After five years of heartache, after my ex-husband left me for his young mistress, I never thought I’d find happiness again.

But Eric was like a breath of fresh air!

I was finally about to start my new life… until a knock on the door changed everything.

I opened it, and there he was—my ex, standing there like a ghost from the past.

But he wasn’t just there to say hi…

He had the strangest request in the world. He asked for my help raising his child.

At first, I laughed. Like, out loud. I actually thought he was joking.

“Arlen,” I said, blinking. “You mean your child? With Marissa?”

He nodded. But he looked… broken. Like someone who hadn’t slept properly in weeks.

“She left,” he said quietly. “She left me and the baby. Just packed a bag and went off to Bali with some guy. Said she wasn’t meant to be a mother.”

My heart did something weird then. Not pity exactly. But something close. Arlen had destroyed me. I spent nights curled up on the floor crying over what he and Marissa did. And now here he was, holding a diaper bag like it weighed a thousand pounds.

I should’ve closed the door.

But instead, I said, “Where’s the baby?”

He stepped aside, and there she was. A tiny girl with Arlen’s eyes and the same dark hair I used to brush every morning when we were married. She looked at me, wide-eyed, clutching a worn-out bunny toy.

“She’s just two,” Arlen whispered. “Her name’s Elsie. I don’t know what I’m doing, and… I don’t have anyone else.”

I told him to wait outside. I needed air. I sat on the porch steps, my whole body buzzing with disbelief.

I thought about Eric. He was expecting me in a few hours. He had cleared out half his closet, installed new locks, bought matching toothbrushes. And here I was, considering postponing that for this?Read More Below