I was thirty years old and living in Des Moines with my husband Nick expecting our first child a daughter we named Nora. On Saturday October 10 I returned home exhausted from a nursing shift at the hospital only to find that my carefully built maternity wardrobe had vanished. I had spent thirteen hundred and eighty dollars over five months to prepare for my unpaid maternity leave but almost everything was gone including my work scrubs and a beautiful sage green dress I purchased for my upcoming pregnancy photographs.

When I located Nick in the kitchen he casually explained that he had given my clothing to his pregnant sister Tara claiming she needed the items more because her boyfriend had left her. He dismissed my concerns completely and insisted I was simply being emotional and unreasonable. I reached out to Tara asking her to hold onto the clothes until we could sort things out but she ignored my calls. A short time later I checked social media and made a devastating discovery. Tara was not just borrowing my maternity clothes she was actively selling them online and my green dress was already marked as sold.

Realizing my husband had no intention of helping me I contacted his mother Elaine Keller who had always treated me with incredible kindness. I explained the situation to her and she immediately promised to help me recover my belongings asking me to send her all the evidence I had gathered. The next morning Elaine confronted Tara at her apartment and demanded the truth the remaining clothes and the money she had made from the sales. Tara confessed that she had sold five items for three hundred and ten dollars but the most shocking revelation was that Nick had demanded half of that money to cover an urgent credit card payment due by Monday. Nick had manipulated his sister telling her I wanted to clear out my closet and specifically instructing her to sell the most expensive pieces first. daily laundry.