When Jennifer’s fiancé, Chris, postpones their wedding for a last-minute business trip, she’s heartbroken. But on her birthday, the day they were meant to marry, Jennifer spots him in town. Suspecting betrayal, she confronts him, only to uncover a life-altering secret that Chris has spent years keeping quiet.
Six months ago, when Chris got down on one knee in the park where we had our first date, I thought nothing in my entire life could feel more perfect.
A smiling couple | Source: Midjourney
We set the date for late fall, on my birthday, no less. It felt right, like everything in my life had been leading to that moment.
Chris and I were two halves of a whole, and as cheesy as that sounds, I mean it. He was the methodical planner, thriving on spreadsheets and five-year goals, while I was the impulsive dreamer, chasing creative projects and wandering wherever life led me.
Together, we found balance.
A stack of wedding invitations | Source: Midjourney
Or so I thought.
But then something happened that made me question everything.
A month before our wedding, Chris’s boss threw us a massive curveball. Chris had to attend a crucial business trip.
On the same day as our wedding!
An older man sitting at his desk | Source: Midjourney
“It’s just three days, love,” Chris said, holding my hands. “I know how disappointing it is, but at the same time… this is huge for my career, Jen. There’s a promotion on the line, and it could mean big things for us. We could move into our dream home sooner, we could extend our honeymoon for longer… I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important.”
I was devastated. I mean, who wouldn’t be?
But what could I do? Reluctantly, I agreed to postpone the wedding for a few weeks. I tried to put on a brave face, telling myself that it was just a small delay along our journey.
An upset woman sitting on a couch | Source: Midjourney
“Fine,” I said. “And I’ll make all the calls to the vendors and send out messages to all our guests. You focus on work and the trip, and I’ll do the rest. Okay?”
“I knew you’d get it,” he smiled.
Then my birthday arrived, the day we should have been saying ‘I do.’ Instead of getting all dressed, spending time getting my hair and makeup done to perfection, I found myself wandering aimlessly through the city.
A woman walking down a street | Source: Midjourney
My bridesmaids had wanted to spend the day with me, knowing that Chris would be away, but I didn’t want to see them. I didn’t want to see anyone.
“Why are you acting like the wedding is canceled, Jen?” my friend Avery asked. “It’s not. It’s just been postponed.”
“I know that,” I said. “But… I can’t help the way I feel. It’s just… never mind.”
“You can talk to me, Jen,” she said softly.
A woman talking on the phone | Source: Midjourney
“Yes, but I don’t even know what words to use. I’m feeling deflated, I guess. That’s all. I want to be alone. But I’ll come over tomorrow, I promise.”
I cut the call and left home in my boots. The crisp autumn air bit at my cheeks as I clutched my coffee, trying to ignore the gnawing ache in my chest.
The streets blurred as I walked, my thoughts spinning. I missed Chris. I missed him terribly. And I missed what the day should have been.
A person holding a cup of coffee | Source: Midjourney
Eventually, I ended up on the outskirts of town, where a fancy boutique hotel caught my eye. Deciding I needed a drink, something stronger than coffee, I stepped inside the warm lobby.
The soft hum of voices and clinking glasses greeted me as I made my way to the bar. The bartender had just started making my drink when something, or someone, caught my eye.
There he was.
Chris.
The exterior of a hotel | Source: Midjourney
In a suit, standing at the reception desk, talking to the concierge.
My heart stopped.
I blinked, sure that I was imagining things. Chris was supposed to be 500 miles away on his business trip. So, what the hell was he doing here?
Before I could think, I slapped a note on the bar, paying for my untouched drink. I stormed toward the staircase where he had disappeared. My boots echoed against the polished wood as I raced upstairs, my pulse pounding in my ears.
A note on a bar counter | Source: Midjourney
“Chris!” I shouted. “What is happening? Why are you here? What are you doing here?!”
He turned, startled, his face turning pale before my eyes.
“Jen! Wait!”
“No!” I said, my voice giving my feelings away. “You lied to me, Chris! You’re supposed to be on a business trip. Are you… are you cheating on me? Is that what this is?”
A man wearing a suit | Source: Midjourney
His hands shot up in defense.
“No, Jen, I swear it’s not that. Just… please, come with me. I’ll explain everything.”
I followed him down the hall, my anger simmering under the surface. He stopped outside a door, pulling a keycard from his pocket.
“What’s in there? Who is in there?” I demanded.
A man holding a hotel keycard | Source: Midjourney
“Just… trust me.”
The door swung open, revealing a simple hotel room. My stomach churned as I scanned the space, expecting to see some other woman. Instead, it was empty.
Chris gestured to the armchair by the window.
“Sit down,” he said softly.
“Explain, Chris,” I said, suddenly exhausted. “Now. Please.”
The interior of a hotel room | Source: Midjourney
He sighed, running a hand through his hair.
“Jen, I’ve been working on something for a long time. For years, actually. It’s about your mother.”
I froze.
“My mother?” I echoed. “What?”
He nodded, his voice trembling slightly.
An upset woman holding her head | Source: Midjourney
“I know you don’t talk about her much, but I know how much it’s hurt you, love. Not knowing why she left you at the hospital… not knowing where she went or why.”
I swallowed hard, the familiar ache of abandonment rising in my chest.
“For three years, I’ve been trying to find her,” Chris continued. “I hired private investigators, scoured records, even contacted labs to trace potential matches. And… I think I found her.”
A man holding his head | Source: Midjourney
My heart thudded in my chest.
“There’s a woman,” he said. “Her name is Margaret. She’s staying here at the hotel. I didn’t tell you because… well, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to get your hopes up in case it wasn’t her. I didn’t even know how to bring it up. But a few weeks ago, we got confirmation that her story matches yours. She’s been looking for you, Jen. My PI told me.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“You’ve been doing all this for me? And you didn’t tell me?”
A private investigator sitting at a desk | Source: Midjourney
He stepped closer, his voice gentle.
“I wanted to protect you. And… I wanted it to be a surprise for your birthday. If it was her, I mean.”
I sank into the closest armchair, my legs too shaky to hold me.
Two hours later, there was a knock at the door. My stomach flipped as Chris stood to answer it.
A woman sitting in an armchair | Source: Midjourney
When the door opened, a woman stepped inside.
She was tall and graceful, with streaks of gray in her dark hair. Her eyes, a piercing shade of green, locked onto mine, and I felt like the air had been punched out of my lungs.
We stared at each other for a long moment, neither of us speaking.
Finally, she broke the silence.
“Jennifer?”
A smiling older woman | Source: Midjourney
My name on her lips sounded strange, foreign yet familiar.
I stood slowly, my hands trembling.
“You’re… my mother?”
Tears filled her eyes as she nodded.
“I think so. But… we should go to the lab for a DNA test, just to be sure.”
A close up of a woman | Source: Midjourney
“No,” I said, my voice firm despite the storm of emotions swirling inside me. “I don’t need a test. I know it’s you.”
It sounded stupid, I know. But I could see it all over her face. It was clear, if this woman wasn’t my mother, then she was still closely related to me.
She smiled softly, her tears spilling over.
“You look just like my mother,” she said. “I’ve been looking for you for so long.”
I blinked, confused.
An older woman sitting on a couch | Source: Midjourney
“You’ve been looking for me?”
She nodded, sitting down across from me.
“It’s a long story,” she said, her voice shaky. “Forty years ago, when I gave birth to you, there was a terrible mistake at the hospital. The nurse mixed up the babies… and I… I left with someone else’s child.”
My head spun.
“What?”
A newborn baby girl | Source: Midjourney
She shook her head.
“I didn’t know the truth until years later, when my daughter, well, the daughter I thought was mine, died in a car accident. A DNA test revealed she wasn’t biologically related to me. I was devastated. And that’s when I started searching for my real daughter. For you.”
My throat tightened.
“But… my mother left me at the hospital. That’s what my foster mother told me.”
The exterior of a hospital | Source: Midjourney
Her face crumpled.
“I know. I think the woman who was supposed to take you home ran away when she realized the mistake. I’m so sorry, darling. You were abandoned because of what happened, and it’s all my fault. I passed out after I gave birth to you, I didn’t know any better when I came to.”
Tears streamed down my face as I tried to process everything.
Chris wrapped an arm around me, his touch grounding me.
A woman in a hospital bed | Source: Midjourney
“You’re not alone anymore,” he whispered.
Looking at the woman in front of me, my mother, I felt a strange mix of pain and hope. After years of wondering, I finally had answers. And on my birthday, of all days.
“It’s the best gift I could have asked for,” I said softly.
A smiling woman | Source: Midjourney
Two weeks later, we finally celebrated our wedding. My mother sat in the front row, tears shining in her eyes as Chris and I said, “I do.”
And for the first time in my life, I felt whole.
A smiling bride | Source: Midjourney
When Jake insists on cooking Thanksgiving turkey for the first time, Jen is skeptical but supportive until the result is a culinary disaster no one at the table can ignore. But the real shock comes when she discovers the recipe isn’t Jake’s. As tensions simmer and doubts creep in, she’s forced to confront the cracks in their marriage. This Thanksgiving, the turkey isn’t the only thing leaving a bad aftertaste.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
Orphan Inherits Old Sofa from Her Grandpa, She Sits and It Cracks under Her Weight – Story of the Day
When Victoria returned to her grandfather’s home in Iowa, she noticed his favorite sofa was still residing in the living room. The woman sat on it for a while, remembering her childhood days, then it suddenly cracked. What she discovered inside changed her whole life.
Victoria’s mother, Ella, abandoned her at a young age and moved to New York with her lover because she was tired of living in poverty. Edward, Victoria’s father, worked as a delivery man in the mornings and as a warehouse operator at night, but the money wasn’t enough to keep the family afloat.
On top of that, there was Victoria’s grandfather Silas who was in the last stages of his life fighting his battle with cancer and primarily himself. So Ella found an easy way out of her misery by moving from Iowa to New York with her boyfriend.
Victoria inherited an old sofa from Silas | Photo: Shutterstock
Victoria was 15 years old at the time. The teenager had hardly gotten over her mother’s elopement when her father passed away in a tragic accident a few months later, leaving her and Silas alone.
Ella paid Victoria visits and talked to her on the phone after Edward’s death, but Silas didn’t like it. He had never liked her in the first place, but after she left them, he hated her even more.
However, when Silas left for his heavenly abode a year later, it forced Victoria to relocate to her mother’s home in New York. Dave, Ella’s so-called lover, clearly didn’t like her, and Victoria didn’t admire him either.
Due to their frequent clashes, problems arose in their household over time, and Dave eventually left. Ella and Victoria’s relationship soured even more after this because Dave told Ella he was leaving her because he hated Victoria and her “obnoxious” attitude.
Victoria was orphaned after her mother abandoned her and her father died | Photo: Pexels
Ella initially managed to survive with the money left over from what her boyfriend had given her, so she did not scrimp on expensive gifts at first. That’s how they got by for about a half-year.
Ella was always dragging something to the pawnshop, and she didn’t seem to care about getting a job or planning for the future. She didn’t want to work, so when her savings ran out, she went out and found another man.
Tired of living a miserable life with her mother, Victoria applied for scholarships and somehow ended up in New York University, where she met Kevin. They met while working part-time at the same cafe, and their friendship quickly blossomed into love.
Soon, the lovebirds moved in together, and Victoria got pregnant. They were almost ready to graduate at the time, but Kevin dumped Victoria after learning of her pregnancy.
Victoria returned to her mother seeking assistance, but she refused to help her, so the young woman somehow finished her degree and returned to her grandfather’s house in Iowa.
Victoria returned to her grandfather’s house in Iowa | Photo: Pexels
The house had been boarded up for years, and it could barely be seen from the road because of the thickets of weeds. Victoria decided to call for assistance because the heavy door would not budge.
Thankfully, her gaze was drawn to a young man chopping firewood in the next yard. “Hey, can you please help me?” Victoria shouted from her doorstep.
The man looked up from the wood and smiled at her. “Sure,” he replied. “I’ll be there in 2 minutes.”
Victoria noticed that the man was limping badly, so she ran up to him. “I’m sorry for troubling you. I should probably call someone else.”
As she came closer, he could see her clearly. “Victoria, is that you?” he exclaimed, surprised. “What are you doing here?”
Victoria looked at him, puzzled because she didn’t recognize him. “I’m sorry, but do I know you?”
The man turned out to be Victoria’s childhood friend | Photo: Pexels
“Of course,” the man replied with a broad smile. “Remember we were friends as kids? It’s me, Tim!”
“Oh, Tim! I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you! You’ve changed so much! You were so chubby as a teen and look at you now!”
“I guess hard work does that to you,” he joked. “But how did you end up here?”
“Well, that’s quite a story. Would you mind assisting me with the door first?” she said. “Hand me the tools, I’ll carry them,” she added, taking notice of his limp.
With the use of his tools, within five minutes, Timothy manage to juggle the rusty door open. “Wow, there must be ghosts in there! Look how much dust and cobwebs there are! Let me help you clean up.”
Victoria declined, insisting she’d clean the house herself, but Timothy persuaded her, and it took them nearly three hours to dust the entire house properly. Meanwhile, Victoria told her story about how she ended up in Iowa after her boyfriend and mother abandoned her.
Then it was time to clean Silas’ sofa, which was beautifully adorned with a dusty white sheet and numerous spiderwebs in the living room.
The house was in terrible condition | Photo: Pexels
“You know, this sofa meant a lot to grandpa,” Victoria explained to Timothy, “and he looked after it like it was the apple of his eye. This sofa with cracked armrests has made it through three generations, and hopefully will make it through the fourth.” She placed her hand on her baby bump.
“But before that, it needs cleaning,” Timothy replied. “So move aside, you’ve already helped a lot with the cleaning, and this much dust is bad for your baby.”
As Timothy cleaned the sofa, Victoria continued her sofa story. “I would often attempt to jump on it to test its rear springs in action, but then grandpa would yell at me, ‘Victoria! Get your skinny bones off the couch!’ Ahh, I miss him so much!”
“Well, now that it’s clean, you can at least sit here for a while and rest,” Timothy said after tidying the sofa.
But as Victoria attempted to sit, having dried up over many years in an unheated house, the sofa was crunched disgustingly. And as she tried to get more comfortable on it, it cracked treacherously and parted!
Victoria jumped up in surprise, feeling something solid hidden in the sofa. “There’s something in here!”
Victoria discovered a small chest inside the sofa | Photo: Pexels
The sofa’s padding, which leaked and crumbled from time to time, revealed a small chest hidden deep within. When they opened it, they discovered gold ducats, jewelry, and a note addressed to Victoria.
“I hope this letter finds you well, Victoria,” the note began. “I wanted to give this to you sooner, but you were too young.”
“My grandfather gave me this inheritance and told me to give it to someone who needed it,” the note continued. “I believe you are the most in need of it because I am aware of how badly your mother treats you and how sad it must have been for you when Edward left. I hope this will be of assistance to you. Love, Silas.”
“Well, wow, now that’s one hell of a sofa!” Timothy said thoughtfully, scratching the back of his head.
However, Victoria couldn’t stop crying. Thanks to her grandad, her life did change for the better after she discovered the chest. She sold some of the treasures and used the proceeds to renovate her home, and she used some of the money to build a new room for her baby.
Victoria delivered a healthy baby boy | Photo: Pexels
Timothy was by her side at all times, assisting her with everything from finding carpenters for the house to taking her to appointments and visiting her on weekends, so she didn’t feel left out.
A few months later, Victoria delivered a healthy baby boy. Timothy helped her look after the baby, and they gradually became close. Soon, the man proposed to Victoria for marriage, and Victoria happily accepted.
Finally, her family was complete. She had an adoring husband, a lovely child, and their grandfather’s blessing on the sofa she’d inherited. Thankfully, his sofa assisted them to the point where they could start a small business together with the money they had saved from selling the jewels.
What can we learn from this story?
- There’s a delay in God’s court but no denial. Victoria had to go through a lot initially, but everything worked out in the end.
- Matches are made in heaven. Kevin and Victoria’s relationship didn’t work out because she was fated to end up with Timothy.
Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.
If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about firefighters who cared for an old lady for 27 years after her daughter kicked her out of the house.
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.
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