Arthur’s discovery of a love letter in his wife Emily’s jeans ten years after their wedding led him on a quest to salvage their marriage, only to unearth a truth that shattered his plans and their life together.
My name is Arthur, and I’ve been married to Emily for a blissful ten years. We have a wonderful six-year-old daughter and live in a cozy home that’s always been our happy place.
I work from home as a graphic designer, which allows me to spend lots of time with my family.
A man working on his laptop | Source: Pexels
While I spend most days in my pajamas, Emily dresses up every morning before leaving for the local college where she works as a tutor. She’s passionate about her job, and I believe she’s really good at it.
Lately, though, I started to feel a change in the air. It wasn’t anything specific Emily said or did. I felt there was a newfound coldness in our relationship.
Previously, we used to chat about everything—the mundane details of our day, our daughter’s latest antics, or plans for the weekend. With time, these conversations faded and were replaced by polite nods and routine exchanges.
A couple talking in a kitchen | Source: Pexels
One evening, as we were clearing the dinner table, I tried to break the ice. “Hey, how was your day? Anything interesting happened with your students?” I asked, trying to reconnect.
She just smiled weakly and replied, “Oh, the usual stuff, nothing worth mentioning.”
Her brief reply felt like a wall going up, making me feel more distant than ever. It was clear that something was off, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
Close-up of a man’s face | Source: Pexels
Emily and I both do chores. It was my turn to do the laundry last Saturday. As usual, I gathered all the clothes scattered around our home and began sorting them. At that point, I had no idea that my heart was about to get broken.
As I emptied the pockets of Emily’s jeans, a folded piece of paper caught my attention. Curious, I unfolded it and found myself staring at a love letter. She didn’t write it to me but to someone named Mark.
“I love you always and forever,” Emily wrote in that letter, and I recognized her handwriting immediately. Those six words pierced my heart as my face turned pale. I felt a range of emotions—anger, betrayal, and heartbreak, all at once.
Close-up of text on a paper | Source: Pexels
I closed my eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath, preparing myself to read the text that I knew would break my heart into a million pieces. I sat on the cold floor of our laundry room and read the letter carefully.
“To Mark,
Meeting you transformed my life. The way you make me feel is hard to explain. You have a remarkable ability to make me feel beautiful, valued, worthy, and loved. If I could only give you one thing in this life, it would be the ability to see yourself through my eyes so you could realize how special you are to me.
I love you always and forever.”
My hands trembled as I read the words, and a wave of heartbreak washed over me. How could my wife share such intimate, loving words with someone else?
A man with his fingers on his temples | Source: Pexels
As hundreds of painful questions popped into my mind, I whispered to myself, “How long has this been going on?” I couldn’t believe Emily was involved with someone else, but the letter in my hands was a stark, undeniable token of infidelity that I couldn’t just ignore.
Fuming with anger, I wanted to confront Emily immediately but decided to teach her a lesson instead. Little did I know that was the worst decision I could have ever made.
Holding the letter in my hand, I went to my mother’s house. She’s a well-known lawyer in our city, and I trusted her judgment implicitly. When I showed her the letter and explained the situation, her reaction was immediate and intense.
“Arthur, this is clear evidence of her infidelity. You should consider filing for divorce. I’ll support you through this, and we’ll make sure you come out of this with everything you deserve,” she declared firmly. Her words were sharp, fueled by a mix of professional judgment and maternal protectiveness.
Close-up of an older woman | Source: Pexels
Though her reaction aligned with the hurt I was feeling, something inside me hesitated. “Should I end everything based on one letter?” I thought to myself.
“I don’t think I’m ready for this,” I told my mother. “I don’t want to file for divorce right now.”
“But why?” Mom protested, her voice tinged with deep concern. “It’s clear Emily is interested in someone else, Arthur.”
“I want to talk to her first, Mom,” I said calmly. “But please promise me you won’t tell anyone I came here to file for divorce. Not even Dad. No one. Okay?”
“I don’t think you’re doing the right thing, Arthur,” she sighed. “But I’ll keep our meeting a secret. Don’t worry. Just give me a call when you’re ready to file for divorce.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said before leaving her house.
A man driving a car | Source: Pexels
During the next few days, I consciously tried to salvage our marriage. I wasn’t ready to give up on us without trying to bring back the warmth and closeness we once shared.
I started by being more present at home. Instead of retreating to my desk after dinner as usual, I stayed to help Emily clean up the kitchen.
I took on more of the daily chores, hoping to ease her load and show her that I was there for her.
A person washing dishes | Source: Pexels
Each morning, I made it a point to ask about her plans for the day. I listened to her plans carefully, ensuring she felt I was paying full attention. I wanted Emily to know I was there for her and our daughter.
I also surprised her with her favorite roses when she returned home from work one day. I felt happy watching her smile as she lifted the bouquet and inhaled the fragrance. It reminded me of our early days when I used to surprise her with roses daily.
With my consistent efforts of trying to make our marriage work, our relationship began to improve. Emily started reciprocating my romantic acts, making me feel better about our bond.
Red roses in a vase | Source: Pexels
I believed these small gestures would ultimately bridge the gap that had formed between us until the day Emily returned home visibly upset.
That day, she stormed in, her eyes flashing with anger. “Your family accosted me in the store today, Arthur. They accused me of cheating and warned me about losing everything in a divorce. Is it true? Did you really talk to them about us without speaking to me first?” Her voice was louder and more strained than I had ever heard it.
“Yes, it’s true. After I found that love letter you wrote to Mark, I thought about filing for divorce,” I admitted, my voice tight with frustration. “But then I decided to give our marriage a chance, and you should be grateful that I even considered trying.”
A couple arguing | Source: Pexels
“What are you talking about, Arthur? What letter to Mark?” She was genuinely confused now, her anger mixing with bewilderment.
“The letter in your jeans—the one filled with declarations of love for Mark. I saw it with my own eyes, Emily,” I said pointedly.
Emily started to laugh, a reaction I hadn’t expected. “Oh, Arthur, that letter wasn’t for me. It was a favor for a student who wanted to express her feelings to her boyfriend. I just helped her phrase it better.”
“What?’ I was shocked.
I stood there, feeling the ground shift beneath me as the reality of the misunderstanding dawned on me. My actions, based on a misinterpreted piece of paper, had spiraled out of control, damaging the trust between us perhaps irreparably.
A man standing in the doorway | Source: Pexels
“I can’t believe you’d think I was cheating on you and then tell everyone about filing for divorce!” she yelled at me.
I felt horrible after learning the truth. Feeling guilty, I asked Emily for forgiveness, but she asked me to leave her alone.
The next day, she was sure about wanting a divorce. The trust was broken, not by her supposed infidelity, but by my hasty actions and doubts.
Looking back, I feel terrible thinking about how my insecurities and mistrust ruined my life. What should I do now?
A man facing a window | Source: Pexels
If you enjoyed reading this story, you might like this one about a woman who found a secret folder on her husband’s laptop with her name on it.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
If you see a purple butterfly sticker near a newborn, you need to know what it means
Only weeks after Millie Smith and Lewis Cann learned they were having twin baby girls, they learned that only one would survive.
On April 30, after 30 weeks of a high-risk pregnancy, Smith delivered identical twins, Callie and Skye, the latter who lived only three hours.
Later in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), Callie slept without her sister in the incubator, with her loving and grieving parents watching over her. In the unit with other babies, an overwhelmed mom of healthy newborn twins innocently told Smith that she was “so lucky” to not have two babies.
Crushed by the words, the new mom couldn’t find the words to explain her loss. Then, she realized that Skye’s legacy was to help other families who lose a child, and it came in the form of a purple butterfly.
In November 2015 Millie Smith and partner Lewis Cann found out they were having their first Child. Smith, who has twins in the family, said she had a “gut feeling” about having a duo and 10 weeks later, doctors confirmed she was expecting identical twin girls.
Less than two weeks after the excitement of knowing they would double the children in their home, the British couple were devastated to learn that one of their babies had a fatal condition and wouldn’t survive after birth.
“During the scan, the doctor didn’t say anything. I was very excited and loved seeing the little babies, but she was silent. Both Lewis and I immediately knew there must be a problem,” Smith said.
Doctors shared the news that one of the babies had anencephaly, which according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) affects about one in 4,600 babies across the U.S. It’s a serious birth defect where a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull, and “almost all babies born with anencephaly will die shortly after birth.”
Knowing that one baby would die soon after birth, and that there were risks involved for their other baby, the couple decided to move forward with the extremely high-risk pregnancy.
Over the next several months, Smith and Cann named their twins Skye and Callie. “We knew that Skye needed to have a name before she was born,” Smith said. “Knowing she would only survive for seconds or minutes, I wanted her to be named during that time.”
The meaning behind “Skye,” she explained “was somewhere we knew she would always be, that we could look up at the sky and remember our baby.”
When Smith went into labor after only 30 weeks on April 30, she needed an emergency C-section. To help navigate the loss, the couple had a “bereavement midwife” during the birth, and they were put I a special room the called the “Daisy Room,” where families can spend time with a baby before and after she/he passes.
“When the girls were born, they both cried. This was a huge moment, as we were told that Skye would not make a noise or move,” said Smith, who was thankful to have three hours with Skye before she died. “We were cuddling Skye when she passed away. This was the worst moment in our lives. I have never ever felt heartbreak like that before. But I am proud that she fought for so long to spend time with us.”
Born premature, Callie had to stay in NICU while she gained some strength and also in the unit were three other sets of twin.
“Most of the nurses were aware of what had happened, but as time passed, people stopped talking about Skye. After about four weeks, everyone acted as though nothing had happened, meaning the families around me had no idea about our situation,” Smith recalled.
One morning, a stressed mother whose twins were also in NICU, harmlessly said to Smith that she was “so lucky” to not have twins.
“None of the other parents knew what had happened or anything about Skye. The comment was completely innocent and more out of humor…They weren’t to know that I did at one point have two.” Smith continued, “But the comment nearly broke me. I ran out [of] the room in tears and they had no idea why. I didn’t have the heart to tell them what had happened. A simple sticker would have avoided that entire situation.”
It was in that moment Smith realized she had to create something that would speak for parents who had just lost a baby, ensuring the misunderstanding never happens again.
She designed a poster for the NICU explaining both hospital personnel and visitors that any incubator with a purple butterfly on it means that one or more babies, in a set of multiples were lost.
“I chose butterflies, as I felt it was fitting to remember the babies that flew away, the color purple because it is suitable for both boys or girls,” said Smith.
The purple butterfly concept–now under the Skye High Foundation–has spread to hospitals in several countries around the world.
Callie is now a lively, happy seven-year-old, and twin’s memory lives in purple butterfly cards along with other initiatives to help families with babies like Skye all over the world. The purple butterflies now come in numerous forms, like ornaments, cards, blankets, stuffed animals and more.
“Ultimately I will never be able to stop this from happening but the more support groups we can set up and put things in place like the stickers the better it will be. It’s the hardest thing anyone has to deal with,” Smith said.
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