History Main / AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder

''"Winnie left the next summer to study art history in Paris. Still, we never forgot our promise. We wrote to each other once a week for the next eight years. I was there to meet her when she came home... with my wife, and my first son -- eight months old. Like I said, things never turn out exactly the way you planned."''

** Further, the only reason the woman and "other man" hooked up is because they were in the middle of an attack and, in the heat of almost-died, have sex. Eventually (in 2031, thanks to HumanPopsicle), he admits some of this to his son, but is still too embarrassed to tell the whole story.

* This is one of the main plot drivers of ''SupermanReturns'': Superman went off for some years to find Krypton, but [[SuperDickery didn't bother telling anyone where he was going or when he would be back]]. His mother mostly accepts it but does scold him for leaving her unexpectedly, but Lois fits this trope perfectly: she married someone else, has a son, and won a Pulitzer Prize for a news article "[[TakeThat Why the world doesn't need Superman]]". Of course, [[spoiler: the son is Superman's, and from all indications both Lois and her husband knew it]].

Till we are wed, and even after.

** While you were [[spoiler:dead]], Kaidan began seeing a doctor. To be fair, it's not like most guys expect their ex-girlfriends to [[spoiler:come BackFromTheDead]]. It's unknown if Ashley began seeing someone, but it's pretty likely. Liara, however, ''definitely'' didn't. She's been too busy [[spoiler:trying to take down the Shadow Broker for trying to sell your body to the Collectors.]]

* In {{Spawn}}: The Animated Series, the title characters comes back from the dead to find his wife remarried to his best friend. In a subversion, it turns out that [[spoiler: he has partial amnesia, and recovers the memory of specifically asking his friend to "take care of" his wife if anything were to happen to him.]] It's unclear whether he specified the sexual aspect....

** Also, Marco lied to his dad, saying that the new wife had always been a Yeerk, and had started dating him only as an opprotunity to lead him to the Yeerks.

* ''My Favorite Wife'' was a 1940 comedy about a woman returning home after being shipwrecked (with a very handsome man) for seven years. See also another 1940 movie, ''Too Many Husbands''.

* Princess Sally in ''[[Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic The Hedgehog]]'' certainly fits the "enraged" category. Sonic had been believed dead for a whole year, he returned, she was relieved, and then he made it clear he was going to continue risking his life just as before, and she flipped out and dumped him. She hasn't found a [[ThePaolo Paolo]] yet, but Monkey Khan seems eager to try.

* There was a young man in World War II who freed his Jewish girlfriend from the camps by pretending to be a Nazi soldier. However, they got separated while they were trying to get out of the country. Neither waited for the other, and both got married. When the finally met up again as old folks, her husband had died but his wife had not. In a rare show of honor for this type of story (usually, in fiction at least, the old lovers get back together no matter what), the guy wouldn't leave his wife for his old flame, and she died never talking to him again.

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* There was a young man in World War II who freed his Jewish girlfriend from the camps by pretending to be a Nazi soldier. However, they got separated while they were trying to get out of the country. Neither waited for the other, and both got married. When the finally met up again as old folks, her husband had died but his wife had not. In a rare show of honor for this type of story (usually, in fiction at least, the old lovers get back together no matter what), the guy wouldn't leave his wife for his old flame, and she died never talking to him again. Here's the story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100720/ap_on_re_eu/eu_poland_escape_from_auschwitz_1.

* There was a young man in World War II who freed his Jewish girlfriend from the camps by pretending to be a Nazi soldier. However, they got separated while they were trying to get out of the country. Neither waited for the other, and both got married. When the finally met up again as old folks, her husband had died but his wife had not. In a rare show of honor for this type of story (usually, in fiction at least, the old lovers get back together no matter what), the guy wouldn't leave his wife for his old flame, and she died never talking to him again. Here's the story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100720/ap_on_re_eu/eu_poland_escape_from_auschwitz_1 [[/folder]]

* There was a young man in World War II who freed his Jewish girlfriend from the camps by pretending to be a Nazi soldier. However, they got separated while they were trying to get out of the country. Neither waited for the other, and both got married. When the finally met up again as old folks, her husband had died but his wife had not. In a rare show of honor for this type of story (usually, in fiction at least, the old lovers get back together no matter what), the guy wouldn't leave his wife for his old flame, and she died never talking to him again. Here's the story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100720/ap_on_re_eu/eu_poland_escape_from_auschwitz_1
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* On a particular episode of Dr. Phil as I recall a soldier in Iraq was counted for dead, and then his wife went on to marry his best friend. Needless to say the fellow turned out to be alive and returned home to an unwelcome surprise. Cue the Dr. Phil theme.
* There's a couple stories floating around about men who went off to fight in wars (most notably in this troper's area, the Mexican-American War) with their girlfriends promising to wait, and when they get back, they find out their girlfriend - didn't. Usually by walking in on their girlfriend and her lover.

Not to be confused with the TropeNamer, the [[KingsQuest King's Quest]] game of the same name.