A millionaire inadvertently discovers he is a father after he meets a homeless girl on the street, who begs him for some pennies to feed herself and her mother.
“Congratulations Miss Carolyn, you’re 4 months pregnant!” a chubby doctor with squinty eyes exclaimed excitedly as she revealed the results of the test the younger woman had come in for.
The doctor, whose name tag identified her as Dr. Melissa Foster, expected Carolyn to react with equal excitement at the news, but instead, the woman looked worried.
“Is anything wrong?” Melissa asked.
“Nothing doctor, it’s just, I’m no longer with him,” Carolyn said and burst into tears.
Melissa had no idea how to respond to the sudden onslaught of tears, but she didn’t need a rocket scientist to know Carolyn meant her father’s child.
The man’s name was Colt, the son of a successful rancher in Texas and the one Carolyn had caught cheating on the same day she discovered their baby growing inside her.
Earlier that day, Carolyn had stopped by a store to pick up some groceries when she caught sight of Colt browsing the aisles with a woman and child. They looked and acted like a family, then Carolyn heard the child speak.
“Mommy, I want chocolate chips,” the boy said, confirming Carolyn’s fear — he was Colt’s.
Carolyn did not wait around to see more. Instead, she left the store without the things she had selected and drove home with her vision blurry with unshed tears.
She had been burning through tissue for some time in her apartment when she felt nausea suddenly overcome her. It was the fourth time that week, and Carolyn feared she had caught the flu.
With a heavy heart the next day, she entered the hospital to have a full checkup. If something was wrong with her, she wanted to be in the know.
Carolyn had been expecting some minor diagnosis about the flu or a cold, not news that she was four months pregnant. It was another huge shock for the woman who had up until the day before been in love with a cheat.
“Thank you, Dr. Foster,” was all Carolyn could mutter, before walking out of the hospital in a daze. All she could think about was how different things could have been. In her fantasy, Colt would have happily accepted the news of the baby, and they would start to plan the rest of their life together.
As she drove to her home, Carolyn started to ponder her next steps. I can’t handle the trauma of getting ridiculed by Colt and his family for having his child, she said to herself. It would be the best for both of us if I just disappeared from his life with him none the wiser. Not only could he hurt me and my child, but he could decide to separate us by asking that the kid live with him and his family.
When she arrived at home, Carolyn noticed that Colt had left her many voicemails; he had been trying to reach her to no avail and was concerned.
“You liar,” she said to the answering machine and promptly started packing a small traveling bag.
If Colt could not reach her over the phone, she knew he would come looking for her at her apartment, and she felt unprepared to face him. Not after what he’d done. She hurriedly packed her things and left for the airport so that the last flight out of Houston had her on it.
Colt arrived at her home several minutes after her exit but could not get in. A minute of persistent knocking had Carolyn’s neighbor stepping out grumpily.
“Look, she’s not in man, can’t you tell?” the hairy man with a poker face growled. “She left with a small traveling bag stuffed with clothes, now scram,” the man said before returning to his home and slamming the door.
Colt never heard from Carolyn again. He routinely drove by the apartment to check on her until one day he found it empty.
“She moved her things last week,” her neighbor told him — still as grumpy as always.
When the child was born, Carolyn realized that the girl looked exactly like her dad, down to the birthmark in the form of a heart on their cheeks. And because of the pale skin the girl inherited from her mother, the mark stood out even more.
To care for her daughter, Carolyn got a job as a cleaner at a restaurant. She lived with her parents, but they didn’t have a lot, especially since they both spent a lot on their medications.
Carolyn named her daughter Trinity and did her best to raise her adequately. Even still, the child grew up knowing exactly the state of things in their home.
When the girl was six years old, she saw a homeless person begging for money on the streets and decided to do the same to help out her mother. To do that, she would often run away from school, skipping classes and returning home after.
One day, the city street was busy with people hurrying for lunch when the girl saw a tall, handsome man who looked lost in thought. Colt had been thinking about Carolyn and why she left him when the little girl pulled him by the edge of his expensive coat.
“Sir, do you have a penny for me?” she asked.
Colt rummaged in his pocket looking for coins, but he also noticed that the girl looked very much like him. He closed and opened his eyes again to see that he wasn’t hallucinating. But when the man saw exactly the same mole on her cheek, he froze in shock and his mind started racing.
“Daughter …” the man whispered and the girl shuddered. Colt realized she was probably as surprised as he was hearing him utter that word to her.
“We have the same mark,” she said in a somber tone. “My mom says it belongs to royalty.”
Colt was stunned by what was happening; the girl not only had his birthmark, she had his blue eyes and full lips. But he was certain there was no way he had a kid he did not know about.
“Are you my daughter?” he found himself asking.
“Me? I don’t know you, but I’ve got a mother,” she answered. “Can I have some money?”
“I think you’re my daughter,” Colt said, still trying to rationalize what he was seeing.
His words made the little child’s heart sink and her lips curved downwards in a pout similar to his but she was focused on getting the money she wanted – what were the odds of her meeting her dad anyway?
“Please?” she pleaded with the man to give her money.
In response, he pulled out a couple of dollar bills from his wallet and promised to hand them over to her if she let him meet her mother just once.
“Mommy says not to follow strangers around but you don’t look like a baddie,” Trinity said.
She agreed to the deal after a moment and snatched the money from Colt, after which she hurried to her home with him on her heels.
They arrived to see Carolyn lying on the floor with tears in her eyes.
“Mom?” Trinity called as she ran to her side.
When Carolyn opened her eyes, she faced her daughter: “Tri, why did you run away from school? I was so worried about you — ”
“Hello.”
That single word from Colt, who had been standing by the door, shocked Carolyn into silence. Then she slowly turned towards the doorway and laid eyes on her former lover.
“Colt?” she croaked as her face paled.
Unaware of what was happening, Trinity proceeded to tell her mom about how she wanted to help her make money so she didn’t have to work anymore. She only kept quiet when she realized that her mom had not for once taken her eyes off the man.
“Why did you leave me? Why didn’t you talk to me?” the man asked, his voice laden with emotion.
“I saw you Colt,” she said with tears in her eyes. “You were happy with another family!”
“But I told you that I got divorced five years before we met,” he groaned. “Is that why you left me the way you did?”
Carolyn was too shocked by the implication of what Colt told her. Had he never cheated? How could she have thrown away their future the way she did?
Her emotional turmoil, coupled with the fatigue that had accumulated from her working different jobs, made her blackout right then and there, giving Colt a big scare.
He rushed her to the hospital, where she was admitted and equipped with saline drips to steady her internal system. While she was there, Colt took Trinity to his rented apartment to await her mother while he returned to her side.
Carolyn was discharged later that night, and Colt took her to his place. He often used the three-bedroom apartment when he visited New York.
But when Carolyn entered the house, she saw the same woman and child she saw at the grocery store with Colt years back. And to her surprise, Colt introduced the woman as his sister.
Carolyn realized with sadness how wrong she was before and how her hasty decision had caused her to suffer. Her lover had never been anything but faithful.
After a long, soul-baring discussion, Colt and Carolyn decided to give things another go, and no one was happier than Trinity.