I almost drove to Destin to bring my 13-year-old daughter home after seeing one photo on Facebook.<\/p>\n
For months, my ex-husband’s new girlfriend, Sienna, had refused to meet me\u2014even though my daughter was spending more and more time with her.<\/p>\n
When Mark invited Ellie on an eight-day vacation, I initially said no.<\/p>\n
I couldn’t send my teenage daughter away with a woman I’d never even met.<\/p>\n
But Ellie broke down.<\/p>\n
“You’re just scared she’s going to replace you.”<\/p>\n
Those words hurt because we’d only recently started rebuilding our relationship after the divorce.<\/p>\n
So I agreed.<\/p>\n
One condition: Ellie had to call me every night and send photos.<\/p>\n
Tuesday night, Mark sent me a beach picture.<\/p>\n
“She’s having a blast!!”<\/p>\n
At first, everything looked normal.<\/p>\n
Then I noticed where Ellie was standing\u2014and Sienna’s hand on her arm.<\/p>\n
I told myself I was imagining things.<\/p>\n
Then I found Sienna’s public Facebook album from the trip.<\/p>\n
Twenty photos.<\/p>\n
In almost every one, Ellie was separated from them.<\/p>\n
One caption stopped me cold:<\/p>\n
“Our first real family vacation.”<\/strong><\/p>\n I called Ellie.<\/p>\n She sounded strangely quiet.<\/p>\n The next day, she finally whispered:<\/p>\n “Sienna doesn’t like me.”<\/p>\n Then she told me Sienna kept moving her out of photos and saying she needed to get used to not being the center of her dad’s life anymore.<\/p>\n That’s when I stopped wondering whether I was being jealous.<\/p>\n I called Mark.<\/p>\n “I’m coming to get her.”<\/p>\n What happened when I arrived at the rental house changed the way my daughter saw the divorce\u2014and the way I saw my ex-husband.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I almost drove to Destin to bring my 13-year-old daughter home after seeing one photo on Facebook. For months, my ex-husband’s new girlfriend, Sienna, had refused to meet me\u2014even though my daughter was spending more and more time with her. When Mark invited Ellie on an eight-day vacation, I initially said no. I couldn’t send…<\/p>\n