That night, after putting her to bed in my spare room, I sat in my kitchen thinking. I was angrier than I’d ever been in my life. My sister had serious problems if she thought abandoning a child was acceptable, and my parents were just as bad for going along with it.
Then I remembered Maribel’s ex-husband, Colton. She had always painted him as a terrible guy who cheated on her and abandoned his family. She said he was irresponsible, didn’t pay child support, didn’t want to see his daughter. But what if that wasn’t the whole story? What if Maribel had lied?
I found his number and called him.
“Raylene, is everything okay?”
“Colton, Maribel just abandoned your daughter at the airport. She flew to Maui with my parents and left her alone. If you want to see her, come over now.”
“I’ll be right there.”
He showed up two hours later with a big doll. When my niece saw him, she ran into his arms.
“Daddy!” she squealed.
“Hey there, princess. I missed you so much.”
He was crying as he hugged her. Watching them, I realized this man genuinely loved his daughter. This wasn’t someone who had abandoned his family.
After my niece went to bed, Colton told me the truth.
“Raylene, everything Maribel told you was a lie.”
He showed me screenshots of text messages between Maribel and two different men. Explicit messages about meeting at hotels and lying to Colton.
“She was cheating with multiple guys,” he said. “I hired a private investigator. I have photos, videos, hotel receipts. Everything.”
He showed me pictures. Maribel kissing another man. Maribel entering hotels at night with different guys.
“I even got a DNA test to make sure she was really my daughter.”
“Colton, if you had all this evidence, why didn’t you use it in court?”
He looked down. “I was embarrassed. I didn’t want everyone knowing my wife was cheating. I didn’t want people thinking I was weak. And I didn’t want my daughter knowing her mother was like that.”
“So you let Maribel paint you as the bad guy.”
“I thought I was protecting my daughter, but I was wrong.”
“Well,” I said, “now’s your chance to fix that.”
He looked up. “What do you mean?”
“Let’s get your daughter back where she belongs — with you.”
“Would you really help me?”
“Absolutely. What Maribel did today was unforgivable.”
“We need airport video footage,” he said. “Proof she abandoned her.”
