hair gently.
“Dad had to go away for a while, sweetheart. But I’m here.”
He looked up at me with those big, innocent eyes.
A little boy in his bed | Source: Midjourney
“Do you still love him?” he asked.
How do you explain the truth to a child, that the person they look up to has broken your family?
“I love you, Danny,” I said, evading the question. “And that’s all that matters.”
