Laura James was now Mrs. Parker. She married her long-time partner, Jeffrey Parker, in a private ceremony. It was her second marriage, and Ryan, her 16-year-old son, was her best man. The first three months were perfect. Laura, Jeffrey, and Ryan made a happy threesome.
However, it wasn’t until one evening that Laura noticed something peculiar between Jeffrey and Ryan. “Why are you hugging him so tight?” she asked her husband. “You almost choked him!” she joked. But deep inside, Laura suspected something strange about Jeffrey’s sudden affection for Ryan…
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But the last straw was when she woke up in the middle of the night and found Jeffrey missing. She followed weird noises to Ryan’s bedroom and froze as she pressed her ears to the door, listening to the strange sounds inside.
“So, where were you last night?” Laura fumed at Jeffrey the next morning. “I saw you were not in the bedroom.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks when she saw the footage of Jeffrey and Ryan in the bedroom.
Jeffrey paled out at Laura’s questions. He had no idea that she had been awake last night. He chimed in with excuses. “Oh, that! Er…I was checking for new software updates.”
But Laura knew it was a lie. “Software updates in Ryan’s room?” she retorted. Jeffrey shrugged it off as nothing. He looked Laura in the eye and assured her it was what he said.
For a brief moment, she believed him and kissed him bye. But later that evening, Laura again woke up to weird noises from Ryan’s room. She decided to confront Jeffrey the next day.
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“I want to know what’s keeping you and Ryan awake and locked up all the time? Especially late at night after I’m fast asleep,” she demanded.
But Jeffrey brushed it off as nothing. “We were just having a dad-son conversation,” he said. “Chill, honey! We’re trying to get to know each other better.”
But Laura was puzzled. Ryan had known Jeffrey since 14, and there was nothing much they needed to know. She felt uneasy seeing them together, particularly when they hugged each other or shook hands.
One afternoon, she saw them heading to Ryan’s room after lunch. Doubts sparked in Laura’s mind, but Jeffrey closed the door on her before she entered. “C’MON, HONEY…GIVE US SOME PRIVACY, WILL YOU?” he said. “LEAVE US ALONE FOR SOME TIME.”
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Jeffrey and Ryan remained locked in the room for a little over two hours. The home theater was turned on loud, and Laura heard nothing but thumping music. She left fuming.
That evening, she saw Jeffrey leave the house. “Thank Goodness he’s not around,” she mumbled and walked over to her son.
“Well, I was wondering if you could tell me if there’s anything you’d want to tell me….” she asked Ryan. “I mean, about your stepdad.”
Ryan looked puzzled. He grabbed his backpack and asked her, “What about Jeffrey? I don’t get you.”
Laura hesitated to ask but mustered the courage to hurl the question at him. “I want to know what you two are up to behind closed doors,” she said. “If there’s something that makes you uncomfortable around him, you can tell me. What do you do with Jeffrey in your room at night?”
Ryan just looked at Laura and frowned. “I WON’T TELL YOU!” he said, and his mother’s heart sank at such a response. She felt an eerie distance sprawl between them.
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After deep thought, Laura bought a mini spy cam. She crept into Ryan’s bedroom and secretly installed it behind the indoor plants when nobody was around.
“NOW THIS SHOULD DO IT!” she grinned and waited until the next day to see the footage.
Laura was not surprised when she found Jeffrey not in his bed at night. She went back to sleep, assured of finding out the truth in the next few hours.
“You look so happy today! Don’t you have any weird questions about Ryan and me today?” Jeffrey joked the next morning. But Laura just smiled at him and said nothing. “Okay then…see you later. I’m late for my meeting…Hey boy, hop in quick!”
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Laura waited until their car faded into the light of day before hurrying into her son’s bedroom. Moments later, tears rolled down her cheeks when she saw the footage of Jeffrey and Ryan in the bedroom. Engulfed in loud music, Jeffrey was teaching his stepson to dance.
“OH MY GOD! I DON’T BELIEVE THIS!” she exclaimed in joy.
That evening, Ryan and Jeffrey arrived home early. They surprised Laura with a new dress and asked her to get ready in five minutes.
“But what’s going on? And this new gown, what’s happening?” she said.
A little later, the three arrived at Ryan’s school. Students dressed in formal wear welcomed Laura. She was confused and had no idea what was happening…
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Ryan intentionally left her in the crowd, and Jeffrey was not there either. Laura felt lost and kept calling out to her son. Just then, she heard Ryan’s voice on the mike. “Hello everyone! Let me introduce you to someone who means the world to me…MOM, COME UP!”
Laura was stunned as Ryan walked over and took her to the stage. “And… music!” he shouted in joy. “You’ve done so much for me and even sacrificed your dancing career to raise me….”
Laura couldn’t believe her eyes. She’d given up her dream to be a dancer after her ex-husband dumped her with a child. Until that evening, she never shook a leg to music for several years. But after reading her diary, Ryan and Jeffrey planned a surprise dance event resembling a prom for her.
“This is dedicated to all you moms out there too! Join us!” Ryan shouted as the music filled the hall. Students danced with their parents, with Ryan and Laura taking center stage.
