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 inviting him to dinner, she knew she had to find out the truth. What she discovered that night was a secret that Daniel had hoped to keep buried.
What would you do if you found a message on your husband’s phone from a stranger that said “I’M PREGNANT”? Would you laugh it off as a mistake? Or would it consume you, gnawing at your thoughts until you had to discover the truth?
My name is Caroline, I’m 42 and I’ve been married to Daniel for 12 years. We have two children, aged ten and five, and together we have built a messy and beautiful life. I have never had reason to distrust him. We have always shared everything: our phones, our plans and our dreams.
If his phone buzzed while he was out of reach, he would simply say, “Can you read that for me?” So when his phone rang last Tuesday while I 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, “Wrong number, honey. Someone is telling you that they are pregnant.” I was already getting closer to show him the screen.
Daniel turned his head, with the water still running, and smiled briefly. “How weird,” he said, shrugging. “Delete it and that’s it.”
That night, lying in bed, the memory of his dismissive tone gnawed at me. I turned to look at him in the darkness.
“Daniel?“ I whispered. ‘Are you awake?’
“Mmm,” he murmured. “What’s wrong?”
“Do you remember today’s message? I thought it was… strange. The way you got rid of it.”
He took my hand from under the covers. “Caroline, darling, you’re overthinking this. Come here.” He pulled me closer, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
“It’s just… you haven’t even looked at it. Aren’t you curious to know who might have the wrong number?”
“It’s probably just spam,” he said, his voice thick with sleep. ‘Let’s not let just any old message ruin our peace, okay?’
I hesitated. There was something about the speed with which he had dismissed it that seemed wrong to me, but I told myself I was being paranoid. It was probably some poor woman who had dialed the wrong number, right?
But two days later I received another message. This one made my stomach turn: “I’ll be waiting for you at La Bella Vita on Friday. I have a reservation at 7pm. See you then. Love you.”
I stared at the screen, my heart pounding in my chest. It wasn’t a mistake. It couldn’t be. The first message was strange enough, but this one? It was clear. This person hadn’t dialed the wrong number: they were sending a message to MY HUSBAND.
That night, as we sat on the sofa after the children had gone to bed, I asked him casually, “Hey, have you received any more weird messages from that number?”
Daniel didn’t bat an eyelid. “No,” he said, picking up the remote control.
I kept pressing. “Are you sure?”
He looked at me briefly, with a calm but dismissive expression. ”Yes! Someone’s playing a prank. Forget it, honey.”
I took the remote control out of his hand and turned off the TV. The screen went blank, but my mind was buzzing with suspicion. Why would Daniel lie to me?
By Friday, the text had completely consumed my thoughts. My husband said he had a work meeting that night and would be home late.
“I’ll have dinner with the kids,“ I said nonchalantly, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Sorry, babe,” he said, putting on his jacket. “I’ll make it up to you this weekend.” He kissed me on the forehead and left.
As soon as the door closed, I picked up the keys and called the babysitter. My hands were shaking so much that I could hardly dial the number.
“Yes, ma’am?” replied our regular nanny, Jenny.
“Jenny, I need you to come over. Right now. It’s an emergency.”
“Is everything all right?” she asked, with obvious concern in her voice.
I choked back a sob. ”I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know anymore.”
La Bella Vita was one of those upscale restaurants where couples celebrate anniversaries and job promotions. It wasn’t the kind of place you went to for a casual meal.
I sat in my car in the parking lot, gripping the steering wheel. My stomach churned and, for a moment, I wondered if I should go home. But then I thought of the messages from the stranger. If I ignored him, I could never forgive myself.
I saw my reflection in the rearview mirror. “You can do this,” I whispered to myself. “Whatever happens in there, you deserve the truth.”
At 7:30 I went in.
The waitress greeted me with a smile. “Do you have a reservation?”
“No,” I said, scanning the dining room behind her. My heart stopped when I saw Daniel sitting at a table by the window.
He wasn’t alone. He had his hand on hers.
There was a young girl, about 17 or 18, sitting in front of him. Her face was animated and she gesticulated with her hands as she spoke. Next to her was an older woman, about 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 she listened to him.
My legs felt leaden as I walked towards them. Each step was like walking through quicksand, my chest tightening with each breath.
“So this is your ‘work meeting’?” I hissed.
Daniel looked up and his eyes widened. ‘Caroline!’ he said, half standing up. ”What are you doing here? How did you …? I’M SO HAPPY YOU CAME.”
“Really?“ I asked, folding my arms.
“Please,” she said quickly, pulling up an empty chair. “Sit down. I can explain everything.”
I looked at the two women. The younger one seemed confused, but the older one? She looked angry, as if I had walked in on something important.
“Who is she?” asked 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,’ admitted Daniel, his voice tense. ‘Caroline, please sit down.’ I sat down, not taking my eyes off Daniel. ”Start explaining.”
Daniel took a deep breath. “This is… complicated. Caroline, this is my daughter, Sophie. And this is her mother, Lisa.”
His words made no sense. ‘Your DAUGHTER?’ I repeated.
My head started to spin, literally. I grabbed the edge of the table to steady myself when Daniel nodded, his eyes filled with tears.
“A daughter?” I whispered. ‘All these years… all these years we’ve been together, and not once did you mention…”
“Because I didn’t know!’ Daniel’s voice broke. ”Caroline, look at me. I swear on our children’s lives that I didn’t know until a few weeks ago.”
“A few weeks ago?”
“Yes,” he said, leaning forward. ”She’s eighteen. I didn’t know anything 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 daughter… alone.”
I turned to Lisa, who was sitting rigidly in her chair. “You knew for eighteen years and it never occurred to you to tell him?”
Lisa’s expression hardened. ”We didn’t exactly part on good terms. And, honestly, I didn’t think he cared.”
“You didn’t think he cared?“ I snapped. ‘So why now? Why did you decide to get in touch with him?”
Sophie spoke for the first time, in a soft voice. ’Mom 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 flushed. “Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it? We’re here because Sophie’s pregnant.”
I blinked, stunned. ‘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.”
I clenched my jaw and turned to Daniel. “Financially? Didn’t you think to talk to me about it first?”
“Caroline,” Daniel began, “I was going to tell you…”
“When?” I cut him off. “Before or after you gave them the check?”
Sophie burst into tears. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I didn’t want any of this. Mom insisted . . .”
Lisa folded her arms and glared at me. ”This is none of your business. It’s between my daughter and her father.”
“It’s none of my business?” I laughed bitterly. ‘It’s absolutely my business. If Daniel is going to support you financially, it will come out of OUR budget. The budget that feeds our children, pays for their schooling and their future.”
“Your children?’ Lisa sneered. ”Sophie is also his blood!”
“Enough!“ Sophie shouted. ‘Stop it! I can’t take it anymore!’ She left the table, her chair crashing noisily to the floor.
“Sophie, wait.” Daniel took her, but she pulled away.
“I never wanted money,” she said, tears in her eyes. ”I just… I just wanted to meet my father. To know if he would have loved me if he had known.”
Daniel’s face crumpled. “Of course he would have loved you. Sophie, please …”
I watched the scene unfold, with something bothering me in the back of my mind. Sophie’s outburst seemed … rehearsed in some way. Like a performance designed to touch our emotions.
Years of teaching drama to fifth-year students had taught me to distinguish the difference between genuine emotion and acting. And something didn’t add up.
I turned to Daniel, in a low, firm voice. “If you’re going to help them, fine. But we need proof. DNA proof that she’s YOUR daughter and a medical certificate confirming the pregnancy. Until then, we’re not committing to anything.”
Lisa’s face turned red. “How dare you question us?”
“Because this also affects MY family,” I said firmly. “If they’re telling the truth, they shouldn’t have any trouble proving it.”
The meeting ended awkwardly. Lisa stormed out, dragging Sophie with her, and Daniel stayed behind, his head in his hands.
“Caroline,” he said softly, ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t want to keep it from you. It’s just… I didn’t know how to handle it when Lisa and Sophie texted me. Lisa said she got my number from one of my friends from college.”
I reached across the table and lifted his chin. ’Look at me. Did you really not know about Sophie?”
Her eyes met mine, full of pain and regret. “I swear I had no idea. When Lisa contacted me… it was like my whole world changed. She told me she had a daughter, Caroline. A daughter I didn’t 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 stuck to his demand for proof. When we insisted on a DNA test, the messages stopped completely, and both their numbers suddenly disconnected.
One night, I found Daniel sitting alone in the dark, staring at his phone.
“What if she really was my daughter?“ he whispered. ‘What if I’ve just missed my one chance to meet her?”
I put my arms around him from behind. ’If Sophie is your daughter, she’ll find you again.”
A week later, Daniel received a call from an old friend and shuddered.
“Lisa’s pulled this stunt before with her ‘pregnant daughter’,” he told Daniel. “Same story, different type, mate. Both Lisa and Sophie are running a scam. They’re targeting Lisa’s high school exes, claiming Sophie is their long-lost daughter. Last year, they got ten grand off Mike — her ex before she started dating you — and disappeared out of 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 believed …” he choked. ”For a moment, I really believed I had a daughter.”
I hugged him tightly. “You were naive… but don’t let anyone take advantage of your kindness again.”
Daniel hugged me tightly, with tears in his eyes. ‘Thank you for being strong when I wasn’t,’ he whispered.
I kissed him on the cheek. ”We’re a team, Daniel. But if you ever lie to me again, that team is over.”
He nodded, moving closer to me. “Never again,” he promised. “Our family means everything to me. Everything.”
As we drifted off to sleep, I thought about how easily a few text messages had been on the verge of destroying our world. And how the fake tears of a stranger had almost cost us not only money, but our mutual trust.
I held Daniel closer, grateful that we had come out stronger, wiser and more united than before. Sometimes the hardest moments show us exactly what we are made of and why it is worth fighting for.