Fifteen Years Later, My Ex-Wife Wanted to Come to Our Daughter’s Wedding and Turned Pale at My Calm Answer

On the morning of the wedding, my ex-wife wrote to me that she intended to appear in front of everyone, while my daughter already had a gift prepared for her, seeing which would change Chloe’s face.

“What will my new family think if I don’t come?” the message said. “Jessie is my daughter. I have the right to be at the wedding.”

I put the phone on the kitchen table. My fingers were trembling. Fifteen years had passed since the night Chloe left me six girls and walked toward the door with two suitcases. The youngest, Elene, was nine months old then. I held her in my arms, and her warm breathing touched my neck.

“You cannot give me the life I want,” Chloe told me then. “Daniel can.”

“What are we going to do with the children?” I asked.

She did not even look at me.

“You were the father. I can’t anymore.”

After that night, Daniel, her boss, appeared beside Chloe, while she herself almost disappeared from our lives. She did not call on birthdays. She did not send gifts at Christmas. I am not even talking about money—I soon realized that I should not expect help from her.

Jessie was nine then, and now she was turning twenty-four and was getting married. She stood in front of me, straightening the edge of her white robe with her fingers and reading her mother’s message.

“If you don’t want her to come, I’ll tell her not to,” I said.

Jessie raised her head. There was no anger in her eyes. Only a strange calm.

“Tell her to come, Dad.”

“Why?”

She took a small wooden box down from the top shelf of the cabinet. The box had a dark scratch on one corner, and on its lid was the stamp of my old workplace warehouse. Years ago, I had used this box for lunches. The girls kept letters and drawings in it.

“I saved something for her,” Jessie said.

“What?”

“You’ll find out when everyone is together.”

In the evening, one hundred and fifty guests gathered in the hall arranged in the city’s old town hall. Crystal lamps glittered on the ceiling, white roses stood on the tables, and in my pocket I held a small brass key—the key to the very box Jessie had not touched all day.

Chloe arrived late. She was wearing a sparkling dress, enormous dark glasses, and an expensive handbag. The hall fell silent.

“Jessie, my little girl,” she said, embracing her as if fifteen years had been only one week.

Then she looked toward me.

“I hope you haven’t told the children anything bad about me.”

I could not answer. Jessie took the microphone.

“Mother, everyone is here today. Therefore we will no longer need to hide the memories.”

Two employees came to the stage with a large wooden box. A silver ribbon glittered in the sunlight.

Chloe smiled, but the smile immediately disappeared.

“What is this?”

“Open it,” Jessie told her.

Chloe put her hand on the lid. And I saw how her fingers froze…

Chloe lifted the lid, and the smell of wood dust spread through the hall. Inside lay envelopes, old photographs, and receipts. At the very first moment, Chloe’s face turned pale.

“Where did you find all this?” she whispered.

“You sent it,” Jessie answered.

“Me? Never…”

“Then why are our names written on every envelope?”

Jessie took out one letter. The corner of the envelope was folded, as if someone had tried to open it many times.

“For fifteen years you told us that Dad did not allow you to meet us,” she said. “But we never saw these letters.”

Someone in the hall dropped a fork. The sound resembled a shot on the floor.

“Luka,” Chloe said to me, “I will explain everything to you.”

“What do you have to explain?” I asked, and for the first time I realized that I could barely control my voice. “All these years I did not receive even one letter.”

Jessie opened the envelope. Inside was a childish drawing: six girls, one tall man, and a woman standing by the window. Below it was written: “Mother, come back.”

My knees gave way.

“Look at this date, Dad,” Jessie told me. “This letter should have come to your house. But whoever brought it never appeared again.”

Chloe lowered her eyes.

“That night everything did not happen the way you thought.”

“Then tell the truth,” Jessie answered.

Chloe looked toward me and opened her lips, but instead of her, someone appeared in the hall’s rear doorway. Tall, with gray hair, holding a leather folder.

It was Daniel.

He was walking directly toward me and saying that if this folder were opened, it might still be possible to lose everything…

Daniel came up to the stage and put the folder on the table. The smell of old paper and strong perfume came from it. Chloe stepped back at the sight of him.

“You should not have been here,” she told him.

“You should not have played the role of the deceived mother either,” Daniel answered coldly.

I stood in front of him.

“Where were you for fifteen years?”

“Where your wife was waiting for me.”

Jessie clenched her fist.

“Leave my mother alone.”

Daniel laughed, but his eyes were not smiling.

“You have no idea what you are opening.”

“We have already opened many things,” Jessie said, raising the first letter. “This is Mother’s handwriting.”

Chloe closed her eyes.

“Read it,” she told me.

Jessie unfolded the letter.

“Luka, I know you do not want to hear this, but I cannot forget the children. Daniel told me that you were turning them against me. If this is not true, please answer me only once. I did not miss Jessie’s birthday. I was there.”

A heavy silence descended over the hall.

“She was there?” I asked.

Chloe nodded.

“I stood across the street. Daniel told me that if I came to you, he would take the children away from me and file a complaint against me. I should not have believed him. But I was afraid.”

“Then why didn’t you come anymore?” My voice was breaking. “Why didn’t you make even one call?”

She wiped away her tears.

“After the first year I believed that you already hated me. Daniel told me that I was returning all the letters to you and that you forbade me from speaking to you.”

Jessie took receipts out of the box.

“Did you send money too?”

“Every month,” Chloe said. “But the money disappeared from the account. Daniel told me that you were not accepting it.”

Daniel struck the table with his hand.

“Enough. This is all personal drama and has no legal significance.”

At that moment Jessie opened the last envelope. Inside lay a small memory card and one handwritten sentence: “If my letters did not arrive, find this recording.”

On the screen installed in the corner of the hall, Jessie turned on the recording. At first only a black image was visible, then Daniel’s voice sounded.

“You will tell the girls that Luka abandoned you, or you will never see any of them again.”

Chloe screamed:

“Turn it off!”

In the recording, her young voice was crying. Daniel’s voice remained calm.

“Tomorrow I will receive all the letters. You only sign and believe that you can no longer return.”

The video ended. Daniel lost color.

“Where did you find this?” he asked.

Jessie looked toward me.

“The card was together with the letters. But Mother still has not said one thing.”

Chloe pressed her lips together.

“What?”

“Where is the second recording?”

Instead of answering, Chloe looked at the phone. An unknown number was glowing on the screen. She answered and listened silently for several seconds.

Then all the blood drained from her face.

“Luka,” she said, “they know that you saw this recording. And now they are coming to you…”