My mother-in-law had been insisting for weeks that my husband Nathan and I needed a night out.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou haven\u2019t had one evening alone since the baby was born,\u201d Monica kept saying. \u201cGo. I\u2019ll take care of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our daughter was only four months old, so leaving her was difficult. But eventually, we agreed.<\/p>\n
Twenty minutes after arriving at the restaurant, the hostess smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour other guests are already here.\u201d<\/p>\n
We froze.<\/p>\n
There were two people waiting at our table\u2014Nathan\u2019s old high school friend Chris and his wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mom invited us,\u201d Chris explained. \u201cShe said you wanted company tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither of us had any idea.<\/p>\n
We stayed for dinner, but I couldn’t relax. Eventually, I checked the baby monitor.<\/p>\n
Offline.<\/strong><\/p>\n I called Monica.<\/p>\n No answer.<\/p>\n Then I checked our security camera.<\/p>\n A strange man stood at our front door holding a huge bouquet of roses. Monica opened the door, smiled, and let him inside.<\/p>\n I showed Nathan.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going home.\u201d<\/p>\n When we arrived, our baby was safely asleep upstairs.<\/p>\n But our bedroom was covered in rose petals, with champagne and candles everywhere.<\/p>\n Then we heard a man downstairs.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happens when your son finds out?\u201d<\/p>\n Nathan and I quietly moved closer.<\/p>\n We found Monica with the stranger.<\/p>\n \u201cWho is he?\u201d Nathan demanded.<\/p>\n Monica sighed.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the florist.\u201d<\/p>\n She explained that she had invited Chris to the restaurant to keep us away longer and hired the florist to create a romantic surprise for us.<\/p>\n But there was one huge problem.<\/p>\n She had turned off our baby monitor so we wouldn’t see the florist moving around the house, and she hadn’t answered our calls.<\/p>\n \u201cYou scared us half to death,\u201d I told her.<\/p>\n Monica finally realized she’d gone too far.<\/p>\n The florist apologized and admitted he had warned her that new parents might not appreciate a stranger entering their home without permission.<\/p>\n In the end, we forgave her\u2014but we made rules.<\/p>\n No strangers in our home without asking. That night wasn’t what Monica had planned.<\/p>\n But after the fear disappeared, Nathan and I finally sat together upstairs, opened the champagne, and laughed.<\/p>\n Sometimes loving someone means knowing when a surprise has gone too far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My mother-in-law had been insisting for weeks that my husband Nathan and I needed a night out. \u201cYou haven\u2019t had one evening alone since the baby was born,\u201d Monica kept saying. \u201cGo. I\u2019ll take care of everything.\u201d Our daughter was only four months old, so leaving her was difficult. But eventually, we agreed. Twenty minutes…<\/p>\n
\nNever turn off the baby monitor.
\nAlways answer our calls while babysitting.
\nAnd never invite people to our plans without telling us.<\/p>\n