That Thanksgiving was supposed to be like any other, with a nice dinner, lots of laughter, and the family bonding and sharing joyful time together, but it was like that until my daughter unveiled a family secret.
I set the table, and the room was filled with the pleasant smell of the turkey. My parents were there and I was looking forward to a beautiful night.
However, just as I was about to cut the turkey, my 8-year-old daughter Emma said, “And where is SHE?” I looked at her with a smile on my face and asked her, “Who is SHE, honey?”
Emma was persistent and said, “Where is her plate. Go grab another plate for the woman who lives in our shed.”
I smiled again, believing my daughter was just imagining things, but when I looked at my husband Peter and realized he knew something I didn’t, I realized there was indeed a woman Emma had seen.
In order not to make things awkward in front of my parents, I told Emma there was no one in the shed except for some old rusty tools that no one used. The truth was that I had never been to the shed, which was a bit away from the house, among the trees planted in our yard years ago. I had even forgotten there was a shed there.
Peter looked at me in the eyes, and showed me to get out of the room with his head. I smiled, and excused myself. Peter followed and asked me to go with him to the shed. He was confused and could barely put his thoughts into words.
When we got to the shed, he opened the door, and there was a woman there. She looked like she was in her 60s, dressed in old baggy clothes, with her hair messy.
“Ashley, this is my biological mother,” he said. “You mean the one who abandoned you when you were baby and gave you up for adoption? But I thought she was dead,” I barely muttered.
It turned out my husband’s mother was alive. She lived on the streets when Peter ran onto her accidentally.
She was poor, with no money and no place to stay. Although he resented her for leaving him behind as a baby, he couldn’t leave her on the streets, so he offered her to stay at the shed until he figured out what to do.
Apparently, he couldn’t find a way to fit her into the family’s lifestyle.
A family secret was revealed in the most unassuming way.
The woman, who was scared and unaware of what was going on, said she didn’t mean to cause any trouble.
Looking at her, and realizing she meant something to my husband despite their past, I invited her over in the house. She was hesitant at first, but she agreed to come because she was cold and hungry.
I introduced her to my parents and told my daughter that the woman who lived in the shed was in fact her grandmother.
It took some time until Peter and his mother were able to make things aright after so much time, but that Thanksgiving was the start of a new bond that was meant to last.
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Bored Daddy
Love and Peace