**Diary Entry**
I came home to find my husband gonealong with all his things.
Why are you looking at me like that? Zoe smirked. Stan just wanted to prove hes a real catch. Thats all.
What are you talking about?
The truth, love, drawled Stans ex-wife.
I dont understand Emily faltered.
Ah! Heres Stanhell explain everything, Zoe nodded toward the door.
Mum raised me like a delicate flower.
Anne herself was a stern womanran her own timber yard with an iron fist.
But with me, her only daughter, she softened. Her voice turned gentle, her eyes warm.
So I grew up sheltered, trusting, untouched by hardship.
I went to a regular school and music lessons, learning the piano with joy.
I never became a virtuoso, but I made a decent teacher.
All I needed was a good marriage, and soon enough, along came charming Darren.
He courted me beautifully, spending his modest salary as a delivery driver on roses and sweet words.
Mum didnt like him.
Lazy fool! she declared.
But I love him, Mum, I whispered, tears welling.
Fine, she relented. But youll live with me.
Our spacious London flat had room enough, and Darren didnt mindhe had little to his name anyway.
After the wedding, his true colours showed. He drank, disappeared for hours, snapped at me.
Around Mum, he behavedbarely.
I turned a blind eye.
Nine months later, I had baby Leo, convinced we were a proper family.
But the boy was sickly, demanding, and Darrens temper worsened.
I endured.
Then Mum died suddenly, just a year after Leos birth.
Her old friend, Geoffreya solicitorhandled the funeral.
Darren vanished for days. When he finally slunk back, his bags were packed in the hallway.
He threatened lawsuits, division of assets.
I stayed silent.
Geoffrey saw him outliterally.
He made sure Darren got nothing.
We never saw him again.
I couldnt run the timber yard, so Geoffrey hired proper managers.
Money wasnt an issueLeo and I were secure.
But losing Mum, then my marriage, left me hollow.
No friends, no family. Just Leo.
I poured everything into him, swore off menGeoffrey didnt count.
Then, one rainy afternoon after Leos check-up, we dashed from the clinic, huddled under an umbrella.
No taxi would cometoo much demand.
Hop in! A car screeched to a halt. The driver flung open the doora man I recognised from the clinic, there with his own son.
Grateful, I didnt think twice.
Thanks, I said as we arrived.
Anytime. Stan grinned. Fancy giving me your number?
I stiffened. I dont date married men.
The next day, he waited in the park, waving divorce papers dated a month prior.
Im free.
Was I lonely? Was he too charming? Did Leos instant attachment sway me?
I still dont know why I let him join us for dinner.
Soon, we met daily. I fell hard.
A month later, he proposed.
It made sensehe loved me, adored Leo.
The boy called him Dad before the wedding.
Stan didnt object. I was happy.
After the vows, he adopted Leo.
Always wanted two sons, he said, then darkened.
I knew his ex-wifenow with some wealthy blokekept his other boy from him.
Three months in, we were a family.
One secret I kept: my finances.
The timber yard, though modest, brought steady incomesplit three ways per Geoffreys arrangements.
I saved it all for Leos future.
No reason for Stan to know.
Geoffreys advicebefore retiring to Brighton.
Stan never asked.
But the idyll crumbled.
He grew distant, snapped at me, barely tolerated Leo.
Work stress, hed mutter.
Then, in the park, a woman in a crimson coat sat beside me.
You shouldnt have let him adopt the boy, she said.
I turned. Do I know you?
Zoe. Stans ex. Temporarily.
Leo played nearby, oblivious.
Stop gawping, she smirked. Stan just wanted to prove hes desirable. Simple.
Stan arrived, tense.
Explain it to her, Zoe said, ruffling his hair before strolling off. Well be waiting.
He sighed. I married you to spite her. She kept saying no one else would have me.
Why adopt Leo? I choked out.
To sell it. New wife, new sonperfect picture.
I laughed bitterly. A placeholder?
He shrugged.
That night, he didnt come home.
By morning, his things were gone.
I exhaled, dialling Geoffrey.
**Lesson learned:** Some men dont want a familyjust a prop in their pride.
