A poor man found an older woman stranded on the street and took her home to live with his family. He knew little her kids would arrive on his doorstep with a strange request after her death.
“I have to get home before it starts raining,” mumbled Evan as he beat the traffic one evening after work. He was driving home and was exhausted after a long day in the wood processing factory.
Just as the father-of-three sped across the street, he saw a frail figure of an older woman on the sidewalk. She stood under the street lamp, holding her wheeled walker for support.
It appeared she could not walk further and was almost about to collapse…
“Hey, wait up! Lady, please be careful!… Hold on, I’m coming!” Evan shouted as he immediately pulled over near her.
“We will call the cops and report you for robbing our mother…where have you hidden the box?” yelled one of the ten children.
He held her right on time and first made her sit on the curb. “Here, have some water. Are you alright?”
The woman gulped some water and looked at the long road desperately. Sighing, she got up and thanked Evan, getting ready to walk further as long as her fragile legs could carry her.
“Wait a minute…I’m heading that way. Do you want a ride?” asked Evan, concerned about leaving the woman alone when it was almost about to start raining.
“Son, thanks for trying to help this old Doris. But my destination is unclear. I don’t know where I’m walking to,” replied the woman as a confused Evan wondered what she was talking about.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Doris. See, I’m heading this way. I don’t mind dropping you. Please tell me your address.”
The older woman could not hold back her tears. She buried her face in her hands and started to weep. “I was kicked out of the nursing home this morning because I couldn’t pay.”
“Oh my God…that’s insane! Doesn’t Medicaid cover you?” asked Evan, curious to know more.
“The facility does not accept Medicaid,” cried Doris in half-broken sentences.
“Do you have children?”
“Yes, I do have ten children.”
“Shall I drop you at their house? Where do they live?”
“No, please don’t take me to them. They were the ones who sent me to the nursing home. They don’t need this old mother anymore.”
Evan became teary-eyed after listening to Doris’s story. He was a poor carpenter who lived in a small, humble house with his wife Emily and three kids. He remembered his late parents and decided there was no way he would leave Doris alone on the street.
“Listen, we can sort this later. But right now, please come home with me. I have a wife and three kids at home. You can stay the night with us.”
Exhausted and hungry, Doris agreed and rode with Evan to his house.
“…That’s so sad. I’m glad you brought her here. It has started to rain, and thank goodness you found her,” Emily said after Evan narrated the encounter.
Doris had a hearty meal with the family and slept with Evan’s three daughters, Rose, Lily, and Iris. Being around the kids comforted her, considering she’d always wanted to see her grandkids.
Although Doris slept peacefully for a few hours, she woke up thinking about where she would have to go the next day. “He only offered me to stay for the night. Where will I go tomorrow?” she sobbed.
The following day, Doris got ready to leave the house. She thanked Evan and Emily and kissed the kids goodbye.
“Ms. Doris, are you leaving?” asked Evan.
“Yes, son. I thank you for letting me stay here last night. I will never forget your help.”
“Where will you go?” Emily chimed in.
“I don’t know…I’ll walk as long as I can.” Doris was disappointed to leave. That’s when Evan’s daughters flocked around her, melting her heart and urging her to stay.
“Grandma! Please don’t go! We like you! Please be with us!” chorused the girls.
Evan and Emily were delighted because even they wanted Doris to stay. “Please, Ms. Doris. Stay with us. We are poor, but we are happy. Please don’t go. The kids love you.”
Moved by their love, Doris took her bag inside. She lived with the family and felt some new hopes rise. Her emotional scars started to heal, but her health began to deteriorate two years later.
“Yes, your mother, Doris, is with us. Can you please come to visit her? Her condition has worsened,” Evan told Jake, one of Doris’s children.
“Look, I don’t have time for her,” said Jake, hanging up immediately.
Evan called the other kids using the phone numbers on Doris’s old diary. But none of them agreed to visit her and see her one last time.
Evan and Emily were distraught but decided to stay by Doris’ side to offer their best comfort.
“Son, I promised I would repay you for all you’ve done for me,” Doris softly spoke, holding Evan’s hand in the hospital.
She fell ill due to old age and was shifted to the hospital two days after celebrating her 87th birthday. When she fed her birthday cake to Evan, she’d promised she would repay him for his kindness.
“I’ll definitely repay you one day, son…I love you and your family…” were the last words Evan heard from Doris. She died holding his hand, making her final promise to him.
Doris’s children attended her funeral but never spoke to Evan, who thought that was it and they would never meet again.
But to his shock, the sons and daughters of late Doris arrived on his doorstep the next day with a strange request for a family heirloom.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about…Ms. Doris did not tell me anything about the jewels,” said Evan, startled when her children threatened him.
“We will call the cops and report you for robbing our mother. Where are the jewels?” yelled Jake. “Tell me, where have you hidden the box?”
“Let’s call the cops and not waste time,” urged Jake’s brother.
Evan and his family were shocked. He tried his best but could not recall Doris discussing any heirloom jewelry before. “I don’t know what you’re saying. Please leave.”
Just as Jake took out his phone to call the cops, a lawyer interrupted them with some papers and a box.
“There’s no need for that, Jake,” he said. “You must be Evan…” he added, shaking a confused Evan’s hand.
“Yes, but what’s going on?”
“Well, Evan, I’m Adam, Doris Clark’s lawyer. And this box of jewels belongs to you now. Mrs. Clark mentioned you in her will as the sole inheritor of the jewels.”
Jake and his siblings were shocked to hear this. “What? Mom gave him all her jewels?”
“I’m afraid yes. She specifically stated that her children, the ten of you, don’t get even the dust of gold from this,” explained Adam.
“You better give those jewels to us! They’re our mom’s!” threatened Jake.
“Yeah, you were nobody to her. She was our mom. Give those jewels!”
But Evan refused. He recalled Doris telling him she would “repay” and realized this was it. Moreover, he understood that it wasn’t just about the jewels but her love for him and his family.
“Your mother? Where were you when she needed you? You abandoned her and left her to die alone. You should be seeking her forgiveness, not her jewels. Get out of here, or I’ll call the cops!” fumed Evan.
Seeing they didn’t stand a chance at arguing anymore, Jake and his siblings just grinned and left.
Evan accepted Doris’s token of gratitude and visited her tomb with his family to place her favorite white flowers on her grave.
