Not enough can be said about the job that the United States military does each and every day to keep America safe and secure. Servicemen are sent on deployments that keep them away from their family and friends for months and sometimes even years at a time, with their only connection being phone calls and emails. Sadly, this not only makes deceit easier — it even encourages it. And nobody knows that better than Navy seaman Matthew Wilson.
Wilson was doing a six-month deployment aboard the USS Carl Vinson, and to say that it was hard to be away from his family would be an understatement. But in a military marriage, duty is first; everything else second most of the time, and that’s just a reality that they have to live with. And what made things even harder was that calls to his wife Rebecca back home left him feeling like there was something that she just wasn’t telling him – and considering their sordid history, he had a pretty good reason to be freaking out.
Being a sailor takes a huge toll on your relationships. At this point, Matt was going on his 3rd shipboard duty assignment and his 5th year of marriage. He and his wife were high school sweethearts and were living the dream. They had a baby boy and a nice house in suburban California. What could be better? But after he had come back from his 2nd tour, Matt came home to every serviceman’s worst nightmare. Everything had been taken from him.
It was as if his wife and kid had never even existed in the first place. As it turned out, Rebecca had had enough. With no friends or family to support her, she was left completely alone for over a year with her newborn boy. With no end in sight, Rebecca did what she thought was best for the boy and moved back home, leaving everything behind. But while Matt eventually learned to forgive her for this, it would take Rebecca years to regain Matt’s trust after the horror he went through. So now, 2 more kids later, what would make her toss it all away again?
Nobody likes being lied to. And yet, deceit and infidelity continue to be a common cause of fights and breakups. With Rebecca at wits end with Matt’s long sea tours and with Matt’s trust issues, their marriage was on the rocks. As a child of divorce, he had promised himself he’d never go that route, yet there he was thinking he had no choice. Even so, there are certain levels of dishonesty. Perhaps Rebecca’s moment of weakness can be forgiven? But what she was up to now, however, was so outrageous it defies belief — let alone forgiveness.
After a few months on tour, Matt received a message from his buddy back home saying that something was off with Rebecca. It seemed that she was retracting herself from society. What’s worse, she was seen selling off some his furniture. Matt trusted his wife but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like she was hiding something. Despite his love for her, he also knew how hard it was for her to be without him for so long. He knew he was going to be going home soon and that they could talk about things then, but his mind was racing in the days leading up to his homecoming.
As soon as she knew, Rebecca wanted to tell him straight away, given the nature of the news – that’s what most people probably would have done anyway. “But then I thought about it for a few minutes and I was like, ‘You know, this isn’t how I want to tell him – in an email,'” she said. “I emailed him back and said, ‘I just miss your voice.’” But that, of course, wasn’t exactly comforting. So when Matt’s ship got orders to go head-to-head with one of the world’s most dangerous nations, her strategy got turned upside down.
She said that at times it was difficult to keep this life-changing news a secret, especially when Matt’s deployment was extended for a month as the USS Carl Vinson was ordered to make a show of force near the coast of North Korea. His life was now in more danger than ever. And while Matt was overseas fighting for his country, she was back home doing the unthinkable. But karma would find a way of catching up with her soon enough.
“I got emotional about it and I was wondering, ‘Should I tell him? Would I feel guilty if something happens and he doesn’t know?'” Rebecca recalled. “I went back and forth about it.” You can imagine that it was something she really struggled with. On the one hand, knowing might just make him do something crazy. On the other hand, it might make him come home sooner. But Rebecca had the perfect plan cooked up. And when you see his reaction, you’ll need to get out the tissues!
As Matt was approaching his family in the large crowds welcoming home their sailors in San Diego, Rebecca had to execute her plan perfectly to pull off her ruse. Anything out of order would send him red flags immediately. Using the kids as distractions and a homemade “Welcome Home” sign, her secret was perfectly camouflaged. After Matt had hugged and kissed the children, he moved in to hug Rebecca. This was her one shot. Right within arms-length, she dropped her sign, unleashing what was likely the most head-spinning moment of poor Matt’s life.
“My heart was racing,” she recalled. “I stood back and let the kids run to him. I hung back for a minute, and then he reached into me to give me a hug and then I dropped it. He just stood there in shock. He didn’t know what was going on.” You can’t blame him for thinking that maybe it was a joke or for being a little confused. Can you imagine how hard it would be to keep something like that a secret? To say he was surprised would be an understatement.
The three older Daugherty children are the first to rush over to greet their uninformed father. As Matt turned to hug someone off to the side, Rebecca — holding a large sign that reads, ‘Welcome home baby daddy,’ over her stomach — decided to hang back until she had his full attention. When Matt finally approached and went in to give her a hug, Rebecca shook the sign and said, “Do you like my sign?” before whipping it away to reveal her baby bump.
“She said, ‘Surprise!’ and dropped the sign, and I was confused,” Matt said. “And then I actually poked her belly because I wasn’t sure if she was playing a trick on me or not. Clearly, she was not. There were a lot of thoughts going through my mind. When it was real I was extremely confused so I asked, ‘Is that real?’ to be sure, then hugged her because it was the only thing I could think to do.” But trust me, the story doesn’t end there!
A stunned Matt slowly lowered his arms and stared at the bump in disbelief, with everyone around him laughing and cheering them on. I can’t even begin to imagine what he was thinking. It’s emotional enough to return home after eight months overseas, but to come home to that surprise? A good ten seconds later, he hesitantly poked Rebecca’s belly and asked, “Is that real? Nuh-uh!”
As it turns out, just a week after Matt left for duty, Rebecca was given a completely unexpected surprise — Rebecca was pregnant. “I found out about a week after he left. I didn’t believe it,” Rebecca said. “I took the pregnancy test again and I was like, ‘Oh no way.’ I was excited about it and I emailed him and I told him to call me as soon as he gets a chance.” But what did she decide to do?
Matt was even more surprised because they didn’t have any plans on having a fourth child, although they are excited beyond belief. Rebecca noted that since Matt “was only home for a short time” between deployments, it came as an even bigger surprise. But you know what they say? It only takes one time, and clearly, this fourth baby was in the plans — and they couldn’t be happier. But there was still one surprise left!
While it was hard for Matt to be away, Rebecca said keeping the surprise was the hardest thing she’s ever had to do. Every time the expecting mom would post photos to Facebook, she’d cleverly disguise her pregnant stomach so Matt couldn’t see it. She had to get really creative. “I would always use the kids to cover my belly,” she said. “My best friend always does Snapchats and she would put emojis in front of it just in case to throw him off.” Even though it was hard at times, he was none the wiser!
But she’s glad she decided to reveal it the way she did. “I wanted to share the excitement and joy with him about getting a fourth baby. He definitely wasn’t expecting it,” she said. “Being pregnant is such a fun experience and not being able to share it with him it was really hard. I was working the whole time and taking care of the kids so I had to push through everything.”
“I decided I’m going to document it with weekly belly pictures for him so he wouldn’t miss it.” And that’s just what she did. “I can’t believe she was able to keep the secret for as long as she did because we tell each other everything so I know it was really hard for her,” he said. “I’m sure every day she wanted to just tell me but I’m really happy she waited because it was an awesome homecoming surprise and we got to find out the gender together the day after I got home.” Speaking of the gender, there was one more surprise…
The baby is due in late August, and as family and friends were gathered for Matt’s homecoming party, the couple had one more surprise for everyone else — it was revealed the baby is a girl! And while Matt might have missed most of the pregnancy, he’s not set to deploy again until January, so he will be home for the birth. “I was extremely happy with the news because we both wanted a fourth child and since it is our last I was happy she did something memorable and fun,” said Matt. Congrats to them all! This is a work of fiction inspired by a true story. Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.