A man noticed a little girl standing on his porch when he answered the door at night. “Hello, dad! This is from mom,” she told him, extending a note. The man’s jaw dropped to the floor when he read it.

“Who could it possibly be at this time?” Vance mumbled, setting down his fork. He was having dinner with his wife, Giselle, and their daughter, Mia, and he had just taken another serving of the delicious spaghetti when the doorbell rang.

“You guys carry on. I’ll check who it is,” Vance said as he got to his feet. He proceeded to the door and was greeted by a young girl who seemed no older than 10.

“Hello, dad,” she said. “Can I please come in? This is from mom,” she added, extending a note to him.

Vance laughed. “Look, girl. I guess you’ve lost your way. I’m not your dad.”

But the girl shook her head. “I know who you are. You’re Vance Sanders, aren’t you?”

Vance gasped, covering his mouth in shock. “How – How do you know my name?”

“Can I come in first?” she asked again. “I’m feeling cold.”

Vance looked at her tattered appearance and couldn’t refuse her. “Mom told me to give this letter to you,” she said as she settled inside. “Please read it.”

Giselle left her dinner and came to the living room to check what had taken Vance so long. When she saw the little girl talking to Vance, she was confused. “Darling, who is she?”

“Just a minute, honey,” Vance said as he opened the note to read it.

 

The girl gave a note to Vance and asked him to read it. | Source: Pexels

“Dear Vance,

I would’ve never turned to you if it weren’t for my illness. I can no longer care for our daughter, and it’s past time she met her father. Please don’t reject her this time. This is a request.

With love,

Laura.”

“Vance? What is it?” Giselle asked as she saw him crumple the paper in his hands and give the little child a sad expression.

“Well, Giselle, it looks like she’ll be staying with us tonight. What’s your name, dear?” he asked, facing the girl who resembled him to a tee.

“My name is Beth,” she said, smiling. “Thank you for letting me stay here, dad.”

“Dad?” Giselle’s eyes widened. “What’s going on, Vance? Why is she calling you dad?” Giselle screamed loud enough to make Beth shiver.

Suddenly, Mia came to the living room. “Mommy? Why are you yelling? Who is she?”

 

Mia followed Giselle to the living room and met the girl there. | Source: Pexels

“Oh, we just have a visitor,” Vance replied. “Please go and have dinner, honey, okay? Mommy and I will join you soon.”

“Okay, daddy,” Mia said and walked back to the dinner table.

“I’ll tell you everything, Giselle,” Vance murmured as Mia walked away. “But first, please allow me to escort Beth to our guest room. You and Mia can carry on with your dinner.”

Vance hurriedly took Beth to the guest room and asked her to make herself at home. “You’re welcome to sleep here, Beth. I’ll bring you some food here, and please don’t leave the room until I say so. I need to sort things out with Giselle. Is that clear?”

The little girl nodded. “Okay.”

Vance brought her some dinner as he promised and asked Giselle to help Mia to bed first. When both girls were sleeping, Vance revealed why he allowed Beth to stay with them.

Beth stayed at Vance and Giselle’s house that night. | Source: Pexels

“You remember, Laura?” he asked. “My ex-girlfriend?”

“Don’t tell me, Vance….”

“You’re right, Giselle. Beth is Laura’s daughter and I’m her father. Remember when I told you Laura and I had broken up? I never told you Laura was pregnant at the time. I wasn’t ready to be a father, and she was too eager to keep the pregnancy going. So I basically ended my relationship with her. I guess I can’t really avoid my past. There was a business card in the envelope. She’s at the Oliver Memorial Hospital….”

“Look, Vance,” Giselle snarled. “I don’t care what occurred in the past, but I’m not letting that girl stay here. She is your fault, and I will not pay for your mistakes!”

“Please, Giselle, I can’t just let her go…Laura is ill. Can we have Beth stay with us for at least a week?”

“A WEEK? HELL NO, VANCE! In fact, I would not….” Before Giselle could finish, Vance cut her off.

“I swear I’ll talk to Laura about it this weekend. And I’ll make some plans for Beth.”

Giselle was furious after learning Beth was Vance’s biological daughter. | Source: Pexels

Giselle gave him a dirty look. “Fine! But not a day more than a week!”

“Thank you, Giselle.”

That day, though Giselle reluctantly agreed to let Beth stay in their house, deep down, she hated every moment of it. When Vance would return from work, he would spend time with both Mia and Beth. They would watch movies and go out for dinners, all this time reminding Giselle of how much she hated the girl and her husband’s past.

So one day, when Vance was away for work, Giselle secretly dropped Beth at the hospital and drove back home. When Vance returned home and didn’t find Beth, he was furious. “What did you do to her, Giselle? Where is my daughter?”

“She’s in her room, Vance. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m not talking about Mia, Giselle. Where the hell did you send Beth? Where is she?”

 

Vance returned home and found Beth missing. | Source: Pexels

“What do you mean by where she is? That dirtbag is right where she should be…at her dying homewrecker mother’s bedside!”

“What? How could you just leave her there alone? She’s a child, for God’s sake, Giselle! And we had decided she’d stay with us for a week. How could you even….”

“As if I care…” she muttered angrily under her breath.

“I’m going to get her back, and you’re not going to send her anywhere else this time. I’ll make sure of that!”

Vance drove to the hospital, where he found Beth with Laura. “Oh, Laura!” he cried. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to….

“Vance?” she started crying. “Promise me you’ll look after Beth when I’m gone. Please. Why did your wife leave her here?”

Vance found Laura at the hospital. | Source: Pexels

“I was planning on coming to see you this weekend, Laura. I’m so sorry about what Giselle did. But what happened to you? How did you end up here?”

“I don’t have a lot of time, Vance. I know I’m dying, but I can’t afford treatment. I require heart surgery, and my odds of survival are slim. So please take Beth with you. That’s a request.”

“Look, Laura,” Vance said, holding her hands in his. “I’m not going to make the same mistake again. I’m not going to abandon Beth, so you don’t have to be concerned. And I’ll also pay for your treatment. I promise you that nothing bad will happen to you.”

Vance brought Beth home and told Giselle he would look after Beth just like he would Mia. He also told her about paying for Laura’s treatment because he felt horrible about leaving her alone when she needed him. But Giselle was furious. “If you do that, take care of Mia alone. I am leaving you and this house!”

“What? Are you crazy? Think about Mia, at least. Look, I’ll pay for Laura’s treatment, and she’ll be fine soon, and she’ll be able to look after Beth once she’s recovered. I swear I won’t bother you with it again. No man wants to see his family torn apart like this, Giselle. Please bear with me.”

“Yes, mommy, please don’t go!” Mia cried. “Beth and I are sisters. Daddy loves us both.”

 

Giselle packed her bags and left the house. | Source: Pexels

But Giselle didn’t budge. “Thank your daddy for making our home a complete mess, Mia! I hate him, and now he will be the one responsible for it!” She packed her belongings and left, vowing never to return.

A week later, she sent divorce papers and didn’t demand custody of Mia, but she did ask for an equal share of the assets.

Vance didn’t hesitate to sign the papers because he knew that if Giselle truly cared about their family, she would not have abandoned him and Mia. He agreed to all her demands and was glad that she didn’t demand for Mia’s custody.

Meanwhile, Laura’s surgery went well, and she was recovering fine. During this period, Vance had to become a single father to both Mia and Beth, but he was content to have his girls with him.

Thankfully, six months down the line, Laura made a full recovery. By that time, Vance and Laura’s feelings had reignited, and they grew as close as they were back in college.

“Let’s go home, Laura,” he said when he went to pick her up at the hospital.

“Home? But where’s Beth?”

Vance and Laura were together again. | Source: Pexels

“At the place where we’ve all been waiting for you! Our home…where our daughters are.”

Vance brought Laura home and told her about everything that transpired while she was in the hospital.

It took a while for little Mia to adjust, but thanks to Laura, who welcomed Mia like her own child, Mia managed to accept things easily. And when Vance and Laura were confident that Mia and Beth were ready to accept them as parents, they tied the knot.

The couple was content with the family they had been blessed with after all these years of separation and the fact that Giselle never interfered with their lives.

What can we learn from this story?

Love is the foundation of a family. Laura accepted Mia and raised her as a loving mother.
Home is where love is. Laura, Vance, and their girls found a loving home in the house that Giselle had abandoned because she thought it was a “mess.”
If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a man who bought a camera from the flea market and found a strange note inside, requesting him to find a girl named Susie Berger.

This account is inspired by our reader’s story and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone’s life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.