I always believed my husband loved me, even with all the tension with my MIL. We have three kids together, aged 7, 5, and 2, and I thought our family was solid. But one evening, out of nowhere, he told me, “My mom is dying, and I have to honor her last wish. I’m divorcing you.” I couldn’t believe it.

I was devastated, left with three kids at home, and back then, all I could think about was revenge, though I wasn’t sure how. During that conversation, before he left, he begged me not to tell the kids the real reason for our divorce, but I went ahead and did it anyway. I wanted him to feel the way I feel now. Now they know, and they don’t want to see their father at all.

Now I’m left with the consequences of my choice. If I hadn’t told them, I would have been hiding the truth from my kids, but telling them has pushed them away from their father. I can’t stop thinking about whether I did the right thing. Should I have protected them from the truth, even if it meant keeping a secret? Or was being honest worth the fallout, even if it risks their relationship with him forever? I still don’t know what the right choice was.