My daughter is devastated by betrayal… She weeps and stares at the ground.
I am her father.
I’m 73 years old, and I’ve always believed I understood life and knew what was right.
But my children thought differently.
I have a son and a daughter. Their mother passed away a few years ago, leaving me alone to await grandchildren, to help, to guide, to teach them what I’ve learned over the years.
I raised my children to respect traditions. In our family, marriage wasn’t just a formality. It was a commitment, respect for one’s partner, a promise that in tough times, one wouldn’t turn away.
But they laughed at me.
“Dad, that’s outdated!” my son would say.
“Nobody does that anymore,” my daughter echoed.
A wedding? An official marriage? All seen as archaic, “relics of the past.”
“We love each other without the paperwork,” my daughter insisted. “A piece of paper won’t change anything.”
And I watched them in silence.
Because I knew life would eventually sort things out.
And it did.
She was discarded like an unwanted item.
One early morning, there was a knock at the door.
I opened it…
There stood my daughter.
With a suitcase.
A baby in a pram.
And a three-year-old girl clinging to her coat.
I saw her face.
Pale, thin, with tear-stained eyes.
“Dad… can I stay with you for a few days?” her voice trembled. “George kicked me out. He’s found someone else…”
I didn’t immediately grasp the meaning of her words.
Kicked out?
Like a dog?
Like something worthless?
“And the children?!” I exclaimed.
She sobbed.
“He said he’d pay what’s required by law. But he doesn’t want me or them anymore…”
I clenched my fists.
How?! How could he just erase his family, his children from his life?
I wanted to drive over and demand answers, but instead held her close and let her in.
We didn’t speak of it for days.
She just sat by the window, tears silently streaming down as she kept her gaze low.
I saw it in her face – she was broken.
A wife? No. A servant in a wealthy home.
She graduated from a teaching college, dreamed of being a teacher, working with kids.
But George didn’t want that.
“I don’t need a wife’s money,” he boasted. “Let her manage the home! I earn plenty; I need a wife, not a harried teacher!”
She stayed home, cooked meals, cleaned, and raised the children.
He’d come home to hot meals, a tidy house, and cared-for kids.
She never complained.
She believed he was grateful for all she did.
She thought he needed her.
But he didn’t.
As soon as he found someone else, she became invisible to him.
“I’ve found new love,” he calmly said when I called him. “And the kids? I’ll pay what’s required.”
He sent her £2 a month.
A pittance.
Exactly what the law required.
“It’s enough,” he said when I urged him to give more. “I’m not going to support you! That’s all in the past.”
The past.
What was once his family.
What he erased in a moment.
My daughter is broken… How will she live on?
A year has gone by.
The three of us live together – my daughter, her two little girls, and me.
I’m retired, receiving just over £2. Her support is meager.
Barely enough for the children.
She doesn’t work – the younger one isn’t even a year old.
But that’s not the main issue.
The main issue is, she doesn’t live.
She merely exists.
She doesn’t laugh, smile, or speak unnecessarily.
She’s like a broken doll.
An emptiness in her eyes.
She always looks down at the floor.
And I know what’s on her mind.
If only she’d listened back then, had insisted on a legal marriage, things might have been different.
Maybe he would have left.
But he couldn’t have erased her so easily.
He would’ve had obligations.
She wouldn’t be left destitute, with two children in her care.
I am old.
I don’t know how much longer I can help her.
And then what?
How will she manage?
How will my granddaughters live?
What will their future hold?
Will a man ever love her – a woman with two children?
How did I ever think I’d face such questions?!
Ladies, don’t repeat her mistake!
Now I’m sure of one thing.
Casual relationships are not freedom.
They lead nowhere.
Marriage is not just a piece of paper.
It’s protection.
Responsibility.
I plead with all fathers, all mothers who have daughters.
Don’t let them make the same mistake my daughter did!
Guide them, explain, persuade.
A woman without marriage remains unprotected.
I curse the “trend” that came from the West, this false freedom where a woman is left with nothing.
I see what’s happened to my daughter.
I see how it’s destroying her.
And I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.
Protect your daughters.
Marriage isn’t a guarantee of eternal love.
But it’s a guarantee of protection.
Don’t let your children make the same mistake.
