“I’m Laila.”
She wiped her cheeks.
I waited for more details, but she gave me nothing.
“Do you want to leave a message?”
“No. Never mind.”
“Is something wrong?”
“I shouldn’t have come.”
She turned and walked away.
That night I asked Tyler about her.
He went still for just a second.
The same way people do when they weren’t expecting a name.
Then he recovered. “Laila? She works for the airline.”
“Why was she crying at our door while looking for you?”
“She’s having problems at work. I’ve been helping her.”
“With what?”
“A misconduct case. Some issues with another employee. It’s complicated.”
I remember thinking that something felt wrong.
But Tyler had never given me a reason to believe he was unfaithful.
No suspicious texts.
No unexplained nights away beyond his schedule.
No hidden credit card charges. Nothing.
Laila never came back.
Her name never appeared again.
So eventually I told myself I was being paranoid.
Now, I was seated on that plane listening to my husband announce that this woman was carrying his child.
I wanted to go back and shake the version of me who had let it go.
Tyler finished the announcement.
There was scattered applause.
Someone near the front cheered.
Mason whispered, “Mom?”
I put my phone away.
“What does he mean?”
“We’re going to talk about it later.”
“Who is Laila?”
“Later, baby.”
“Why did Dad say she’s going to be his wife?”
His voice started shaking.
That was the moment I stopped thinking about myself.
Whatever Tyler had done to me, Mason had just heard it too.
I took his hand. “Look at me.”
His eyes were already wet. “We don’t know what’s going on.”
“Is Dad leaving us?”
“It doesn’t matter, honey. Just focus on enjoying our flight.”
“But you’re his wife.”
He started crying quietly.
I pulled him against me.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to walk to the front of the plane and demand that Tyler explain himself.
Instead, I sat there because the plane had begun pushing back from the gate and my son needed me to be calm.
The flight lasted less than two hours.
It felt like 10 hours.
Mason barely touched his gummy bears.
His drawing stayed folded in his backpack.
When we landed, we waited until most passengers had left.
I had no idea what I would say to Tyler.
I only knew I would not leave the airport without looking him in the face.
