The moment we got home, everything felt perfect. The trip had been beautiful, with turquoise waters and sandy beaches, and Chris and I had no worries in the world. All we wanted to do was bask in the bliss of our wedding and the anticipation of our married life together.

As we walked through our front door, everything looked exactly as we had left it, down to the perfectly fluffed couch cushions. Except for the massive black box sitting in the hallway.

I stopped in my tracks.

“What is that?” I asked, the words hanging between us.

I would have thought maybe it was a welcome-home gift from Chris, but the look on his face told me it wasn’t.

Chris frowned. “That wasn’t here when we left.”

A note rested on the hallway table beside it, the writing jagged and unfamiliar. I picked it up, feeling a chill in the air.

Lori, open this alone.

I handed it to Chris. We stared at the note, then the box, the weight of it settling into my stomach like a bad premonition.

“Are you sure it’s not from you?” I asked him.

“No, darling,” he said, his frown deepening.

“I don’t like this one bit,” I said.

“Well, let’s open it together,” Chris suggested, his tone calm but his eyes cautious. “Just in case it’s something dangerous, you know?”

I nodded. I trusted him completely. Whatever this was, we’d face it side by side. That’s how it’s supposed to be when you’re married, right?

Chris grabbed a knife from the kitchen and carefully cut through the tape. I held my breath as he pulled the flaps open. Inside was something soft—a huge stuffed bear, bigger than anything I’d ever seen, with a giant red heart sewn onto its chest.

We both blinked.

“Seriously?” Chris muttered, his tension evaporating.

I laughed nervously.

“Someone must be messing with us,” he said, trying to laugh too.

“It’s a bit creepy, if I’m being honest,” I said.

“Yeah, let’s just throw it into the basement until we figure out what to do with it. Maybe we should donate it.”

But I wasn’t so sure. Something about the bear felt off. I stepped closer, eyeing the heart on its chest, where the words “Press Me” were embroidered in tiny script.

“I don’t know…” I hesitated, reaching toward the toy.

“Go ahead,” Chris urged when he saw the script. “It’s just a toy. Let’s see what it has to say.”

I pressed the heart, not knowing our entire world was about to collapse.

A little girl’s voice echoed from the bear:

“Daddy? Daddy, are you there?”

Chris froze beside me. His face went pale. His eyes widened as though he’d just seen a ghost.

The voice continued:

“Daddy, when are you coming to see me? I miss you.”

My pulse hammered in my throat, making me nauseous. The room was suddenly too small. Chris wouldn’t even look at me.

“Daddy, will you come today? Will you come visit me? I’m still in the hospital…”

Then, another voice. A deeper, familiar voice cut through the silence.

“I’m busy, sweetheart. I’ll visit soon.”

It was Chris.

I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach.

“Chris?” I whispered. “That’s you? Really?”

The recording continued.

“Please, Daddy? It’s lonely and cold here. Mom is working…”

Chris reached for the bear, but I held it back. “No. Let it finish.”

The child’s voice trembled now:

“You promised you’d come before my surgery. You promised you wouldn’t forget me…”

And again, his voice:

“I’ll be there soon, baby. Daddy loves you.”

I stared at Chris, my world shattering. “Who is she, Chris? Who is this child?”

His lips trembled. He opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out.

The bear repeated the last words—his voice and the little girl’s, overlapping in a haunting loop. Each replay was a hammer driving the nail of betrayal deeper.

Tears blurred my vision as I whispered, “All this time… all this time you had a child?”

Chris sank to his knees, his face in his hands. “I wanted to tell you. I didn’t know how. She’s mine, Lori. She’s my daughter.”

The bear fell silent at last, but the echo of their voices filled the room like a scream. The dream life I’d imagined with him—our house, our marriage, our future—crumbled in an instant.

I backed away, my wedding ring suddenly heavy on my finger. “You destroyed everything before it even began.”

Chris tried to reach for me, but I stepped back, the black box now a dark chasm between us.

The honeymoon was over. And so, I realized, was our marriage.