When Duncan leaves on his business trips, he believes his family is happily settled at home. But when he returns, he discovers that his daughter has been seeing ghosts and that there is a stranger hiding in his closet. Who is he, and what is he doing there? Is his wife having an affair?
My wife, Emmie, and I have been together for fifteen years. And in those fifteen years, we have woven an entire life together, intertwining the joys and trials of family.
Over the years, we have been blessed with our daughter Leila, a ten-year-old girl with bright eyes who filled our days with the laughter and curiosity only a child can inspire.
Life was perfectly normal in the best sense, until Leila started talking about a ghost.
At first, it was just a harmless story from Leila. At least, at that moment, I believed it was nothing more than my daughter’s wild imagination.
As a businessman, constant travel was normal for me. Emmie and I were used to navigating our lives around my schedule.
At first, I thought it would be difficult for her, unsure how we would build a life together while I packed and left every few weeks.
“Your job is important,” Emmie said. “And yes, it takes you away from us sometimes, Duncan. But it’s worth it because you enjoy what you do.”
I didn’t expect her to understand. But I should have known; my wife was unlike anyone I had ever met.
That’s why when my business partner told me we had to travel to another state for a meeting with new investors, I felt reassured knowing my wife and daughter would be at home, settled into their routine.
“How long will you be gone this time?” Emmie asked while preparing dinner.
“A little over a week,” I said, grabbing the jar of toasted nuts we had on the counter.
“That’s not so bad,” she said with a smile. “You’ll be back before we know it.”
It would have been easy to think my wife wanted me to stay away, that she delighted in the distance between us. But when she helped me pack, making sure I had snacks, I knew she was everything Leila and I needed her to be.
“Yes,” I said. “But will you manage with Leila after school? I could ask my mother.”
Emmie chuckled.
We both knew my mother adored Leila; she loved being a grandmother, but in her own way. She wanted to spoil our daughter, but only for about an hour or so. She wouldn’t want to stay with Leila unless she absolutely had to step in.
“I already asked my mother,” Emmie said, stirring the pot. “She’ll come the night before you leave, because I know airport trips are always early.”
The rest of the week passed between homework and work presentations.
Then Marie, Emmie’s mother, arrived.
“Another trip?” she asked. “Lots of trips for you, Duncan.”
Emmie took me to the airport early the next morning. She fixed my tie and waved goodbye before going home to get Leila ready for school.
I went on the business trip and returned home earlier than expected. Before going home, I took a taxi to my wife and daughter’s favorite bakery and stocked up on all their favorite treats.
“Dad, you’re home!” Leila said, running to the door and jumping into my arms.
“My trip ended early,” I said, hugging her tightly.
As much as I loved my job, the hard part was knowing I had missed parts of Leila’s childhood.
“Do you want to eat ice cream?” I asked. “Before Mom gets home from work.”
Leila nodded and called out to Marie, her grandmother, that we were going out for a little while.
That’s when my daughter revealed she had been seeing a ghost in the house.
“What do you mean, honey?” I asked.
Leila looked at her ice cream cone for a moment and watched as a drop of ice cream fell on her shoe.
“The other night, when I was going to the bathroom,” she said, “there was a ghost. Floating by the stairs.”
“You probably saw Grandma or Grandpa,” I said.
I knew that when my mother-in-law stayed overnight, Emmie’s father also often came in the afternoons for dinner and to spend the night before going back home. He didn’t like being away for so long.
“Grandpa didn’t come this time,” Leila said. “Only Grandma. She said Grandpa was with his cat.”
I didn’t know what else to say to Leila. I didn’t want to ignore her and tell her it was her imagination. But at the same time, I wasn’t sure if I should entertain the subject.
“How about this?” I asked. “If you see it again, or if you see anything strange, come and tell me immediately.”
Leila eagerly nodded, and we went back inside.
My wife had just arrived home and was busy in the kitchen with Leila; homework and cooking were their routine. Marie wasn’t anywhere to be seen, so I assumed she was taking a nap.
If it were up to me, I would have unpacked the suitcase later, but my wife hated half-packed suitcases or piles of clothes lying around.
When I opened the closet door, I got the biggest surprise of my life.
There, among my work clothes and Emmie’s dresses, was an older man calmly buttoning his clothes.
An open suitcase on a bed | Photo: Unsplash
“Emmie!” I bellowed even before asking who he was. “What is this? Who is this man?”
The next thing I heard were the footsteps of my wife and daughter pounding through the house.
“Duncan?” Emmie shouted, entering our bedroom. “What’s going on?”
“That’s a question I should be asking you,” I replied. “Who is this man?”
A walk-in closet | Photo: Unsplash
“What man?” Emmie asked, eyes wide open.
The older man peeked out from the closet and Emmie screamed in surprise.
At that moment, I let out the breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. When I stumbled on the man, my first instinct was to suspect my wife of cheating on me.
But the surprised expression on her face told me that man was just as unknown to her.
A woman covering her face | Photo: Unsplash
“He’s the ghost!” exclaimed Leila, hiding behind her mother. “I saw him last night!”
“What?” Emmie and I said simultaneously.
“Call the police!” Emmie hissed.
A police car | Photo: Pexels
Then Marie entered our room holding a glass of water.
“What’s going on?” she asked before seeing the man.
“Tony?” she said. “What are you still doing here?”
“Do you know this man?” Emmie exclaimed. “How?”
My mother-in-law grimaced. She looked more uncomfortable than I had ever seen her.
“Explain yourself, Mom,” said Emmie.
A smiling elderly woman holding a bottle | Photo: Pexels
“I’ve been seeing Tony for a while,” Marie confessed.
“I think you should go watch TV,” I told Leila, who ran out of the room.
“Have you been cheating on Dad?” Emmie asked, sitting on the bed.
Marie seemed to have seen the ghost my daughter was convinced she had seen.
“Look, Emmie,” Marie said. “Dad and I have been having problems for some time.”
“So he knows?” my wife asked, demanding answers from her mother.
An elderly couple | Photo: Pexels
“No, honey,” she said. “Dad doesn’t know. Anyway, I don’t think I could tell him. But I’m not getting any younger and I need some happiness for the time I have left.”
Emmie held her head in her hands.
“I need you to promise me you won’t tell Dad,” Marie said.
My wife let out a strangled scream and left the bedroom.
“Duncan,” Marie said to me, “You have to talk to her. This has to be a secret. We can’t tell my husband.”
“That depends on Emmie,” I replied. “I don’t know what else to say to her.”
Shortly after, Marie and Tony left our house.
A somber-looking elderly woman | Photo: Pexels
“I can’t believe what my mother did,” Emmie said when we sat down to talk about the afternoon’s events.
“Look, at least you found out now,” I told her. “It’s no longer a secret.”
“Yes, but at the same time, I don’t know how I’ll hide this from my father. But more than that, I don’t understand why my mother had to bring him to our house.”
I had to agree with her: Marie was an adult and free to do whatever she wanted. But at the same time, I didn’t understand why she did it in our home.
A woman covering her face with her hands | Photo: Unsplash
When she was supposed to also be taking care of our daughter.
It was careless and irresponsible.
“I thought he was here for you,” I blurted out.
Emmie put the cup down on the nightstand.
“That’s a much more important conversation,” she said. “But I understand. It would have been a shock to see some old man in our closet.”
Cups on a table | Photo: Pexels
It turned out Tony was about to leave when Emmie got home, so he had hidden in our room. And then, when he thought the coast was clear, Leila and I came in.
So he hid in the closet until he could escape. Marie, meanwhile, thought Tony had left. And she stayed in the guest room to rest.
“It’s a mess, Duncan,” Emmie said. “I don’t know if I can lie to my father.”
“Then don’t,” I told her. “I’m not glad Leila found out about this.”
An elderly woman with a child | Photo: Unsplash
I knew the secret would eat her up inside. My wife was trying hard to keep the surprise, but a secret like this would send her into a spiral.
“I don’t want to hurt my mother,” she said later, after we put Leila to bed.
“Sleep on it,” I told her.
That night, lying in bed, I wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t come home early. Would Leila have seen Tony again and gotten even more scared? The idea of some random man wandering around my house at odd hours made me uneasy. Especially since Emmie didn’t even know about it.
I don’t know what will happen next, but I know my role is to support Emmie in whatever she decides.
