I Married a Widower With Two Little Girls – One Day, One of Them Asked Me, ‘Do You Want to See Where My Mom Lives?’ and Led Me to the Basement Door

“Grace,” I said slowly, “what do you mean?”

She frowned like the answer should have been obvious.

“Do you want to see where she lives?”

Emily wandered into the kitchen hugging her stuffed rabbit.

“Mommy is downstairs,” she said casually.

A cold wave rolled through me instantly.

The locked basement.

The secrecy.

Daniel never opening it around me.

Every horrible possibility crashed into my mind at once.

Grace grabbed my hand and began pulling me toward the hallway.

“At the basement,” she said. “Come on.”

I should have waited for Daniel.

I know that now.

Instead, panic mixed with curiosity in the worst possible way.

I knelt at the lock with two shaking hairpins from my bun while the girls watched beside me.

Then the lock clicked.

Grace bounced excitedly.

“See?”