11/11/2025
My husband always took the children to their grandmother's house until the day my daughter confessed to me that it was all a lie...
Mikhail had always been a reliable man and an exemplary father to our children—our little Ana, seven years old, and mischievous Vanya, five. He played hide-and-seek with them in the garden, attended their school festivals, told them bedtime stories… the kind of dad any mother would want.
So, when he started taking them every Saturday to his mother's house, Grandma Diana's, I didn't hesitate for a second. Diana adored her grandchildren: she baked them cookies, taught them to knit, and followed them around the garden while they played.
After his father's death, Mikhail seemed to want to ease his mother's loneliness, and that touched me. Those Saturday visits seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
But over time, some signs began to worry me.
First, my mother-in-law stopped talking to me about those visits. Before, she would call me every week to tell me how happy the children were with her, but one day, when I casually asked,
"How was it with the children? It must be lovely having them every week, right?"
she hesitated.
"Oh… yes, of course, my dear," she replied, but her voice sounded strange, forced.
I thought maybe she was tired or sad.
Then, Mikhail insisted more and more that I stay home.
"These are moments for my mother and the children," he would say, kissing me on the cheek. "You need to rest, Amina. Enjoy some peace and quiet."
And he was right: those quiet Saturdays did me good. But something didn't add up… every time I told him I wanted to join them, he avoided my gaze. For the first time, I felt a pang of anxiety. Why did he want to keep me away?
One morning, Mikhail and Vanya were already in the car when Ana ran to the door shouting,
“I forgot my jacket!”
I smiled.
“Be good to your grandmother,” I told her.
But then she stopped, looked at me very seriously, and whispered,
“Mom… ‘Grandma’ is a secret code.”
My heart leapt. Ana’s cheeks turned red, her eyes widened, and she immediately ran off.
I stood frozen. “Secret code”? What did she mean by that? Was Mikhail deceiving me? What was he hiding?
Without thinking twice, I grabbed my purse and keys. I had to know the truth…