When Caroline read the words ‘I’M PREGNANT’ on her husband Daniel’s phone, she thought it was a mistake. But when another message followed, this time with an invitation to dinner, she realised she had to get to the bottom of it. That evening, she discovered a secret that Daniel had hoped to keep hidden.
What would you do if you found a message from a stranger on your husband’s phone saying ‘I’M PREGNANT’? Would you think it was a mistake? Or would it consume you, gnawing at your thoughts until you had to uncover the truth?
My name is Caroline, I’m 42, and I’ve been married to Daniel for 12 years. We have two boys, aged 10 and 5, and we’ve built a messy and wonderful life together. I’ve never had any reason not to trust him. We’ve always shared everything — our phones, our plans, our dreams.
If his phone beeped when he was out of range, he would simply say, ‘Can you read this for me?’ So when his phone rang last Tuesday while he was washing the dishes, I didn’t think twice.
I picked it up and saw a message from an unknown number: ‘I’M PREGNANT.’
At first, I laughed and said to him, ‘Wrong number, baby. Someone’s telling you they’re pregnant!’ I was already reaching to show him the screen.
Daniel turned his head, the water still running, and smiled briefly. ‘That’s weird,’ he said, shrugging. ‘Just delete it.’
That night, as I lay in bed, memories of his dismissive tone gnawed at me. I rolled over to meet his gaze in the darkness.
‘Daniel?’ I whispered. ‘Are you awake?’
‘Mmm,’ he murmured. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Remember that message today? It seemed… strange to me. The way you dismissed it.’
He reached for my hand under the covers. “Caroline, darling, you’re thinking too much about it. Come here.” He pulled me closer, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
‘It’s just… you didn’t even look at it. Aren’t you curious who might have dialled the wrong number?’
‘Maybe it’s just spam,’ he said, his voice thick with sleep. ‘Let’s not let a random message ruin our peace, okay?’
I hesitated. Something about how quickly he dismissed it felt wrong, but I told myself I was being paranoid. Maybe it was just some poor woman who dialled the wrong number, right?
But two days later, another message arrived. This one made my stomach twist: ‘I’ll be waiting for you on Friday at La Bella Vita. I have a table reserved for 7 p.m. See you then. Love you.’
I stared at the screen, my heart pounding in my chest. This wasn’t a mistake. It couldn’t be. The first message was strange enough, but this? It was clear. This person hadn’t dialled the wrong number — he was texting MY HUSBAND.
That evening, as we sat on the sofa after the children had gone to bed, I casually asked, ‘Hey, haven’t you received any more strange messages from that number?’
Daniel didn’t even flinch. ‘No,’ he said and reached for the remote.
I pressed further. ‘Are you sure?’
He glanced at me briefly, his expression calm but dismissive. ‘Yes! Someone’s just messing around. Forget about it, darling.’
I snatched the remote from his hands and turned off the television. The screen went dark, but a suspicion began to form in my mind. Why would Daniel lie to me?
By Friday, the message had completely consumed my thoughts. My husband said he had a work meeting that evening and would be home late.
‘I’m just having dinner with the boys,’ I said casually, trying to keep my voice steady.
‘Sorry, babe,’ he said, pulling on his jacket. ‘I’ll make it up to you this weekend.’ He kissed me on the top of my head and left.
As soon as the door closed, I grabbed my keys and called the nanny. My hands were shaking so much that I could barely dial the number.
‘Yes, ma’am?’ our regular nanny, Jenny, answered.
‘Jenny, I need you to come over. Right now. It’s urgent.’
‘Is everything all right?’ she asked, her voice tinged with concern.
I stifled a sob. ‘I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t know anything anymore.’
La Bella Vita was one of those high-end restaurants where couples celebrate anniversaries and promotions. It wasn’t the kind of place you’d go for a regular dinner.
I sat in my car in the car park, clutching the steering wheel. My stomach growled, and for a moment I wondered if I should just go home. But then I remembered the messages from the stranger. If I ignored this, I would never forgive myself.
I caught my reflection in the rear-view mirror. ‘You can do this,’ I whispered to myself. ‘Whatever happens, you deserve the truth.’
At 7:30, I entered the restaurant.
The hostess greeted me with a smile. ‘Do you have a reservation?’
‘No,’ I replied, scanning the dining room behind her. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Daniel sitting at a table by the window.
He wasn’t alone. His hand was resting on hers.
Opposite him sat a young girl, seventeen or eighteen years old. Her face was animated, her hands gesturing as she spoke. Next to her sat an older woman — closer to my age, but dressed in a way that screamed ‘trying to impress.’
And Daniel? He was smiling. The girl’s hand rested lightly on his as he listened to her.
My legs felt like lead as I walked towards them. Every step was like walking on quicksand, and my chest tightened with every breath.
‘So this is your “work meeting”?’ I hissed.
Daniel looked up, his eyes widening. ‘Caroline!’ he said, standing halfway up. ‘What… what are you doing here? How did you… ? WELL, I’M SO GLAD YOU CAME!’
Advertisement
‘And you?’ I asked, folding my arms.
‘Please,’ he said quickly, pulling out an empty chair. ‘Sit down. I can explain everything.’
I glanced at the two women. The younger girl looked confused, but the older one? She looked annoyed, as if I had just broken something important.
‘Who is she?’ demanded the older woman, narrowing her eyes at Daniel. ‘You didn’t say anyone else was coming.’
‘This is my wife, Caroline. I didn’t know she was coming,’ Daniel admitted, his voice tense. ‘Caroline, please sit down.’
I sat down, keeping my eyes on Daniel. ‘Start explaining.’
Daniel took a deep breath. ‘It’s… complicated. Caroline, this is my daughter, Sophie. And this is her mother, Lisa.’
His words made no sense. ‘Your daughter?’ I repeated.
My head literally began to spin. I grabbed the edge of the table to steady myself as Daniel nodded, tears slowly welling up in his eyes.
‘Daughter?’ I whispered. ‘All these years… all these years we’ve been together, and you never once mentioned…’
‘Because I didn’t know!’ Daniel’s voice broke. ‘Caroline, look at me. I swear on our boys’ lives, I didn’t know about this until a few weeks ago.’
‘A few weeks?’
‘Yes,’ he said, leaning forward. ‘She’s eighteen. I didn’t know about her until a few weeks ago. Lisa and I dated in high school. We broke up, and… I had no idea she was pregnant when we broke up. She raised our child… alone.’
I turned to Lisa, who sat motionless in her chair. ‘You knew about this for 18 years, but you never thought to tell him?’
Lisa’s expression hardened. ‘We didn’t part on the best of terms. And, to be honest, I didn’t think he’d care.’
‘You didn’t think he’d care?’ I snapped. ‘Then why now? Why did you decide to contact him?’
Sophie spoke for the first time, her voice thin. ‘Mum always said he abandoned us…’
‘That’s not true,’ Daniel said firmly, his eyes shining. ‘Sophie, I would never have abandoned you. Never.’
Lisa’s face reddened. ‘Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it? We’re here because Sophie is pregnant.’
I blinked in shock. ‘She’s pregnant?’
Lisa nodded. ‘And I don’t want her to make the same mistakes I did. The man has to take responsibility, and as Sophie’s father, Daniel has to help us… financially.’
My jaw clenched as I turned to Daniel. ‘Financially? Didn’t you think to discuss this with me first?’
‘Caroline,’ Daniel began, ‘I was going to tell you…’
‘When?’ I interrupted him. ‘Before or after you handed them the cheque?’
Sophie burst into tears. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she sobbed. ‘I didn’t want any of this. Mum insisted…’
Lisa crossed her arms and looked at me. ‘This is none of your business. It’s between my daughter and her father.’
‘None of my business?’ I laughed bitterly. ‘It’s absolutely my business. If Daniel is going to support you financially, it will be from OUR budget. The budget that feeds our children, pays for their schooling and their future.’
‘Your children?’ Lisa sneered. ‘Sophie is his flesh and blood too!’
‘Stop it!’ Sophie shouted. ‘Just stop it! I can’t take this anymore!’ She pushed away from the table, her chair scraping loudly across the floor.
‘Sophie, wait…’ Daniel reached out to her, but she pulled away.
‘I never wanted the money,’ she said, tears streaming down her face. ‘I just… I just wanted to know my father. To know if he would have wanted me if he had known.’
Daniel’s face contorted. ‘Of course I would have wanted you. Sophie, please…’
I watched the scene unfold, but something bothered me. Sophie’s outbursts seemed… rehearsed. Like a performance designed to tug at our heartstrings.
Years of teaching drama to fifth graders had taught me to distinguish between genuine emotion and acting. And something about this didn’t feel right.
I turned to Daniel, my voice low and steady. ‘If you’re going to help them, fine. But we need proof. A DNA test to confirm she’s your daughter, and a medical certificate confirming the pregnancy. Until then, we’re not agreeing to anything.’
Lisa’s face flushed. ‘How dare you doubt us?’
‘Because this concerns my family too,’ I said firmly. ‘If you’re telling the truth, you shouldn’t have any problem providing proof.’
The meeting ended awkwardly. Lisa left, dragging Sophie with her, while Daniel remained seated, his head in his hands.
‘Caroline,’ he said softly, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hide this from you. I just… I didn’t know how to handle it when Lisa and Sophie wrote to me. Lisa said she got my number from one of my college friends.”
I reached across the table and lifted his chin. ‘Look at me. You really didn’t know about Sophie?’
His eyes met mine, filled with pain and regret. ‘I swear to you, I had no idea. When Lisa contacted me… my whole world was turned upside down. She told me I had a daughter, Caroline. A daughter I didn’t even know existed.’
‘You should have started with the truth,’ I said, standing up. ‘From now on, that’s the only thing I’m willing to accept.’
The next few days were tense. Lisa sent a few more messages asking for money, but Daniel stubbornly demanded proof from me. When we insisted on a DNA test, the messages stopped and both numbers were suddenly disconnected.
One evening, I found Daniel sitting alone in the dark, staring at his phone.
‘What if she really was my daughter?’ he whispered. ‘What if I just lost my only chance to get to know her?’
I put my arms around him from behind. ‘If Sophie is your daughter, she’ll find you again.’
A week later, Daniel got a call from an old friend, and he was shocked to the core.
Lisa had already pulled this stunt with her “pregnant daughter,” he told Daniel. ‘Same story, different bloke, mate. Both Lisa and Sophie are con artists. They target Lisa’s former students, claiming Sophie is their long-lost child. Last year, they got ten thousand from Mike — her ex before she started dating you — and disappeared from town before he found out the truth.”
That night, as we lay in bed, Daniel finally broke down. The sobs that shook his body were unlike anything I had ever heard from him.
‘I really thought…’ he choked out. ‘For a moment, I really believed I had a daughter.’
I pulled him close. ‘You were naive… but don’t let anyone take advantage of your kindness again.’
Advertisement
Daniel hugged me tightly, tears welling up in his eyes. ‘Thank you for being strong when I couldn’t be,’ he whispered.
I kissed him on the cheek. ‘We’re a team, Daniel. But if you lie to me one more time, our team is over.’
He nodded, pulling me closer. ‘Never again,’ he promised. ‘Our family is everything to me. Everything.’
As we fell asleep, I thought about how easily a few text messages had nearly destroyed our world. And how a stranger’s fake tears had nearly cost us not only money, but also our trust in each other.
I held Daniel close, grateful that we had become stronger, wiser, and more united than before. Sometimes the most difficult moments show us what we are made of and what is worth fighting for.
