When Amber, a working mother and corporate lawyer, discovers a drawing of her 7-year-old daughter, Mia, her world is turned upside down. The drawing shows Mia’s teacher in Amber’s place with a heartbreaking caption. Suspecting betrayal, Amber confronts her husband, Jack, only to discover something deeper… Mia’s feelings of abandonment in the midst of Amber’s busy life.

I didn’t think I’d be here… but that’s how life has been lately.

I’m Amber, I’m thirty-four years old, married to my husband Jack for ten years, and a mother to my bundle of joy, Mia, a seven-year-old girl. I’ve been busier lately than I’ve ever been in my life, which is saying a lot because I’m a corporate lawyer.

My mother’s health has been declining over the past year, and we’ve been dealing with hospital stays, therapy sessions, and medication that costs far more than I’d like to admit.

To cover it all, I’ve been working at all hours because I would do anything for my mother.

Jack has been the best companion and support I could ever ask for. He has taken care of the house in ways I never imagined or expected. Jack has taken care of cooking, cleaning, helping Mia with her schoolwork, and managing all the little things I used to take care of.

He made it possible for me to keep everything afloat, even when I felt like I was drowning.

But last night, everything changed before I could catch my breath.

I arrived home late, exhausted, hungry and on the verge of collapse. After hastily eating a plate of salmon and rice while Mia took a bath, I put my little girl to bed. As she fell asleep, Mia mumbled something about puppets.

“I didn’t know you could stick your hand in an electrical socket and it would turn into a puppet,” he said.

“A sock, honey,” I said. “Not a light socket! Don’t you ever put your hand in a light socket again, Mia.”

He let out a giggle.

“Okay, Mom,” he said, yawning.

I started picking up her dolls, which were scattered across the carpet in her room, and then I headed over to the coffee table in the living room. There were crayons, white paper, and coloring books scattered everywhere.

That’s when I found it. A drawing.

At first glance, it looked innocent enough. A childish drawing of a happy family. A man, a woman, and a little girl holding hands. But when I looked at it more closely, my stomach turned.

The man was unmistakably Jack. The girl was clearly Mia. But the woman? It was definitely not me.

She had long brown hair and was wearing a sumptuous wedding dress. Beneath the drawing, in Mia’s small handwriting, were the words that broke my heart:

I can’t wait for you to be my mother!

I felt like the ground was giving way beneath my feet.

I carried the photo to Mia’s bed and sat on the edge, trying to wake her up enough to get answers.

“Dear child, can you tell me about this drawing?” I asked calmly.

“What do I draw, Mom?” he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

When Mia took a look at the drawing, her face turned red and she snatched the paper from my hand, clutching it to her chest.

“You weren’t supposed to find it! Dad told me to hide it better,” she blurted out.

Hide it better? Jack? Hide what better?

My heart started to pound. What was going on? Was Jack cheating on her? And worse… Was Mia already imagining this other woman as her mother?

I barely slept that night. My mind was racing a thousand miles an hour. I thought about my mother, I thought about the work I still had to do before I went to the office the next day, and I thought about my marriage…

By morning, I had been through a storm of worst-case scenarios. I sat in the kitchen, waiting for Jack to get ready for work. Mia had already left for school.

“What is this?” I asked, placing the drawing in his hands.

His eyes widened and he paled.

“Did you tell her to hide it?” I asked. “Did you really tell Mia to hide it?”

“Wait, wait,” he stammered, holding his hands up defensively. “It’s not what you think, Amber. Let me explain everything.”

“You have exactly five seconds, Jack. I’ve been going crazy all night.”

My husband ran a hand through his hair, clearly distressed.

“Come with me,” he said.

“What? Where are we going? And to work?” I asked.

“Let’s go to Mia’s school. I have to show you something,” he said.

I wanted to scream at him, but something in his voice, an urgency that didn’t sound like guilt, made me agree.

The ride to school was tense and silent, my mind still racing. What would Jack teach me at Mia’s school that would make a difference? Was there an imaginary friend or an imaginary stepmother waiting for us?

When we arrived at school, Jack touched my knee. As we walked to the reception area, he squeezed my hand and asked to see Mia’s teacher, Clara.

As soon as Clara walked in, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. She was stunning, and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember why I hadn’t met her before. She had long brown hair, a radiant smile, and an effortlessly bubbly demeanor.

It had to be the woman in Mia’s drawing, she was unmistakable.

She smiled at Jack and I felt like screaming.

“Clara,” Jack said. “Can you explain to my wife what happened with Mia?”

Clara’s expression changed to confusion, but then softened as she looked at me.

“Of course,” he said.

He told us to sit in the small room next to the reception.

“Look, Mia’s been having a hard time lately,” he began. “She’s mentioned that she feels like her mom doesn’t have time for her anymore. I’ve been trying to reassure her, but… well, look, she’s seven. And she’s been drawing a lot to process her feelings.”

Clara handed me a stack of drawings and my heart sank as I flipped through them.

Most of them were variations on the same theme. A happy family with Clara in my place. On the back of one of the drawings were more words that I hadn’t noticed the first time:

Dad and Clara.

“So you’ve been spending time with my daughter?” I asked, unable to keep the edge from my voice.

“Yeah, sure,” she replied. “But only in class. I’m her teacher, after all. Sometimes she stays after school to help me tidy up. She told me she feels like she’s missing her mother because you’re always busy. I’m so sorry I stepped in. I’d never want to interfere…”

I turned to Jack, my chest tight.

“And you? What have you told him about it?”

Jack looked dejected.

“I found that picture last week,” he admitted. “I told Mia it wasn’t true, that you loved her more than anything. But I didn’t know how to handle it. I didn’t want to make it worse by bringing it up when you were already so stressed. I told her to put the drawing away because I knew it would hurt you.”

“You should have told me, Jack,” I said quietly.

Honestly, I didn’t know what to think.

Jack nodded, guilt in his eyes.

“I know, love,” he said. “I thought I was protecting you, but now I see I’ve only made things worse.”

My anger began to deflate, replaced by a wave of guilt so strong it nearly knocked me off my seat. This wasn’t about Jack cheating or Clara overstepping. This was about my daughter, her sadness, her confusion, and how she was coping with my absence.

That night, I sat with Mia at the kitchen table. She had served us bowls of ice cream with all the toppings, hoping for a bonding moment between us.

“Honey,” I said softly. “I have to tell you something. I know I haven’t been around much lately, and I’m so sorry. Grandma needs a lot of help right now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with you. You mean everything to me, sweet girl.”

Mia’s eyes filled with tears and she put her arms around me.

“I thought maybe you didn’t love me anymore,” he whispered.

My heart was broken.

“I love you more than anything,” I said, hugging her tightly. “Nothing can ever change that.”

In the following weeks, I made several changes to my lifestyle.

I cut back on my work hours and asked my brothers to take on more of our mother’s care. Jack and I started having a “Mommy and Mia” night every week, just the two of us, doing whatever she wanted.

Sometimes it was baking cookies, sometimes it was movie night, or building a fort, or sometimes we just dressed up and hung out together.

I also had a heart-to-heart with Clara to thank her for being a wonderful teacher and for being there for Mia when I couldn’t be there.

He apologized again for overstepping his boundaries, but I assured him that Mia’s drawings weren’t his fault.

“I just feel bad, Amber,” she said as she cleaned her brushes.

“I know, but you shouldn’t, Clara,” I said. “You made yourself a safe space for Mia and reminded her how loved and cared for she is. That’s something I’ll always cherish.”

Life isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot better. I’m learning to ask for help and show Mia that she comes first. And now, every time she picks up her crayons, I make sure I’m sitting next to her.

If you liked this story, here’s another one : Paige loves her career, even if it means spending a lot of time away from home. However, when she returns from a business trip, she overhears a cryptic conversation between her husband and her four-year-old son. What she doesn’t know is that the thread of their marriage is about to come undone.

This work is inspired by real people and events, but has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, or real events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

The author and publisher do not guarantee the accuracy of events or the depiction of characters, and are not responsible for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and the opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.