My 10-Year-Old Son Started Acting Strange—One Night, I Woke up and Realized He and His Stepfather Were Gone
Some moments divide your life into before and after. Losing my first husband when our son, Coby, was just eight months old was one of those moments. Finding love again with Dave six months later was another.
I’m Edith, 35, and Coby is my world. After Mark died in a car crash, I barely survived that year, lost in grief and exhaustion. Then came Dave — patient, kind, and accepting of both me and Coby. We never told Coby about Mark. I kept waiting for the “right time,” but it never seemed to come.
When Coby turned 10, he changed — distant, moody, shutting us out. I was scared and heartbroken, feeling helpless as my once-open son slipped away. Then one night, I woke up to find Dave and Coby missing. Using a location app, I tracked them to Willowbrook Cemetery — to Mark’s grave.
There, I overheard Dave telling Coby stories about Mark: his laughter, his stubbornness, his kindness. Coby had found out the truth at school — a careless conversation I’d had had gotten back to him. Hurt and confused, he hadn’t known how to ask me.
At the gravesite, we finally spoke openly. I apologized for hiding the truth and promised no more secrets. Dave had brought pictures of Mark, and for the first time, Coby saw the man he resembled so much.
That night, something mended between us. As we walked back to the car, Coby smiled — truly smiled — and called Dave “Dad.” We were a family, messy and healing, and I knew somehow, we’d be okay.
