MY FATHER-IN-LAW — THE FACE I CAN NEVER FORGET
1. The Man Who Never Appeared
I married Ethan Miller when I was twenty-seven.
It wasn’t a flashy wedding. No grand ceremony, no luxurious reception, no designer gown. We registered our marriage at the city hall in Washington State, then hosted a small dinner with a few close relatives and friends. The entire wedding cost less than 12,000 USD.
Ethan was a quiet, restrained man—disciplined, principled, and emotionally guarded. He worked as a systems engineer at a mid-sized tech company, earning around 5,500 USD a month. Not wealthy, but stable enough to give me a sense of security.
His family, however, was anything but ordinary.
From the beginning of our relationship, Ethan had been honest.
“I’m not close to my father,” he once told me.
When I asked why, he stayed silent for a long time before answering:
“My family situation is complicated. My father has two wives.”
I didn’t ask further.
Not because I wasn’t curious, but because I understood—some wounds bleed when touched.
Ethan was the son of the second woman. A woman never officially recognized by law, never publicly acknowledged as a wife.
His father, Robert Anderson, lived with his first wife and their legitimate children in another state, nearly 500 kilometers away. During all the years we dated, I never once saw Ethan call his father. There wasn’t a single family photo with Robert in it.
When we got married, Robert didn’t attend.
He only wired 20,000 USD, with a short message:
“Wishing you both happiness.”
No phone call.
No face-to-face blessing.
Not even a handshake with his daughter-in-law.
My mother-in-law, Linda Anderson, was different. She welcomed me with a mix of caution and smug satisfaction. She often said things like:
“A woman has to endure if she wants to keep a man.”
“At least he still provides.”
I didn’t like her, but I didn’t hate her either. She had lived her entire life in someone else’s shadow; bitterness had become part of her language.
In four years of marriage, I had never once seen my father-in-law.
He was a presence in conversation, in money, in resentment—but never in person.
Until the day he decided to come back.
2. The Return After Betrayal
The news came abruptly.
That evening, I came home late from work and found my mother-in-law standing in the living room, phone in hand, smiling uncontrollably.
“He’s coming back!” she exclaimed.
I froze.
“Back… to live here?”
“Of course!” she said, almost gleefully. “That first wife of his has a lover! She was caught red-handed! He’s furious. He says he’s filing for divorce.”
She paced around the room, eyes glowing as if she had just won a long war.
“After forty years, he finally sees who stayed with him through hardship.”
I didn’t know how to respond.
That night, I talked to Ethan.
“If your father comes to live here,” I said carefully, “I think we should move out.”
Ethan didn’t hesitate.
“I agree.”
His voice was calm, but unmistakably cold.
“I don’t want to live with him.”
That was the first time I heard such distance in my husband’s voice.
We planned to move out after Robert stayed a few days, using work as an excuse. A small apartment would cost around 1,200 USD per month, well within our means.
I thought that would be the end of it.
I had no idea the past was already standing at our door.
3. The Face That Took My Breath Away
The day Robert Anderson arrived, it was raining.
A heavy, gray rain that pressed down on the house, making the air feel suffocating.
I was in the kitchen when I heard the front door open.
“Your father’s here!”
My mother-in-law’s voice trembled with excitement.
I turned around.
And in that instant, my entire body went rigid.
I had seen that man before.
Not in vague memory.
Not through stories.
But in the nightmares that haunted my entire youth.
That face—older now, lined with wrinkles, streaked with gray hair—
I recognized it immediately.
No hesitation.
No doubt.
It was him.
The man who once stood in my yard holding an iron rod, shouting and smashing things.
The man who led a group of loan sharks to my home when I was sixteen.
The man who triggered my mother’s fatal heart attack.
The man who indirectly drove my father to his death.
Robert Anderson.
My father-in-law.
He smiled kindly and extended his hand.
“So you’re Ethan’s wife?”
I heard nothing else.
My ears rang.
My chest tightened.
My legs nearly gave out.
If Ethan hadn’t caught me in time, I would have collapsed.
“Are you okay?” he asked in panic.
Robert, meanwhile, simply assumed I was a fragile daughter-in-law and smiled gently.
“She must be tired. Let her rest.”
He spoke like a benevolent old man.
And I bit my lip until it bled to keep myself from screaming.
4. A Past That Refuses to Die
My father had once been a gentle man.
He ran a small electronics repair shop. Not rich, but comfortable. Then he was deceived in an investment scheme and ended up with massive debt.
He borrowed from loan sharks.
The interest was brutal.
When the collectors came, I was in my room studying. I heard glass shattering, furniture crashing, my mother screaming.
The leader was Robert.
Black leather jacket. Cigarette in hand. Cold eyes.
“Pay up, or we take the house.”
My mother had no idea about the loans. The shock triggered a heart attack that very day.
My father collapsed mentally.
A month later, he died in a traffic accident.
At his funeral, Robert came again.
This time, he didn’t destroy anything.
He just stood there.
Watching my family fall apart.
Two weeks later, my mother passed away.
I was sixteen—an orphan.
And that man… never took responsibility.
5. A Sleepless Night and the Truth
That night, I didn’t sleep.
Seeing Robert sit at our table, laughing, asking about my job like a caring father made me nauseous.
Near dawn, I woke Ethan.
“I need to tell you something.”
I told him everything.
No omissions.
No exaggeration.
Ethan sat motionless.
When I finished, he lowered his head. His hands were trembling.
“I’m sorry…”
“I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t know my father was that kind of man.”
I looked at the man I loved and saw his world collapse.
“I can’t live like this anymore,” I said. “Every time I look at you, I see him.”
“Let’s get a divorce.”
Ethan broke down.
It was the first time I ever saw him cry.
“I’m not like him.”
“I’ll spend my entire life making it up to you.”
“Please don’t punish me for his sins.”
I cried too.
Because I knew… he was right.
And I also knew… my pain was real.
6. No Answer
I didn’t sign the divorce papers right away.
We moved out.
I started therapy.
Ethan cut all contact with his father.
But every night, I still saw that face in my dreams.
I don’t know if I can ever forget.
I don’t know if I am strong enough to forgive.
And I don’t know whether love can overcome the past.
