After ten years of marriage she left me for another man. A year later she showed up on my doorstep, pregnant and shattered
I first met my wife, Aurélie, almost twelve years ago. Back then I was still a student at the engineering school in Lyon and living in a university residence. Aurélie had just arrived from a tiny village in Brittany, lost, alone, a stranger in this noisy world. We didnt click right away; I barely noticed her at first because she was so quiet, always tucked away with her books, speaking hardly at all.
Time, however, changed things. After a few months we started talking, first shyly, then every evening without being able to stop. She poured out her doubts, I shared my hopes for the future. Soon the residence director trusted us enough to assign us a couples room, seeing that we were serious. Thats how our life together began.
I always knew what I wanted to be: a solid man, a pillar, someone who could not only build walls but also fill them with the warmth of a home. I told her plainly, You wont work. A woman should take care of the house and the children. If a man cant provide for his family, he isnt a man. She didnt argue. She cooked, cleaned, waited for me each night. We were a real family.
Over the years I climbed the career ladder. I joined a construction firm, rose to site manager, then started my own company. We bought a house in the suburbs, two carsone for me, one for her. We lived the dream we had imagined, except for one thing: children. Years passed and the house stayed silent. We saw dozens of doctors, spent thousands of euros on endless tests nothing helped. I hid my pain; she kept quiet, her eyes empty. Eventually we gave up, thinking fate simply wasnt ready for us.
Then everything collapsed, without warning, without any chance to understand why.
I got home early that day to avoid traffic. In the driveway there was no car, the gate was wide open. Strange. I waited; the evening stretched on endlessly. Then a text from an unknown number arrived:
Forgive me. I cant keep living a lie. Theres someone else. Hes going home, and Im leaving with him. I cheated on you, but maybe one day youll understand
The world slipped away beneath me. I sat on the floor of the house I had built for two, but now I was alone. Only Théo, my best friend and business partner, pulled me out of that abyss. He stopped me from drowning in alcohol or abandoning everything.
Time passed. I learned to breathe again. I saw Aurélies pictures onlinestanding before mountains, living somewhere in the Alps. I couldnt erase her from my mind; everything around me reminded me of her. I prayed for her return, and the universe seemed to listen.
Exactly a year later, on the same day, there was a knock at the door. I opened it and nearly collapsed. It was herthin, devastated, wearing filthy, tattered clothes. Her belly was huge; she was at the end of her pregnancy.
Aurélie fell to her knees, sobbing, begging for my forgiveness. Her lover had thrown her out. She had cheated on him in turn, and he had left her homeless, penniless, without hope. The only thing she had left was me.
You may judge me, call me weak, say I should have shut the door in her face. But you know what? I couldnt. Even after everything, I still loved her. Even through the pain, I wanted her close again. I knew one truth: everyone deserves a chance to make a mistake. If I didnt forgive her, I would have lost myself.
Years have gone by. We now have a sonthe child I once thought Id never have. I love him as if his blood were mine, because it is, by choice and by love. I still love Aurélie, even though the scar in my heart will never disappear.
I never blamed her, never brought up the past. True love, Ive learned, means choosing to stay, despite everything.
