“The Will Revealed Nothing for Me”: His Business Share and Even Some Money Went to a Woman I Never Knew

As the lawyer read out the contents of the will, my world crumbled piece by piece. Ethan had left his share of the business and a significant portion of our savings to this unknown woman, named Aubrey. I sat there, stunned, trying to piece together how my husband knew her and why he would leave her such a substantial part of our life’s work.

Growing up in the small town of Maple Ridge, Ethan and I had a lot in common, though we didn’t realize it until much later in life. We both walked the same streets, played in the same parks, and even attended the same high school, albeit not at the same time since I was two years behind him. It wasn’t until a mutual friend reintroduced us after college that we connected the dots of our parallel childhoods.

Ethan had become a successful engineer, known especially for his work in restoring vintage cars, a passion that turned into a lucrative side business. I, on the other hand, had followed a path into social work, driven by a desire to give back to the community that raised us.

We married in our late twenties, surrounded by family and friends in the very church we both had attended growing up. It seemed like a fairy tale alignment of life’s details, a perfect continuation of our shared history.

Years passed, and our careers flourished. Ethan expanded his restoration business, eventually co-owning a workshop with his longtime friend, Jeffrey. I advanced to a managerial position at the local non-profit aiding children and families. Life, it seemed, was as it should be.

However, everything changed when Ethan suddenly fell ill. The diagnosis came too late, and within months, I was a widow. The grief was unbearable, compounded by the shock and responsibilities that followed. Among these was the handling of Ethan’s will, a document I had never thought would hold any surprises.

The reading of the will was held in a stark lawyer’s office downtown. Jeffrey was there, along with a few of Ethan’s relatives I knew well. But there was also a woman I had never seen before. Her presence was a mystery that soon turned into a shock.

The lawyer seemed to expect the confusion and handed me a letter from Ethan, addressed to me. His words were a mix of apologies and explanations. Aubrey was someone he had met during his business trips, a friend he said had helped him through some tough times. Times I had thought we were getting through together. He wrote of guilt and confusion, of not knowing how to integrate this friendship into our life without hurting me.

The letter did little to ease the betrayal. Friends tried to console me, suggesting perhaps there was more to Ethan’s relationship with Aubrey than he had admitted, but no clear answers came forth.

The months that followed were filled with legal battles and emotional turmoil. Jeffrey, caught between his loyalty to Ethan and his shock at the revelations, eventually decided to buy out Aubrey’s share, a process that drained both our energies and resources.

In the end, I was left with a sense of profound loss, not just of Ethan, but of the life I thought we had. I had lost my husband, my trust, and now, part of my future. The small town that once felt like the core of our shared existence now seemed filled with shadows and questions. As I tried to rebuild, I knew that some pieces of the past would never fit back together, forever altered by the secrets that emerged in the wake of Ethan’s last decisions.