You’ve suspected for a while that something is not right between you and your spouse. Maybe they were spending lots of extra hours “at work.” But there was no overtime on their paycheck. Perhaps they completely changed their music, hairstyle, or clothing choices to something appropriate for someone decades younger. Maybe they were chatting or texting all the time and then deleted everything (so you couldn’t see it). Whatever the reasons, you had a sneaking suspicion something wasn’t right. But what can you do to end spouse’s affair?
To End Spouse’s Affair?
If you suspect your spouse is having an affair or is being emotionally unfaithful, do not despair. An affair does not have to mean the end of your marriage.
Consider This:
- Approximately 20% of affairs last less than two months.
- Approximately 50% of affairs last more than one month, but less than a year.
- The remaining 30% last more than a year.
- Very few last more than four years.
- Around 3% result in marriage.
There are seven specific steps you can take if you have reason to believe your spouse may be unfaithful. There is no guarantee your marriage will recover, but these steps will give you the best opportunity to recover after the affair ends —and consider this:
Step 1) Gather Evidence on Your Spouse’s Affair
Just to be clear, it is very typical for the disloyal spouse to deny they are having an affair. They’ll do this even if you walk in and catch them “in the act.” They jump up and as they’re putting their clothes on they’ll say, “It’s not what it looks like!” So this step is not much to use as proof to make the disloyal spouse confess. It is, however, proof to the loyal spouse that they are not making a mountain out of a molehill. Something REALLY IS going on!
So if you suspect, keep an open mind and gather evidence to either prove or disprove your theory. In some states it is illegal to tape someone without their knowledge. So you may want to check your state’s laws on electronic surveillance. In general some typical “evidence” could be looking at emails if the disloyal leaves their email open (print them!). Look at the cell phone pictures and texts if their phone is left unlocked. You can also log onto your joint cell phone bill online and look for 2000 minutes to the same phone number.
Step 2) Confront Spouse’s Affair
Once the loyal spouse is convinced that there is an emotional or physical affair, the first step is to go to the disloyal directly. Tell them to their face that you know about the affair. Let then know you have evidence in a safe place that proves it’s really irrefutable. Don’t tell them where it is or what it is necessarily. Just make the statement that you know about it. Then state right out loud that in order for the marriage to work there cannot be infidelity. Tell them point blank to end the affair.
Ending the affair means that they can never, EVER contact the other person ever again. They need to agree to be accountable for their time by sharing passwords to their accounts (facebook, all email accounts, cell phones… etc.). On the occasion there is a disloyal spouse who will fall apart just upon being discovered. They have been looking for a way to get out of it but didn’t know how. If this is your case, consider yourself blessed and move to the phase of recovering your marriage! If it is not, move to step 3.
Step 3) Disclose Your Spouse’s Affair Info
When you have confronted your disloyal spouse about the affair and asked them to end it, and they either refuse to do so or have not done so (maybe they took it more “underground”), the next step is to disclose the affair to ONE very respected authority whom the disloyal is likely to look up to and listen to. It should be someone who is likely to be pro-marriage. They should tell the disloyal that having an affair is not acceptable… that they should end it and work on the issues in their marriage. This one person is possibly one of the disloyal spouse’s parents, a pastor or religious leader, a teacher or boss.
Meet with the one person in confidence. Explain to them you expect them to keep it confidential but that you need help. And then explain that your spouse is having an affair and give them the facts. If you can, show them the evidence. Then ask the respected person to give you any support they can offer to encourage your disloyal spouse to “come home.” The idea here is to keep this to ONE specific person who is pro-marriage, wise, and trusted by both of you. That way any potential for embarrassment is minimized and your disloyal has the opportunity to “do the right thing.”
On occasion a disloyal spouse will listen to the person they trust and respect, and end the affair. If this is your case, consider yourself blessed and move to the phase of recovering your marriage! If it is not, move to step 4.
Step 4) Exposure of Spouse’s Affair
When someone that your disloyal spouse respects has spoken to them about the affair and encouraged them to end it, but they have hardened their heart and refuse to end it, the next step is to expose the affair to those who will likely be affected by a potential divorce. The idea behind exposure is not to drag your disloyal spouse’s name and reputation through the mud (their ACTIONS are doing that!). Rather, it is to refuse to keep the affair a “secret” and to bring the ugly truth of the unfaithfulness to the light of day.
In many ways an affair is like an addiction. In the disloyal’s mind they may be thinking something like, “Oh yes we might be disrupting four people’s lives, but don’t I deserve some happiness too?” What they DON’T realize is that a divorce will not affect four people. It will be a like the ever-widening wake of a nuclear bomb, affecting possibly hundreds of people!
Contact People Who Should Know about Spouse’s Affair
For this step though, there will be a focus to the exposure. The loyal spouse should contact their own parents and siblings, and the disloyal’s parents and siblings. They should also contact their place of worship, some of the loyal spouse’s co-workers, and some of the disloyal spouse’s co-workers. Plus, contact the loyal spouse’s employer, the disloyal spouse’s co-workers, and the other person’s spouse. Inform them that the disloyal spouse is having an affair, that it is serious, that the marriage is in trouble, and ask for help. The focus and main concern here is to contact those who may be harmed by the affair. Give the facts, and ask them to support the loyal or talk to the disloyal and tell them to return to the marriage.
Contact Employers about Spouse’s Affair
And by the way —YES you speak to your employer. They need to know why you seem distracted, cry at work, and aren’t as productive. Also, contact the disloyal’s employer because they are seriously in jeopardy of a sexual harassment lawsuit! Their property, time, and resources are being used for unwanted sexual contact, and they need to address it or they could be sued. And YES you contact the other person’s spouse. Ask them, “Are you aware that my spouse is having an affair with your spouse? I have evidence…” Nothing ends an affair faster than the OP’s spouse screaming and putting their foot down!
Now, your disloyal is likely to be pretty upset with you for exposing their affair. A) Affairs are much more “fun” when they are a clandestine romantic rendezvous and not brought to the truth of being adultery! And B) you are trying to cut them off from the drug they are “addicted” to. But just like you sometimes have to endure the fury of an addicted friend in an intervention —it’s for their own good. The hope is that once the addiction is broken, they will see and appreciate what you did. Your marriage can survive your disloyal spouse’s anger. It cannot survive ongoing adultery.
On the occasion a disloyal spouse who realizes that everyone knows about their affair —and the OP’s spouse screams and puts a stop to it. The affair is killed. If this is your case, consider yourself blessed and move to the phase of recovering your marriage!! If it is not, move to step 5.
Step 5) Carrot and Stick
In this phase you focus on two things. You work on yourself to be the person you once were who attracted your spouse again. AND you allow your disloyal to experience the natural consequences of their choices. You work on yourself by eliminating the things that extinguished love between you two (like judging, angry explosions, enough is never enough). Plus, you re-start the things that kindled love between you two (like romantic doo-dads). You need to do BOTH, but eliminating love extinguishers is the most important of the two.
The idea here is that the disloyal is getting some of their needs met by the Other Person. Instead, you want them to see that you do “get it” and that you are an attractive alternative able to meet their needs. The second part is about NATURAL consequences. This doesn’t mean that you punish the disloyal, but rather, you are not leaving the house so they can move their lover in.
If the disloyal wants to be with their lover, they’ll need to move out. And nope, the kids do not go with them. There is no reason for the children to leave their home, their bed, their neighborhood, their friends, their school because the disloyal is with the OP. So a natural consequence there is that the disloyal loses some time with their children. That’s the cost of choosing to have an affair and what WILL happen if they choose to divorce. Allow them to experience that hurt because it will teach them faster that affairs HURT and cost A LOT!!
Not a Long Term Solution
You should know that this step is not “long term” because no one can give and give and give forever when an affair is being rubbed in their face. Eventually the time would come for you to say, “I’ve done what I could to win you over. I need to move to the next step before I lose all love for you.” Sometimes a disloyal spouse sits on the fence in this step because they are getting needs met by two folks. On the occasion there are disloyal spouses whose affair just die a natural death. It could be the Other Person just gets sick of it and leaves them. Or it could be that they begin to see the good of staying and how much leaving would hurt.
They may think, however, that too much water has passed under the bridge. Periodically let your disloyal know that you would love to have them back and work on the marriage. Invite them to return. If this is your case, consider yourself blessed and move to the phase of recovering your marriage! If it is not, move to step 6.
Step 6) Consequences Because of Spouse’s Affair
In this step, write the disloyal a letter and explain that you love them. Admit the things you did to contribute to the affair, and indicate what you’re doing to end those things. Then say that unless they end ALL contact with the OP and never, EVER contacts the OP again, you need to end all contact with them. The idea behind this step is to give them a more realistic taste of what divorce could be like. They will not have you in their life to meet ANY needs! They also can no longer depend on you for those little household chores, or blame you for the day’s events.
If you have children one of the common things a female disloyal will pull is wanting the loyal to do things “for the children.” In reality, they want you to meet her needs. In the Consequences Step, it is already set up ahead of time that there is an intermediary or buffer between the disloyal and loyal spouse. This can be a person who agrees to do it. This can also be a notebook that the children carry in their backpack when they go between houses. But by no means is the loyal spouse to accept phone calls or read IM’s or emails.
Boundaries Around Spouse’s Affair Ending
If the disloyal calls, the loyal should say something like, “Are you calling because you’re ready to end the affair? Oh, you’re not? Then please respect my wishes for no contact until you’re ready to do that.” Say goodbye and hang up. For all email attempts, forward them to the intermediary. Keep the focus on ending the affair and recovering marriage. Don’t get caught up in arguing over secondary or trivial issues.
Don’t play the Blame Game
Undoubtedly by this point life is not going great for the disloyal as they persist in doing what they know is wrong. They need to have someone in their life whom they can blame for everything that’s going wrong. If the loyal spouse is the one getting the blame a) that extinguishes a lot of love for the loyal spouse. And b) that gives the disloyal spouse somewhere to displace the blame rather than looking at themselves and their own choices! So it is necessary for this time of no contact in order to maintain what little bit of love the loyal spouse may still have, and allow the disloyal to take personal responsibility for their choices as soon as possible.
Again, in this stage there are occasionally disloyal spouses whose affair just die a natural death. The OP just gets sick of it and leaves them —or they begin to realize that a divorce would be VERY painful to them. Periodically let your disloyal know that you would be willing to have them back and work on the marriage. But that at this point some substantial damage has been done. Invite them to return. If this is your case, consider yourself blessed and move to the phase of recovering your marriage!!If it is not, move to step 7.
Step 7) Legal Separation Because of Spouse’s Affair
The final step that we’d recommend before divorce is a legal separation. To be blunt, many affairs die a natural death within two years. So if a loyal spouse can stall for that amount of time, there is a good chance that the disloyal spouse would at least consider returning. Thus, as a tactic that will both stall the legal process of divorce and protect both the family assets and the loyal spouse and children, we would recommend a legal separation. We suggest a minimum of one year legal separation.
Continue the Work
During the legal separation, the loyal spouse should continue to work on eliminating love extinguishers. They should once again reclaim love kindlers. But they can also suggest marriage counseling or begin to date the disloyal again. The disloyal spouse may push for a “quickie” divorce in an attempt to legitimize their affair partner. But if nothing else, a legal separation will give all parties involved a chance to recover from the emotional roller coaster. It can also put into place a likely chance of then ending the affair. Once the affair is actually OVER —then it’s conceivable the disloyal may still decide they would rather stay apart. But at that point with all good conscience the loyal spouse will have literally done all they could to save their marriage.
Once the affair is over, there is still more work to be done to recover the marriage. But that is another topic!
This article is used by permission from the ministry of Affaircare.com. Affaircare offers a number of “helps” for those who need it. Among them is a great web site with a number of helpful articles, plus the ability to Live Chat with David or Cindy. They also offer phone coaching. You might ask what’s so special about an Affair Care Coach? AffairCare coaches are PRO-MARRIAGE!!! And whether you realize it or not, that isn’t always the norm, in coaching and counseling… it SHOULD be, but often it’s not. You can even subscribe to Affaircare and get weekly tips in your email about keeping your marriage affair-free or saving your marriage after an affair.
Filed under: Emotional & Physical Affair Surviving Infidelity
(UNITED STATES) This is so very well done, thank you. I especially appreciated the carrot part of step 5 – those who are willing to admit they are imperfect are far easier to deal with, especially by a disloyal spouse.
How long do you stay on step 6? I sent the letter about 2 weeks ago and my husband has made attempts to say he’s sorry but has not ended his affair. How long does this go on?
My husband is a serial emotional cheater. He has done this to me about 4 to 5 times in a span of our 23 year relationship, that’s what I know of. He just never stops. He has done this with female co-workers, and even a gay man one time. He really doesn’t see the harm in what he has done in the past 23 years. He does it, I catch him, then I think he ends it. He behaves for a few years, then he’ll start one all over again. It’s so emotionally draining.
I don’t understand why he does it time after time again. It’s like an addiction. He thinks there is no harm done because he’s not getting physically involved. I don’t actually know if this is true, and of course with new technology his ways of having these affairs have become more secretive and private, through emails, texting. He also doesn’t allow me any passwords to phone, or email accounts.
Meanwhile, I’ve been a good wife never straying, even calling or looking at anther man. He’s very jealous and I know this, therefore, I respect and don’t do this to him. I don’t get this; please help. The last affair I just blew up and had it. He and this “whore” were getting drunk on the job everyday. So I told on them. They transfered them and shut the place down. I had it with them, and I threatened to tell her husband because he wasn’t taking me seriously, to be honest. That did it; he stopped. That is good advice. Do expose them, tell on them. It is no longer sexy if they can’t keep it a secret.
Dearest Laura, How my heart goes out to you. This is wrong on so many levels. Your husband is obviously clueless as to how this is tearing your heart apart. You definitely need to get help to figure out how to best guard your heart, and hopefully, your marriage from having this happen again. I highly encourage you to contact Affair Care. We provide a link at the end of this article to help you contact them.
YOU need help, so you can best discern what to do about this situation. I’m not thinking that your husband will totally stop this type of behavior until he really, really gets it, as far as the hurt and the damage he is causing, and then changes because he wakes up. I believe Affair Care can help you figure out how to best handle this… hopefully, prayerfully, your husband will eventually wake up before the marriage totally falls apart. I believe they can help you to better heal too. I pray that for you –that you will eventually be able to embrace the hope that better days are ahead.
My wife of 26 years is having an affair. We have been separated for 11 weeks now. The affair has been exposed and as somewhat slowed down. We are in individual therapy but nothing together. We have minimal contact to each other. Only if I contact her first then she responds. I want to save the marriage but I sit here feeling like a rat on a wheel. Going no where and seeing no progress either way. The affair has been going for 8 months now. Any suggestions? I have tried and failed so far. I am thinking of not contacting her at all at this point but I fear that would be the dagger to end it.
My husband has made me aware of his affair since the start. I thought it was for the 3 of us to have a little fun but then the other woman wanted more and more quiet time with him. Now its every Thurs and Fri come hell or high water, sometimes he stays the night which upsets me every time. I just want it to end but he refuses to end it. We have agreed to stay together because we still love each other and we have a daughter that just wouldn’t understand. So do I just ride it out or do I finally let him know I’m done. Help!
First off, bringing someone else into your marriage has defiled it, and just because the two of you agreed to it, your marriage covenant isn’t just with you and your husband, it also includes God and obviously he isn’t okay with it. You reap what you sow, and the devil now has a foothold into your marriage and in your lives, and you let him in by being tempted to the point of having a threesome. Now you’re suffering the consequences, even worse, an innocent child is going to suffer consequences because of what the three of you have done.
First off, you gotta get your life together and right with God, and don’t expose your child to what’s going on. If you and your husband are Christians, then somewhere in both of you is a foundation of what’s right and wrong. You need to pray for your husband, and God’s intervention into the sinful relationship he is engaged, and to speak to his heart and what he know’s is right. I’m not trying to sound harsh but you and he need the truth spoken into your life. Get involved in church, a prayer group, and a marriage ministry. I’ll be praying for you and your family.
Hi. I’ve been in a marriage for about ten years and there have been a few incidents of cheating. One was a guy she had emotional attachment with and she tried to leave me for him a few years back then they broke up because he’s in love with his girl friend and we got back together; but then about one year later she told me it happened again but also changed her story a few times and said he felt bad and left before they ever did it. After that we broke up a few months in 2015 and she told me a list of about 3-5 guys she slept with during the time we were broken up who I am still suspicious of one.
I swear she tells more pointless lies than I can count. I’ve found deleted messages and random phone numbers all of which were lied about which was in 2012 if there was an affair back then I’m not aware of it but I suspected it back then. I always have suspicions; I’ve found every kind of proof besides red handed in the past. Back then I used to struggle financially and I’ve always asked or accused her hoping she would just tell the truth. Every suspicion was denied any involvement with and a lot of times I was most likely wrong but some of them I feel I was right and got lied to. Now, they are in the past and it’s not 2012, it’s 2017 we’ve been together since 2009 18yrs old until 28 y/o.
Anyways I leave for months at a time now. I started this job in 2016 and my wife and I got back together right before I left in December 2015. Anyhow I came home after no contact while I was gone forever 2016 Jan – June she said her phone got messed up and she had to change her number. We stopped talking beginning of March 2016. Before that we were talking about having another kid when I got home. When I got home I was ready to play this girl as good as I could and I did cheat a lot that summer and strang her along telling her I loved her which I do but what I was doing at the time was revenge for her telling me she hadn’t been with anyone. The whole three months we didn’t talk – this is June 2016.
So I find a guy she was messing with back in Oct. 2015 in her contacts and msgs between them all appearing to look innocent last summer 2016 and this last winter 2016 I found a men’s t shirt at her house the first day I come home and she tells me it was her ex lovers and he gave it to her back when she was living at her moms house back in oct.2015 this is 2016 almost 17. So I say I thought you said you didn’t go to your moms house the whole time I was gone, oh now her mom brought the clothes over and at this point I’m just like fuck it whatever I’ll just cheat on you if I can’t trust you but I really don’t want it to be that way now we’re in 2017 and I recently found that he has a separate Facebook I can’t find on no ones Facebook but hers and no conversation between the two so it proves nothing and when I asked her about it it’s the same blow up claiming to not have done anything. I wish I could trust her but I’ve never caught her doing anything ever. I only know what she’s told me and there is no proof because I’m gone a lot.
I have a lot better things to do than put up surveillance and stalk her to make sure she’s not cheating or try to catch her in lies all the time or fighting over my “insecurities.” I’m not insecure I just want an honest relationship with this girl or I don’t want to mess with it if I gotta be told white lies all the time then have trust expected from me like I just have to believe her. There’s so much time and high hopes put into this and without it being an honest fair relationship I don’t want any commitment with this person if it’s not but I can’t just write her off we have a kid and she does love me and I do love her. She’s in church a lot now days; she lives a very clean and sober life as far as anyone knows and despite what I think there has been a big cut back in random contacts, numbers and messages but I think she has one guy as an ongoing affair and contacts him through an uncommonly used method I just don’t know.
Tyson, What you wrote concerning your marriage of 10 years describes a marriage relationship that is completely different from the way that God designed and intends marriage to be. It sounds like neither of you are very satisfied in your marriage relationship, and that is NOT how our God intended marriage to be. He desires us to be deeply committed to our spouse, serving and loving them sacrificially, fully transparent, following the Lord together, being completely faithful to each other until parted by death. A marriage relationship between husband and wife can be an exceedingly beautiful thing, and especially so when contrasted against the many broken relationships that are scattered all around us.
So, Tyson, if you desire to have a wonderful marriage relationship with your wife here are a few ideas to consider: 1) You and your wife should both strive to have a growing walk with the Lord. Work on your own walk first. 2) You and your wife should both make a commitment to work on your marriage. There are lots of excellent resources available to you. Make your commitment even if she won’t commit. 3) Every strong marriage relationship is the result of continually investing in it. Invest your energy into your marriage relationship multiple times each and every day. And remember to invest even if your wife isn’t investing. To have a return on your investment, you must first have invested.
4) Remember that love is a verb, not a feeling. And, as a verb, it must show action. Show your love for your wife by serving her sacrificially. 5) If you don’t feel like working on your walk with the Lord, or making a commitment to your marriage, or investing into your marriage, or serving your wife, then I would suggest that you pray. Pray to our Heavenly Father that He change your heart and give you a desire to do these things. He is the Creator of the Universe and these requests are aligned with His character and therefore aligned with His will for your life, so He will absolutely with full confidence answer your humble and heartfelt prayers for these things. 6) It is God’s desire for you, Tyson, that you and your wife have a wonderful marriage relationship. Never give up hope. The Creator of All can most assuredly heal and restore any broken marriage relationship in the blink of an eye, in His timing.
7) And, Tyson, if you don’t live in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as your Savior and the Lord of your life, today is the perfect day to tell Jesus that you want that relationship with Him. He will answer you and come to you with His free gift of eternal life, bought by His blood shed in our place to pay the price of our sins. Knowing Jesus in a personal way will radically transform your life and your marriage.
Trusting someone who has cheated on you is not easy. Is it even possible .
Step 5 regarding children… this is sad for the kids. You are encouraging withholding a parent time from their child unless they return to an unhappy marriage. Shame. In some cases the affair happens because one partner is abusive. Threats of not being allowed to see THEIR child keeps them in an unhappy situation and they will stray for the love they can’t have. Suicides are on the rise, particularly with men because of such issues. Your post seems to encourage nothing but manipulation and mind games. Yes it’s not right to have an affair, but all children deserve and have a right to see BOTH of their parents without one using their visitation as a weapon to manipulate another into a physical or emotionally abusive marriage! Very shallow, one sided and manipulative post. Very disappointing.
Guess you will delete this one anyway…God wants all his children to be happy and love, and sometimes people feel trapped and are desperate to leave but can’t so seek something out in others. Always 2 sides to every story… not always the ‘disloyal’ as you put it who is the ‘baddie’. I find this post very disturbing.
Dear True, Step 5 is not suggesting that you withhold the children from the unfaithful spouse. It is suggesting that you have the unfaithful spouse move out if they will not stop the affair. That only makes sense. How sick is that having your spouse going back and forth between you and their affair partner, using your home as a hotel to stop over in between trysts with the other person? How is that healthy for anyone involved?
Step 5 is saying that the children are not to move away with the unfaithful spouse, which will sadly, result in less time with the children. Having them leave their home and move away with the unfaithful spouse puts them in the middle of the mess of the affair. Plus, it deprives the faithful spouse of his or her children. We all make choices. When the unfaithful one doesn’t make the choice to not cheat on their spouse, then he or she is also cheating on their children.
Step 5 is not a matter of restricting the children from being with their other parent… but it will result in that parent not seeing the children as much because they are not living in the home with the children. Less hours living at home results naturally in less time with the children. There is nothing said about keeping the children away from their unfaithful parent, so I’m not sure why you say that this suggestion is manipulative. It is not suggesting withholding of visitation rights.
You talk about abusive spouses, feeling trapped and such. But NO MATTER WHAT… that does not justify having an affair. You can take other steps; you don’t have to cheat. You made a vow at the wedding and cheating was not included. You can’t change what your spouse does, but you can still remain to be an honest, faithful person. It’s a character issue. Just because your spouse acts a certain way, it does not mean that you have to lower your character to act in ways that you shouldn’t. God expects no less from us.
YOU need help, so you can best discern what to do about this situation. I’m not thinking that your husband will totally stop this type of behavior but You must carry out a smart action to links and divert calls and messages together to get others calls and text messages. You will need to engaged the service of a professional intelligence hacker to gain access to your spouses phones and social media account without account without their awareness, and the service of the below expert ethical hacker will ensure that’s it’s done flawlessly.
Dearest Laura, How my heart goes out to you. This is wrong on so many levels. Your husband is obviously clueless as to how this is tearing your heart apart. You definitely need to get help to figure out how to best guard your heart, and hopefully, your marriage from having this happen again. I highly encourage you to contact Affair Care. We provide a link at the end of this article to help you contact them.
YOU need help, so you can best discern what to do about this situation. I’m not thinking that your husband will totally stop this type of behavior until he really, really gets it, as far as the hurt and the damage he is causing, and then changes because he wakes up. I believe Affair Care can help you figure out how to best handle this… hopefully, prayerfully, your husband will eventually wake up before the marriage totally falls apart. I believe they can help you to better heal too. I pray that for you –that you will eventually be able to embrace the hope that better days are ahead.
The link to Affair Care that Haldis refers to is: https://www.affaircare.com. We aren’t real familiar with this particular organization, but you can look into it and see if it’s a good fit for you. You can find others in the “Pornography and Cybersex” topic of this web site.
I am currently in the situation where my husband of 16 years is having an affair with multiple partners, though, right now, I feel there is one who is the apple of his eye, which he is willing to leave his family for. This affair is 2 years old but I found out about it 4 months ago.
We are now separated for more than 2 months. He is yo-yoing and giving mixed signals but after they were caught together by my sister, coming back to us seems no longer an option. How much time do I give for each step before moving to the next?