Chapter 1: She Begged Me Not to Post It
My daughter begged me not to post our vacation photos — then my MIL saw one and asked, "Does she still not know?"
We'd just come back from a family vacation when my 17-year-old daughter suddenly asked me not to post ANY of our photos.
At first, I laughed.
"Since when do you care what I post?"
"Mom, I'm serious.
Please don't."
That was strange.
A week earlier, Nicole had been the one taking half those pictures.
She'd even complained that I hadn't gotten a good enough photo of her by the pool.
"Why?
You were the one asking me to take half of these."
Nicole looked away.
"That was before."
I stopped.
"Before what?"
"Just forget it."
The thing was, something HAD changed halfway through our trip.
One evening, I came back to our table and found Nicole staring at her father.
Andrew was slipping his phone back into his pocket.
"Everything okay?"
"Fine."
But Nicole wasn't fine.
For the rest of the trip, she barely spoke to him.
Every time I asked what was wrong, I got the same answer.
"I'm fine."
A few days after we got home, Andrew's mother invited us over for dinner.
At some point, I pulled out my phone.
"I think I'm finally going to post our vacation pictures."
Nicole immediately looked at me.
"Mom, don't."
"Nicole, what is going on with you?"
"I told you I don't want those pictures online."
"They're family photos!"
"I KNOW!"
Everyone went quiet.
"Then give me ONE good reason."
Nicole looked at her father.
"Nicole, enough," Andrew said.
She stared at him.
"Why?
Afraid I'll tell her?"
"Tell me WHAT?"
Nicole pushed her chair back.
"Forget it.
Just don't post them."
Now I was angry.
"If nobody is going to tell me what's going on, I'm not going to pretend our perfectly normal vacation is suddenly some dirty secret."
I opened Instagram.
"Mom, don't."
"Then tell me why."
Nicole looked at Andrew.
Silence.
"Fine."
I chose one of my favorite photos from the trip.
Nicole stared at me.
I hit POST.
A few seconds later, my MIL's phone buzzed on the table.
She picked it up.
I watched her face shift as she stared at the screen.
Then she looked at Andrew.
"Does she still not know?"
The entire table went silent.
Andrew's face changed.
"Mom."
"What?
I thought you told her."
I stared at both of them.
"What am I not supposed to know?"
Before either of them could answer, my phone buzzed.
A notification appeared on the screen.
I stared at it.
Nicole saw it too.
And the second she did, she jumped out of her chair.
"I TOLD YOU!"
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What was on that notification — and what has Andrew been hiding?
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