An old lady was abandoned by her daughter after she broke her leg in an accident, only to catch her son-in-law sneaking into her room one particular night.
One fine day, Mrs. Perkins received her pension and decided to go to the grocery store. She wanted to purchase groceries for her daughter and son-in-law, hoping to surprise them.
As she got out of the cab, however, she did not notice that there was a step. She fell and broke her leg, ending up in the hospital.
As Mrs. Perkins broke some bones, she spent several weeks in the hospital before being released. She could not walk properly and had to undergo therapy to try and get her to walk again.
All of Mrs. Perkins’ pension money went to her treatment, and her daughter, Mia, was frustrated because of it. “Well, there goes the groceries you said you wanted to surprise us with,” she commented while her mother was lying on the hospital bed.
Mia realized her mom had become useless to her. Her pension money would go to her daily maintenance medicine and food, but they would have to look after her.
Once she was discharged from the hospital, they took her back to the old house where she lived before moving in with Mia. Mrs. Perkins, who usually went by the name Lucy, realized that her daughter no longer wanted to take care of her, so she was sent back to her old home.
“Don’t worry, Lucy. You’ll be alright,” her son-in-law, James, said, winking at her cheerfully. Hearing this, she felt hopeful.
However, weeks turned into months and Mia and James never visited Lucy. “They were happy to get rid of me,” she thought sadly.
Every day, she would lay on the bed motionless and cry. She would only get up to fix herself a simple meal, even though it was difficult for her to move. While eating, she would sit by the window and wait for somebody to come, but no one ever did.
One night, Mrs. Perkins was awakened by a strange squeaking sound. She thought she heard footsteps, so she clutched her blanket in fear.
She pretended to be asleep but could hear the door to her room creaking open. Unable to stop her curiosity, she peeked from under her blanket and realized it was her son-in-law entering the room.
”
Why is he here in the middle of the night? Do they really want to get rid of me that fast?”
she thought, her heart pounding in fear.
Then she heard another sound in her room, as if James had dropped something heavy. She jumped at the sound, thinking the worst. She squeezed her eyes shut, thinking of what she should do.
When she opened them again, she realized that her son-in-law had left and something else caught her attention – there were was a walker in the room. Mrs. Perkins started to think about whether or not she had hallucinated the whole event or if it was a dream. She closed her eyes again and decided to go back to sleep.
The following day, Mrs. Perkins woke up to a delicious smell. She noticed the same walker she had seen the night before right by the door. “Did James leave this here for me?”
She slowly made her way to the walker and used it to get out of the room. She saw James in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. “It wasn’t a dream,” she said, a little too loudly. James had noticed her, and he greeted her with a big smile.
“Lucy! You’re awake! Good morning,” he told her.
“What are you doing here, James? Where is Mia?” Mrs. Perkins asked, surprised as to why her son-in-law was suddenly preparing breakfast for her.
“Mia left me,” James said quietly. “She met a wealthy business owner at one of the conferences she attended, and she filed for divorce two months ago,” he revealed.
Lucy suddenly felt sad that her daughter didn’t feel the need to share with her that she decided to split from her husband. She looked at James, still confused as to why he was helping her if he and Mia were no longer together.
“To be honest, Lucy, I felt all your pain being abandoned and realized we should never have left you on your own. I’m sorry, and I hope I can make it up to you,” he apologized to his mother-in-law.
“I’m here because even though Mia has decided to abandon us both, you never deserved to be treated that way. I want to take care of you and make sure you have everything you need,” James explained. He revealed that he hired a nurse named Belle and that they’d take care of her together.
Lucy couldn’t be more grateful to James. She was having a hard time living alone, and his being there to help her made her feel loved.
Belle and James took turns taking care of Lucy, and because of that, they got to know each other quite well. The pair would exchange stories about their youth and even their failed relationships in the past. Eventually, they started hinting at their feelings towards one another by making two cups of coffee instead of one, and smiling at one another while they interacted with Lucy.
Eventually, James fell in love again, and this time with Belle. Lucy couldn’t be happier for the pair, as she believed that her son-in-law deserved to feel loved – even if it meant not being with her daughter.
One day, while Lucy, James, and Belle were enjoying a beautiful garden lunch in the backyard, Mia came with her new husband. “Come on, let’s see if my mother’s still alive,” Mia said as they entered the front door.
James was the first person to see Mia and her new man, and they were all surprised to see each other. “James?” Mia said in shock. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I took responsibility for someone special – something you didn’t want to do,” James responded. “What are you doing here?”
“You mean mom’s still alive?” Mia asked, dumbfounded.
“How could you even ask that question, Mia? She’s your mother! You’re supposed to be checking up on her to see if she’s okay, not to check if she’s still alive. Did you really leave her out here to die?” James said, shaking his head.
“When I was still with you, I knew the only chance I had of getting rich was selling this house because your salary was so low. Now, my husband here provides for everything I need, but we thought it wouldn’t hurt to have a bit more money to buy ourselves a resthouse,” Mia shrugged, not even caring that her mother was just a few steps away in the backyard.
“So you’re here because you were hoping to take this property, not to check on your own mother. You are really cruel, Mia,” he said, disappointed at his ex-wife.
“Your mother is in a really good place now. Since you have no intention of being in her life, seeing you again would just break her like you did when you left her here. It’s best if you leave, or I’m going to call the police,” James said, clasping Belle’s hand as she entered the house to see what James was up to.
Mia scoffed as she watched James and Belle hold hands. “Come on, honey, let’s go. There’s nothing for us in this useless house,” she said to her husband and they walked out the front door.