“Can we not do this here?”
“You told me she was your coworker.”
“Megan, this isn’t the place.”
I stared at him.
“You just announced to an airplane full of strangers that she’s pregnant with your child and that you plan to marry her.”
I stepped closer.
“You don’t get to suddenly demand privacy.”
Laila folded her arms.
“At least she knows now.”
I turned toward her.
“What did you say?”
She met my eyes.
“I said at least you know.”
There was nothing left of the frightened woman from my porch.
Tyler moved between us.
“You need to leave.”
I stared at him.
“Move, Tyler.”
“Megan, Mason is standing right there. Think about him before you make a scene.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Now you’re concerned about what Mason sees?”
His face tightened.
Our son was gripping my hand.
Tyler looked down at him.
“Buddy, I can explain. Just not right now.”
Mason immediately moved behind me.
Something changed in Tyler’s face.
I didn’t care.
“How long?” I asked.
Tyler looked at Laila.
Then at me.
“Almost a year.”
My stomach turned.
“When were you planning to tell me?”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I was waiting for the right time.”
“The right time to tell your wife that another woman is pregnant with your child?”
“No.”
He hesitated.
“The right time to give you the papers.”
I stared at him.
“What papers?”
“The divorce papers.”
Behind me, Mason was crying harder.
Tyler’s expression changed.
It was as if he had momentarily forgotten his own son could hear him.
I immediately crouched beside Mason.
“Put your headphones on, sweetheart.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Please.”
He began sobbing.
I hugged him, then stood again.
“You were planning to serve me divorce papers?”
“I didn’t want you finding out like this.”
“How exactly did you want me to find out?”
“I wanted us to talk privately.”
Laila interrupted.
“Tyler and I love each other.”
I turned toward her.
“We’re having a baby,” she continued. “He wants to be with me. Dragging this out isn’t helping anyone.”
I looked at Tyler.
“Is that what you think?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Then he nodded.
“Our marriage has been over for a while.”
That was news to me.
We had eaten dinner together Thursday night.
Watched a movie in bed Friday.
He had kissed me goodbye that very morning.
Apparently, my marriage had ended without anyone bothering to tell me.
“We can still be good parents to Mason,” Tyler said.
Our son heard his name.
He looked up.
“You’re leaving us?”
Tyler stepped toward him.
“Mason…”
My son backed away.
“Don’t touch me.”
Tyler froze.
That was when I knew we had to leave.
I picked up our bags.
“We’re going home.”
“Please let me explain things to him.”
I looked at Tyler.
“You already did.”
I took Mason downstairs and bought him ice cream because I had absolutely no idea what else to do.
He managed three bites.
Then he looked at me.
“Does Dad love her more than us?”
My heart nearly broke.
Instead, I kept my voice steady.
“Dad loving someone else doesn’t mean he stopped loving you.”
“What about you?”
I refused to lie.
“I think your dad made choices that hurt me very badly.”
His lip trembled.
“Are we still a family?”
“We will always be a family.”
“How?”
“Families can change and still be families.”
I don’t know where those words came from.
At the time, I barely believed them myself.
We flew home that evening.
The next morning, I called my lawyer.
Denise listened without interrupting.
Then she told me something important.
Tyler’s affair itself would not automatically determine custody or how our assets were divided.
What mattered were things like marital spending, parenting history, financial records, assets, and anything affecting Mason’s welfare.
“Document everything,” she told me. “Don’t delete anything, and don’t access accounts you aren’t legally entitled to access.”
So I didn’t hack Tyler’s private accounts.
I didn’t need to.
We had a desktop computer Tyler regularly used at home.
He had left his airline email and personal messages synced to it.
Apparently, once someone decides their marriage is already over, they start getting careless.
