That day, my husband came home earlier than usual, sat down on the sofa, and began to cry like a child. When I learned the reason, I was completely stunned.

Tom and I met when we were both twenty-seven. At that time, Tom had already graduated from university with honours and was getting ready to defend his master’s dissertation. Hed always been one of those overachievers at school first to volunteer, last to leave the library. On top of that, hed managed to buy himself a two-bedroom flat and a garage, all off his own back. His next mission, once the ink was dry on his diploma, was to buy a car. A year later, we tied the knot, and a year and a half after that, our daughter was born. By the time we hit our thirtieth birthdays, our little one was already two months old.
As Toms birthday approached, I suggested we all go out for a nice meal with his parents. Maybe something a bit fancy a proper English roast or perhaps somewhere with fish and chips that came on real plates, not plastic trays. But Tom flatly refused. He wanted to spend his birthday at home with just me and our daughter: Just us, my girls.
So thats exactly what we did. It was a good laugh, the three of us cozied up at home, eating cake and making a mess. The next day, after work, Tom popped round to his parents house. He didnt stay long though. He came back sooner than I expected, collapsed onto the sofa, and promptly started crying. The sight of it absolutely stunned me. Here he was grown man, head of our family, usually as steady as Big Ben now weeping like a schoolboy in scraped knees.
I sat down next to him and did my best to comfort him, trying not to sound too much like a vicar at a christening. Thats when the dam broke. He told me that as a child, hed been smacked for every tiny thing: playing football in the garden, getting mud on his school trousers, even for making a blot on his exercise book. Both his mum and dad were at it a full parental tag team.
When I got older, they stopped hitting me, Tom said, sniffling, but I never once heard a kind word from them. When I left technical college with top marks they just said, So what? Its only a tech college. You should be heading to university. So off I went. Didnt even want to, but felt I had to.
He bought his flat. Did they congratulate him? Fifty square metres isnt that much, they sniffed, even though their whole house was smaller. He got married. Shes so petite and skinny will she even manage to have children? they muttered. Well, I did.
And when our daughter arrived? We cant see anything familiar in that baby. She doesnt have any of us in her, they complained. To top it all off, when Tom didnt throw them a big anniversary bash, they kicked off: Ungrateful son! they declared, as if reading a verdict.
So Tom turned to me and asked, Am I really that awful that they cant love me? I told him there are some people who just dont know how to love, and it was awfully unlucky he got lumbered with them. But now hes got me and our little girl. We love him to bits, because hes the best man in the world.
And dont you notice how your daughter glows whenever you come home from work? I reminded him. Tom remembered the sparkle in our girls eyes whenever she sees her dad, and his tears dried up. He even managed his first genuine smile in days.