A woman who was kicked out of her wealthy father’s house at sixteen for marrying a poor man ended up living on the streets with her four children after her husband passed away.
Steve Walton was not happy when his butler informed him that Pastor Morris was waiting to see him. After a long flight from Singapore, he was tired and not interested in hearing the pastor’s lectures or requests for community support.
He had the pastor brought in and, showing his impatience, said, “Get on with it, man! What do you want this time?”
“Mr. Walton, I saw Susan,” the pastor said quietly. Steve’s heart nearly stopped. His only daughter had left his house nearly fifteen years ago, and he hadn’t seen her since.
“Susan?” Steve asked anxiously. “Where? When? How is she?”
“I was in Los Angeles, helping out a friend with a mission for the homeless, and that’s where I saw her,” the pastor explained.
“Was she volunteering? Did you tell her I’ve been looking for her?” Steve asked.
“No,” Pastor Morris replied gently. “She wasn’t a volunteer, Mr. Walton. She’s homeless. She and her children are living in a car.”
Steve felt so dizzy he had to sit down. “Homeless? My Susan? With children?” he gasped.
“I’m afraid so,” the pastor said. “And she wouldn’t even listen to me when I told her to come home.”
“But why?” Steve asked angrily. “She’s not still with that loser, is she?”
“Her husband passed away three years ago, Mr. Walton,” the pastor explained. “She told me she wouldn’t bring her children into a house where their father was hated.”
Steve Walton felt a wave of old rage sweep over him. Even fifteen years later, Susan was still defying him! He remembered the scene in his study, and how Susan had looked him in the eyes as he ranted.
“Pregnant at sixteen, and by the GARDENER!” he had screamed. “We are going to have THAT taken care of, and HE’S fired! You will never see that man again!”
“THAT is my baby, daddy,” Susan had said with a trembling voice. “And HE is the man I love. I’m going to marry him.”
“You marry that man and you’re on your own, Susan, do you hear?” Steve shouted furiously. “No more money, nothing! You marry him and you get out of my house!”
Susan had looked at him with tears in her eyes. “I love you, daddy,” she said. Then she turned and walked away. Despite hiring detectives to find her, no one had been able to trace her.
“How many children?” Steve asked Pastor Morris.
“Four,” the pastor replied. “Three girls and a boy. Beautiful children.”
Steve picked up his phone and demanded that his plane be prepared. “Pastor, would you come with me to Los Angeles and take me to my little girl?” he asked quietly.
The pastor nodded, and within two hours, he and Steve were on Steve’s private jet heading south. When they landed, a limo was waiting to take them to a parking lot outside a large mall.
At the far end of the lot, they found a pickup truck with a tent set up in the back. Pastor Morris had told Steve that after Susan’s husband died in a work accident, the insurance company refused to pay out, and the bank foreclosed on their home.
Susan had packed her children and their few belongings into the old pickup. She worked as a cleaner at the mall and used the mall’s facilities. She also bought leftover food from the restaurants at the end of the day.
Despite everything, Susan managed to keep her four children fed, clean, and in school. As Steve and the pastor approached the truck, they heard cheerful voices and laughter. Two children tumbled out of the back, excited to see them.
The oldest girl, around fourteen, was laughing as she tickled a boy of about seven. When Steve and Pastor Morris approached, the children stopped and stared.
“Mom!” the girl shouted. “That old preacher friend of yours is here!”
From inside the tent, a familiar voice asked, “Preacher Morris?” Susan then emerged, and Steve saw the shock on her face when she saw him standing next to the pastor.
“Daddy?” she asked, tears welling up in her eyes.
Steve was taken aback. His daughter was only thirty-one, but she looked much older. Her face was lined with worry and hardship, and her hands were rough from hard work.
“Susan,” Steve cried. “Look at you! Look at what HE did to my princess! I wanted so much more for you! And you married that loser! What could he have given you? Poverty?”
Susan shook her head and said, “He loved me, Daddy, and he gave me four beautiful children. He passed away, and I had nowhere to go, but I’ve done my best for my kids. I will always love their father, just like I’ve always loved you.”
Steve found tears streaming down his face. “Forgive me, Susan,” he sobbed. “Please forgive me. Come home, I want you all to come home with me. Let me help you take care of the children!”
As Steve held his weeping daughter, he knew that everything would be alright. Susan introduced him to his three granddaughters and then placed her hand on the boy’s shoulder. “And this,” she smiled, “is little Stevie!”
“You named him after me?” Steve asked, amazed. “After what I did?”
Susan looked at her father and said softly, “I love you, Daddy. Don’t you know that?”
That afternoon, they all flew back to Texas together. It marked the start of a new, better life for the whole family.
What can we learn from this story?
– **Love Your Children Unconditionally:** Steve’s anger at Susan for loving someone poor led him to lose his daughter. Accept your children no matter who they love.
– **Don’t Judge People by Wealth:** Steve didn’t like Susan’s husband because he was poor, but he was a loving and dedicated father. Don’t judge people by their money or status.
Share this story with your friends. It might bring them hope and inspiration.
Mom’s $5 Million Inheritance: Greedy Brother and Aunts Benefit, I’m Left with Just an Envelope
It is not rare that families fracture over a loved one’s assets. It sometimes goes to the extent that those set to inherit may not see eye to eye. A woman shared a story of her mother and the inheritance she left after her passing. The woman started her story saying how she was the one who took care of her mother who battled cancer. “Mom was always my best friend, so naturally, I was going to be there every step of the way while she battled this illness,” the woman wrote. However, as she was always there for her…
It is not rare that families fracture over a loved one’s assets. It sometimes goes to the extent that those set to inherit may not see eye to eye.
A woman shared a story of her mother and the inheritance she left after her passing.
The woman started her story saying how she was the one who took care of her mother who battled cancer. “Mom was always my best friend, so naturally, I was going to be there every step of the way while she battled this illness,” the woman wrote.
However, as she was always there for her mother, her greedy brother and her aunts were only around when they needed something, usually when they wanted their bills paid.
“one aunt (while my mom was on a steady decline), she wanted mom’s “contacts” to sort out a new house for her. Because my mom owned a real estate agency. The audacity was unbelievable,” the woman wrote.
Sadly, her mom passed away.
The woman then recalled the day her mom’s will was to be read. All of her family, including her brother and her aunts, as well as her late mom’s lawyer were sit in the room that resembled a scene from a Hallmark movie.
“I was sipping a cup of weak tea from one of the chipped teacups when the lawyer dropped the bomb. Mom’s savings, about all $5 million of it, was to be split between my brother and my aunts. I choked back the tea, thinking what was happening in the name of heaven. Because I got nothing. Zip. Nada.
“I was sipping a cup of weak tea from one of the chipped teacups when the lawyer dropped the bomb. Mom’s savings, about all $5 million of it, was to be split between my brother and my aunts. I choked back the tea, thinking what was happening in the name of heaven. Because I got nothing. Zip. Nada,” the woman wrote.
At that moment, tears started rolling down her face and mascara drops stained her skirt while her brother and her aunts had a hard time hiding the smirk on their faces.
“‘How on earth could my mom have done this to me?‘ I thought, wiping my nose with the face of my hand. And then, as a classic overthinker, I began to wonder whether I cared enough for her during those final months,” the poor woman kept wondering.
Next, she could see the lawyer approaching her and handing her an envelope.
When she opened it, the woman saw an address written on a piece of paper. She had no idea what was going on.
At first, she thought it could be a location to a storage her mom wanted her to clear out. The lawyer, for one, stayed tight-lipped. He only reminded the the woman that she was the person her mom loved the most.
When she got to the address, the woman realized that her mom left her a gem of a home. The house in front of her was so beautiful it resembled one from a fairytale. Even the woman’s favorite flowers were planted in the yard.
“It turns out my mom knew all about how my brother and aunts were the biggest money drains. But she wanted me to have a place to build a future and a family. To make new memories in a place that clearly has her spirit,” the woman continued her story.
Another letter on the kitchen table in this new home explained that the mom left the money to her son and her sister fully aware they would waste it the moment they put their hands on it, but she wanted to teach them the value of family, which would likely come as a lesson once they spent all the money they inherited.
“But now, I’m standing in my new kitchen, drinking coffee from the coffee machine I always wanted, and I realize that mom’s love was never in the money — no. It was in this home, and I knew that this gift would be more valuable to me than anything else.
“Hey, Mom? You still know the best.”
What are your thoughts on this story?
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