A childless woman finds a little boy she knows from a school she works at sleeping in a doorway. She takes him in, never imagining how he will transform her life.
Victoria loved children, which was why she chose to work at a school, even if it was in maintenance. Like so many women, Victoria had been unable to conceive.
That had been the kiss of death for her second marriage. Her husband wanted children just as much as she did, so he left, remarried, and had two babies.
“What do I have?” Victoria asked herself bitterly. “Forty-three years old, and I have nothing!”
Then she laughed. “Victoria Baker, that’s enough of feeling sorry for yourself!” She had her own little house, and a wonderful job, and Huck Finn, her cat. She was happy in her own way.
“The Lord will provide,” she told herself, never imagining that the Lord was about to provide.
On the weekends, Victoria drove to a nearby town for her shopping and came back fairly late. That particular evening, her neighbors were having a party and she couldn’t find parking on her own street.
“Damn!” she cried. “And they didn’t even invite me!”
The hurt caused to a child lasts a lifetime.
Now she’d have to lug her groceries two blocks to her house! Victoria locked her car, picked up her groceries, and started walking when she heard an odd little noise.
“Who’s there?” she cried. She put down her shopping and peered under the hedge that overgrew onto the sidewalk. There was a child there, curled up, fast asleep!
“Hello?” Victoria said, and the kid sat up, blinking and looking very frightened, He was around six or seven, and his face was blotchy with tears and streaked with dirt.
“Please,” he whispered. “Please, leave me alone!”
Victoria was shocked. “Honey, it’s OK,” she said gently as she drew the boy out into the light. She knew this boy! He was one of the pupils at the school where she worked!
“Sammy, what happened? What are you doing here?” Sammy immediately started crying, and Victoria had a hard time calming him down, and when she heard his story, she understood why.
“My mom,” Sammy whispered. “She’s sick, you know? She gets medicine from one of her friends, but it’s expensive. It’s not her fault!”
“I know, Sammy,” Victoria said. “Tell me what happened.”
“She asked me to go to the mall and ask people at the door for money, but I was so tired… I fell asleep. So I came home, and she asked: ‘How much did you get?’ so I told her two dollars. She was so mad.
“She said: ‘Unless you bring me $50 you can sleep outside!’ I said: ‘Mom, please, mommy! I’m so hungry!’ But she screamed at me and told me to never come back.”
Victoria put her arms around Sammy, her heart breaking. “I don’t have anywhere to go,” Sammy whispered.
“Yes, you do!” Victoria said. “You can stay with me tonight. I’ll make spaghetti, and you can meet my cat. I have a HUGE cat. His name is Huck Finn…”
That night, Sammy slept safe and warm in Victoria’s little guest bedroom with Huck Finn at his feet, and the next day, she took him to school and told the principal what she’d discovered.
The principal called the police and Child Services and an investigation was started into Sammy’s mother. During the interview with the social worker, Sammy clung to Victoria like a limpet.
Afterward. the woman asked Victoria to consider becoming Sammy’s foster mother. “He trusts you,” the woman said. “And I think you care for him. That’s a great foundation for a family!”
Victoria became Sammy’s foster mom, and when he was thirteen, she adopted him. There wasn’t a lot of money, but there was lots of love (and cats), and that little house was the happiest on the block.
Many years later, Sammy was Sam, and he was married and with a family of his own. He was visiting Victoria for Sunday lunch with his wife and baby son when someone rang the doorbell.
“I’ll get it, mom!” Sam yelled and scooped Huck Finn IV out of the way.
He opened the door. There was a frazzled middle-aged woman standing there. “Yes?” he asked.
“Sammy?” the woman said, stretching out her hands and smiling. There was lipstick on her teeth. “My sweet Sammy! It’s your momma…”
Sam looked at her. “You’re not my mom,” he said calmly. “My mom is in the kitchen making lunch like she has every Sunday for the last fourteen years. I don’t know who you are.”
He closed the door and went straight to the kitchen and kissed Victoria. “I love you, mom,” he whispered. “I love you so much!”
What can we learn from this story?
Love and trust are the foundation of a great family. Victoria and Sammy found the love they needed in each other and became a happy family.
Some mistakes are unforgivable. Sam’s mother thought she could come back and be forgiven for abandoning him, but she was wrong. The hurt caused to a child lasts a lifetime.
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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a lonely, childless older woman who finds a baby abandoned in a stroller and is stunned when she recognizes the beautiful diamond necklace hidden under its pillow.
This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only.