It was Ethan's little blue teddy bear.
The same one that my son had desperately looked for the night before before falling asleep.
Daniel held it for a few seconds, smiled... then handed it to the woman.
She waved it in front of him, laughing, and they both laughed.
I felt the air leave my lungs.
It wasn't just a betrayal.
It was a desecration.
My home. My bathrobe. My son's stuffed animal.
My life turned into a stage for a perfectly repeated lie.
Ethan, sitting in the back, didn't understand the details, but he could sense the energy.
"Mom...?" she whispered.
I forced myself to keep a stable voice.
"Okay, darling. We just look, that's all.
But nothing was going well.
Daniel did not go to the station that morning.
Instead, he took the woman's hand and they both went back to our house.
Our home.
The place where I had chosen the curtains, where I had painted the walls of Ethan's room, where I had cried silently when Daniel had lost his first big contract years ago.
Everything seemed contaminated.
I stood still for several minutes, unable to move the steering wheel.
My thoughts were running in circles.
Ethan had said that "she sleeps in our room when you're not there."
Since when?
How long has my son been carrying this burden in silence?
"Daddy is mad at you?" asked Ethan, his voice trembling with innocence.
I swallowed.
