I never in my life imagined I’d find myself in a situation like this.

It was a quiet morning on my day off. I was cleaning the house while my husband was fixing the pipes in the basement. Suddenly, I heard yelling outside, mixed with the sound of metal banging.

I realized my husband couldn’t hear a thing from the basement, so I ran out to see what was going on. And THAT’S when I saw her—a woman in a wedding dress standing on the roof of my husband’s car, screaming, “WHY DIDN’T YOU SHOW UP TO OUR WEDDING?!”

I was in total shock. I ran toward her and shouted, “You’ve got the wrong house! That’s my husband’s car, not your fiancé’s!”

“Does Jonathan live here?” she asked, also mentioning his last name, and my heart nearly stopped.

“Yes…” I stammered. “Who are you?” I asked, staring at her in disbelief

Her face darkened, and she climbed down from the roof. “Your husband?!” she spat. “Do you mean Jordan?”

She even mentioned our shared last name, making me confused more. Hearing Jordan’s full name come out of her mouth made my stomach drop.

“Yes,” I said cautiously. “How do you know him?”

Her laugh was almost hysterical. “How do I know him? I’m his fiancée! We were supposed to get married today!”

I staggered back a step, my mind reeling.

“Fiancée? That’s impossible! I’m his wife!”

She stared at me. “What?”

I reached out for my phone to show the woman the screensaver of my husband.

“Is this the same Jordan you were supposed to marry?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s Jordan,” the stranger replied.

“Look,” she said, thrusting the screen toward me. “See for yourself.”

I took the phone. There, in black and white, were messages from Jordan. My husband, Jordan. He’d written things like, “I can’t wait to finally be your husband!” and “Our future together is all I think about!”

I felt like the ground was falling away beneath me. “This… this has to be a mistake,” I whispered, more to myself than to her.

“It’s not a mistake,” she said, her voice trembling. “We’ve been together for over a year. He told me he was single and traveled a lot for work but couldn’t wait to settle down with me.”

All those business trips, all those nights he was “too busy” to call… He hadn’t been working. He’d been with her!

“Where did you think he lived?” I asked, still in utter disbelief.

She looked down, ashamed. “He has a small place downtown for work. I only realized today when I booked a ride to come here that the small apartment we met at is only 20 miles away from this house. I never questioned much about his living arrangements because he was always at work.”

She continued, “What also made me not question too much about it or why it was barely furnished was because he was always willing to meet at my place. Sometimes he’d surprise me by booking us into fancy hotels.”

“But a week ago, I accidentally left my fitness tracker in his car. I forgot to mention it to him because of the wedding planning I was focused on. But when he didn’t arrive at our wedding venue and wasn’t taking any of my calls, red flags went off and I used it to track him this morning… and it led me here.”

“I wrongly thought he was having cold feet and if I confronted him, he’d do right by me,” she confessed, tears streamed down her face.

I leaned against the porch railing, trying to steady myself. “I’m his wife,” I said again, more firmly this time. “We’ve been married for ten years!”

“I didn’t know,” she whispered. “I swear, I didn’t know.”

“I can’t do this,” she said, backing away. “I can’t… I need to go!”

“Wait,” I said.

I stared at the dented roof of Jordan’s car. Then, I turned and went back inside. My so-called husband was still in the basement.

“Jordan!” I called down the stairs. “Come up here for a second!”

A moment later, he emerged.

“I have a surprise for you,” I said. “Come on, let’s go!”

He asked, “Don’t we need to clean up first? I mean, we are both quite messy from our chores?”

“This is the kind of surprise that doesn’t need us to look presentable or anything. Just throw on a jacket, and let’s go. I’m driving!” I replied as I took the car keys and headed out.

Jordan grabbed his jacket and followed me out to the car.

I drove into the city. When we pulled up in front of the lawyer’s office, my husband frowned. “Why are we here?”

I turned to him, “We’re getting divorced,” I said evenly. “You probably didn’t show up for your wedding today because you’re already married.”

“What are you talking about?!”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” I said. “She told me everything, Jordan. Everything.”

He got out of the car and walked away.

I watched him go, tears streaming down my face. But as I sat there, I felt a strange sense of relief. The man I thought I knew was gone, but I still had myself. And that was enough.