I blinked. “Sell it? Why?”
My husband’s shoulders slumped.
“It’s your mom.
When her medical bills started piling up a few years ago, I took out a personal loan to help. I didn’t want you to stress over it, so I kept it quiet. I thought I could handle it, but with interest, it spiraled out of control.
The woman you saw — Marissa — is a financial consultant. She’s helping me figure out how to pay it off.”
My anger dissolved instantly, replaced by guilt, as I finally realized why she was so formal-looking. The typing also finally made sense.
“Ben… why didn’t you tell me?”
He stared at the steering wheel.
“Because it’s my job to protect this family.
You’ve been under so much stress with Liam and your mom. I thought I could handle it.”
Tears welled up in my eyes. “Ben, we’re a team.
You don’t have to do this alone.”
His voice cracked. “I thought selling the necklace was the only way.”
I shook my head. “No.
We’ll figure this out together.”
Over the next few weeks, we worked together to find a viable solution and made changes. I insisted on picking up extra shifts at my part-time job. We cut back on unnecessary expenses.
And to my surprise, Marissa was kind and understanding, helping us restructure the loan so we could make realistic payments.
Oh, and the driving thing — Marissa explained it to me too.
She frequently used the travel time to review documents or prepare notes for their meetings.
Letting Ben drive allowed her to focus on her work uninterrupted, maximizing their time and ensuring they were prepared for discussions.
And Ben got to keep the necklace. I told him to save it for Liam — a piece of our family’s history that he could pass down as a reminder of the love and sacrifices that shaped our family.
Looking back, it’s funny how a child’s innocent question about a “secret car” could have torn us apart. But it brought us closer instead.
Our life isn’t perfect, but we have each other. And that’s more than enough.
Source: amomama
