Dear MX24,
My name is Rita, I’m 27 years old, and lately, it feels like I’m married to suspicion more than to my husband.
Jeremy and I have been married for three years. He’s 37, a pilot who is often away for days at a time, flying to different cities. We have a two-year-old son; Caleb and I love him more than anything. From the outside, it looks like I have it all, but inside, I feel like I’m walking on thin ice.
It started with small, offhand comments from his family. His sister would stare at my son and say, “This boy looks more like his mother than his father, anaa?.” His brother would smirk and ask me, “Are you sure he’s ours?” I laughed it off at first, thinking maybe they were just joking or being overly anxious.
But just last week, things escalated. His elder sister showed up at my house unannounced, accompanied by two cousins. They handed me a DNA test kit and said, “We just need to be sure. Jay is busy, and it’s just for peace of mind.” My hands froze. Peace of mind? For them, not me.
I tried calling Jeremy, to tell him everything going on, or beg him to talk to his family. But he was mid-flight and unreachable, and so I was left facing this storm alone. Eventually I made them leave because I argued that I wanted my husband to be present while it happened.
The worst part? His mother has started dropping passive-aggressive comments in the WhatsApp family group chat. Friends have noticed the tension between us because I’ve lost weight and barely bring my husband up in conversation. From someone who used to talk about him all the time, it’s a big difference. I feel humiliated, trapped, and exhausted. People keep asking why I haven’t proven the child is theirs. I didn’t ask to be married into a family that questions my loyalty to my own child but the main issue is far bigger than that. A lot of DNA tests can be misinterpreted from the research I’ve done. What if the results come back and it wasn’t done well or tampered with? It could destabilize both our families and bring down everything we’ve built together.
Dear readers, I swear that Caleb is our son and Jeremy knows he’s the only one I’ve ever slept with. He broke my virginity for crying out loud! Some nights, I sit next to my sleeping son, crying quietly. I feel cornered. I want to defend myself, but every confrontation only makes them feel more like it needs to be done.
What do I do? Do I take the test to calm everyone down, even though it breaks my dignity? Do I hold my ground and risk my family and son being alienated? Or do I keep praying that my husband sees what’s happening before it destroys all of us? I have nothing to hide but I know this will cause a big gap between us no matter the result.
This is my broken pen. Please, help me fix it.
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