Hi — I’m Hannah, and I never imagined I’d be here: torn apart, drowning in heartbreak, questioning everything I thought I knew about love.

I’m 34, a single mother to my beautiful three-year-old daughter, Lily. For the first time in years I let myself believe in love again. I met Ryan — a man who made my heart race, who made me laugh, who held me close and whispered about our future. I truly thought he was the one.

For nearly a year, things felt perfect. Lily adored him — she called him “Daddy,” and he played the part so well. I pictured us becoming a real family. I trusted him. I loved him.

Then everything changed. One night, out of nowhere, Ryan sat me down, looked me in the eyes, and said words that shattered me: ‘Lily is a problem, Hannah. She’s an obstacle. And if you want a future with me, you need to figure out a way to fix that.’ It felt like the floor had been ripped out from under me. My little girl — the sweetest, most innocent part of my life — had suddenly become an inconvenience to him? The man who tucked her in, who held her hand on walks, who promised to be there?

I begged him to explain, to tell me I’d misunderstood. His words grew colder. He called my daughter “baggage,” said my life was messy because I had a child without a father, and suggested I consider letting Lily live with my sister. “Just for a while,” he said. “Just until we could ‘start fresh.’” As if she were something to be discarded. As if she weren’t my whole world.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. And yet, through shock and heartbreak, a sick, desperate thought took root — what if I could make this work? What if time could change his mind? I loved him. I wanted our future. Maybe, just maybe, he would come around.

So, against every maternal instinct screaming inside me, I did something I’ll regret forever — I went to my sister and asked if Lily could stay with her. Just for a little while. Just so I could hold onto the man I thought I loved.

Her reaction was immediate: ‘Are you hearing yourself?! You’re choosing a man over your daughter?!’ I tried to explain, but she wouldn’t listen. Then she told my mother. Then my whole family knew.

One by one they turned against me: ‘You’re a mother first!’ ‘How could you even think of this?’ ‘Lily should be your priority, not some man!’ I wasn’t trying to abandon her — I just wanted time. Time to fix this. Time to make him see. But they didn’t understand. Maybe they never will.

And now? Now I have no one. My family won’t speak to me. Ryan is slipping further away. I feel lost, broken, completely alone. I still love him, even though I know I shouldn’t. Even though I know he never really loved me — not the way I thought.

I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to move forward. I only know I can’t go back. Please, if you’re reading this, tell me — how do I fix this? How do I find my way back to the mother I used to be?

Source: nowiveseeneverything.club