Living nine months in Dubai through endless video calls and a lot of ultrasound photos, I was finally home to hold my precious Jenna.”
I kissed her, breathing in the familiar scent of her coconut shampoo, letting myself sink into the comfort of my home.
“I missed you both so much. The apartment in Dubai was just a place to sleep but being here with you two… this is home.”
“We missed you, too,” Ruby said.
“It was hard going through this without you.”
Max, our German Shepherd mix, sat quietly at my feet softly against the nursery floor. He hadn’t left my side although I walked through the door six hours ago, except to check on the baby whenever she made the slightest sound.
“He’s already the best big brother,” Ruby said, scratching behind his ears. “Aren’t you, boy? He sleeps right here every night, keeping watch.”
“Just like he used to do with my shoes,” I chuckled, remembering how he’d guard my work boots before I left. “Remember that, buddy?”
I enjoyed the little moments I’d missed with Jenna: her first smile, the way she’d scrunch her nose before crying, how she’d grip Ruby’s finger while nursing. Everything felt perfect. Too perfect.
The first inci:dent appeared during a 3 a.m. feeding.
I’d gotten up to warm a bottle when I heard Ruby’s whispered voice from the living room. The soft yellow light from her phone screen cast shadows across her face, making her look somehow older and worn.
“I can’t keep doing this,” she was saying, her free hand twisting nervously in her hair. “He’s home now, and—” She stopped abruptly when she saw me, ending the call with a quick, “Mom, I’ve got to go.”
But it wasn’t her mom.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Just Mom being Mom,” she said, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“You know how she worries. Especially with the baby and everything.”
I wanted to push, to ask why she needed to have these conversations at 3 a.m., but the baby’s cry cut through the tension.
Ruby practically ran to the nursery, leaving me standing there with an empty bottle and a growing sense of unease. She started spending hours in the nursery just staring at the crib. Then came the bank statement.
“Fifteen thousand dollars, Ruby?”
“What baby supplies cost thirty grand? The nursery’s already overflowing.”
“We needed — I needed to be prepared,” she replied.
“You were gone so long, and I just… I panicked a little. First-time mom stuff, you know?”
“Panicked? Ruby, this is a huge chunk of our savings. And these receipts…” I shuffled through them, my stomach churning. “Baby clothes in size 2T? She won’t wear these for at least another year.
He’d started camping in the nursery with Ruby whenever she sat there.
“He’s just being protective,” Ruby insisted, but her voice trembled. “Dogs get weird sometimes with new babies. The internet says it’s normal.”
But this wasn’t normal. This was Max trying to tell us something, I felt it.
One night, I waited until Ruby fell asleep and went to the nursery. Max followed, rushing ahead as I approached the crib. The moonlight streaming through the window cast strange shadows across the floor, making everything feel surreal.
“What is it, boy?”
“What are you trying to tell me?”
My daughter was three months old. I’d been home for two weeks. There was no way…
“John?”
Ruby’s voice behind me made my blood run cold. I turned slowly, the test clutched in my hand like a burning coal.
“When?” It was all I could manage, though a thousand other questions screamed in my head.
“It was one night. One stupid night when I was staying at Mom’s. James, you remember James from college. He reached out, and I was so lonely… Jenna was colicky, and you were so far away…”
“He saw me hide it,” she continued, gesturing at Max. “I think he’s been trying to tell you. Dogs always know, don’t they? When something’s wrong…”
I laughed, a crazy, broken sound that scared even me. “So our dog has more loyalty than my wife? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Please,” she begged, reaching for me. “We can work through this. I love you. It was a mistake, one terrible mistake.”
I stepped back.
“Love? You’ve been ly:ing to my face for weeks. Planning God knows what with that money. Were you going to run? Take my daughter and disappear?”
Max watched from the doorway, ready to follow. Each item I grabbed felt like another nail in the coffin of our marriage.
“Take care of Jenna,” I told Ruby as I headed for the door, Max at my heels. “I’ll have my lawyer contact you about the custody arrangements.”
In the end, it was my dog who showed me the truth, and who stayed faithful when my world broke down.
