Kian thought his ex-wife was long gone until she recurred, claiming to be dy:ing and desperate to see their daughter one last time. Everything was changed when his little girl discovers a surprising secret hidden inside a teddy bear. Kian realizes the truth: his ex isn’t there to say goodbye… she wants something else.
“I can’t do this, Kian,” she said, glancing at Kylie, our baby girl, while she took her jacket off the coat hook. “But you can.”
I also didn’t expect my wife to return like this, with a message that made my stomach twist uncomfortably.
Doctors say I’ll be gone soon. It’s terminal. The text felt surreal.
But how do you say no to a dy:ing person?
So, I agreed to meet her.
She chose a restaurant for us to meet at.
I sat across from her, unsure of what to say.
“So… how long do you have, Marissa? When did you find out that you were this ill? Are you sure about the diagnosis?”
“It’s stage four. So, maybe months, maybe weeks. Who really knows, Kian? But it’s been hard, you know?”
I nodded, feeling an unexpected pang of sympathy.
“I’m sorry. Truly,” I said.
She reached for my hand, and I pulled back instinctively.
“That’s why I wanted to see you,” she continued, her voice soft. “And Kylie. I need to see her, hold her. Just once…”
“Look, Marissa,” I said. “I’m going to be serious with you. You do know that Kylie barely remembers you, right? You left when she was two.”
“But still, she got my gifts, right? The teddy bears? Doesn’t she know me as the favorite person who sent her toys?”
Favorite person? The teddy bears? The once-a-year, guilt-ridden offerings that Kylie never played with?
“She got them,” I said flatly.
“I just… I just want to see her, Kian,” she pressed.
“I want to say goodbye. I want to hold my child. I may have left, but I made her too, Kian. I carried her. My body did the work. So I… get to see her, and I get to say goodbye.”
“All right, but you follow my rules. Okay?”
I didn’t realize then that I should have never opened the door to Marissa.
The next day, the doorbell rang.
Lillian and I exchanged a look, we weren’t expecting anyone. We were making ice cream sandwiches to eat with our kids.
“I’ll get it,” I said. “But don’t eat anything without me!”
“Surprise!”
I nearly slammed the door in her face.
“What the hell, Marissa?” I hissed.
“I wanted to see Kylie. You said I could,” she beamed, pushing past me into the house.
Marissa’s face fell. My heart clenched, not out of sympathy for her, but because I hated that she did this to herself.
Lillian, cradling our son, stepped in smoothly.
“Kylie, sweetheart, why don’t you finish your coloring? We’ll talk in a bit, okay?”
“But what about our ice cream sandwiches?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“We’ll have them later, sweet girl,” Lillian said.
But then Marissa dropped another surprise.
“The doctors reassessed my condition,” Marissa said, clutching my arm dramatically. “It’s a miracle, Kian! There’s a chance that I can live!”
I blinked slowly.
What the hell?
“Wow, that’s… that’s great,” I managed to say.
“Well, it’s not as simple as that,” Marissa said, biting her lip. “I can recover… but it all depends on the medication. There’s a new trial that the doctor thinks I should be on. But it’s expensive.”
“$20,000.”
She said it casually. Like it was as easy as asking me to pass her the sugar at a table.
“That’s a lot of money, Marissa,” I said firmly.
“I know,” she sighed. “But Kian, please….”
So, we considered it.
And that was almost the biggest mistake of our lives.
That night, Kylie walked into our room, clutching the teddy bear Marissa had given her.
She looked serious. Far too serious for an eight-year-old.
“Daddy,” she said quietly. “She’s ly:ing.”
“What do you mean, sweet pea?” I asked, sitting up in bed.
“This bear talks,” Kylie said. “With her voice.”
What?” I asked, my stomach sinking.
“I’ll get the money soon! And you owe me a drink!”
The air left my lungs suddenly.
Marissa had been on the phone with someone, gloating about her scam, and had accidentally pressed record. Then, she handed Kylie her own confession.
“I told you, she’s not my mom,” Kylie said.
“You did, sweetheart. And you were right,” I said.
The next day, I sent Marissa a message.
I have the money. Come and get it.
She showed up thirty minutes later.
“Oh, thank you, my dearest girl! It’s so kind of you! This means so much…”
“Before you open it,” I cut in. “We have something for you to listen to.”
“Yeah, I told Kian that it was stage four. And he totally bought it. He was practically crying at the restaurant. Twenty grand just for some fake tears.”
She ripped open the envelope and saw $20,000… of Monopoly money.
It was Kylie’s idea.
“If she is fake sick, then let’s give her fake money,” she had said, her little face full of determination.
Marissa’s face consumed by fury.
“You can’t do this to me!”
“You did this to yourself, Marissa,” Lillian said, her voice cold as steel. “And why did you give our child a teddy bear with a recording? What was on it before?”
“You’re pathetic,” I said. “Now, get out. Leave our lives forever.”
As she stormed off and slammed the door, I turned to Kylie.
“You saved us, and you saved our money,” I told her.
Marissa didn’t deserve to be in our family. She didn’t deserve to be in Kylie’s life.
Our true family was right here under this roof.
