An orphan decided to visit his foster family ten years after moving out in order to thank them for all they’ve done for him. When he arrived in front of their dilapidated house, he asked what happened and how it ended up that way.
Chuck looked around the room with a smile on his face, savoring the moments he had with his foster family. He had just turned 18 and was now ready to go to college.
He watched how his foster mom sang him a happy birthday as she clapped her hands, and how his dad had an arm on his mom’s shoulder as he sang along. Then he looked at his foster brother, Ivan, who looked bored out of his wits with his head on the table, refusing to sing along.
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Chuck loved his family dearly because they never treated him as an outcast. Although he and Ivan did not get along, he knew that his parents loved him because they spent their own money raising him.
“I will miss you guys so much. Thank you for this birthday celebration,” he told them before blowing out the candles on his cake.
“We will miss you too, son. I hope you come back and visit us once you’re done with university,” his foster dad Chase told him.
Chuck blew out his candles and made a wish. They enjoyed one last meal together before he was off to college.
“Oh, sweetheart,” his mom sighed. “I can still remember the day we got you and took you home. I can’t believe you’re all grown up and going to college,” she said, tears forming in her eyes.
“I know, mom. I am the luckiest boy. I am so thankful that you took me in. Without you, I am nothing,” Chuck said, holding his mom’s hand. “Thank you for all the love and care you gave me.”
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At this point, Ivan had enough. “Oh, please,” he rolled his eyes. “Can we just eat in silence? Your sentimentality is making me sick!”
Instead of fighting back, Chuck smiled. “I know you’ll enjoy not having me around anymore, Ivan, but I’ll miss you too.”
That night, Chuck couldn’t sleep in excitement. His bags were all packed and he was ready to take the bus to the university the following day.
“It’s time to go, honey,” his mom called out to him the next morning.
Chuck looked around his room one last time, knowing it was the last time he would be seeing it in a long time. He embraced his parents one last time before heading out the door.
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“I’m on my own now,” he said. “You gave me all I needed, and I’m sorry if I was an added burden to you because of that. I promise I’ll do my best to become a successful person. I will come back and repay you for all you’ve done!”
It was Chuck’s personal decision to leave the foster care system once he was able. Although he loved his parents dearly, he chose not to get adopted legally to save his parents the money it would cost. After all, knowing they loved him was more than enough for him.
Chuck really did his best in school, keeping his promise. He studied law and was motivated to become a good lawyer after he graduated.
After passing the bar, he started working for a top law firm. From being just an associate, he rose up the ranks until he became a partner in the firm. Ultimately, he lost touch with his parents. While they wrote to each other in the beginning, his work made it less possible, until their communication stopped entirely.
It had been ten years since he last saw his foster parents. Chuck had a client in the city where he grew up, so he decided to drop in on his old home. He realized it was about time he visited his foster parents, so he took a day off to spend time with them. But what greeted him there was totally unexpected.
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Apart from an unkempt lawn, you could hardly see the white paint on the walls which had been entirely covered in vines. As he walked towards the front door, he even wondered if anyone still lived there.
Chuck rang the doorbell, but it was no longer working. He was about to turn back thinking no one lived there anymore until he heard a voice from inside. He decided to knock.
After a couple of seconds, his foster dad opened the door. “Chuck?” he called out. “Is that you?”
“Dad,” he said, embracing him tightly. “What happened here?! Are you alright? Where’s mom and Ivan?” he asked. He had so many questions running through his head, and he wanted answers.
“Come in, son. I can’t believe you made it home. How long has it been? 10 years?” he said, bringing his adoptive son inside the house. “Honey, it’s Chuck! Chuck is home!” he called out to his wife.
As soon as his mom came out of the kitchen, Chuck’s heart sank. She was no longer the healthy woman he once knew. She looked frail as if she hadn’t eaten properly in weeks. “Mom!” he cried out. “What happened?”
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“Ivan told us he was starting a business about five years ago. We were so happy because even though he didn’t want to go to college, we thought he had found a direction in life. It turns out, he just wanted us to give him money so he could do whatever he wanted,” his dad shared.
“He promised he would give us a share of his earnings, but that never happened. Because of him, we’re in debt,” his mom added with tears in her eyes. “We didn’t think we would ever see you again, sweetheart. I am so glad you visited,” she said, embracing Chuck again.
Chuck could not believe what his parents had gone through at the hands of his brother. He took them out to dinner, and when they got home, promised to be back the following day.
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The next day, he returned and told them that they had nothing to worry about anymore. “I paid off the loan and any legal damages it incurred. I also hired someone to repair the house. I would also like to give you this,” he said, handing them a passbook.
“Chuck!” his mom cried. “You didn’t have to do any of this. It’s too much. We didn’t raise you thinking you’d ever pay us back,” she told him.
“I never saw you and Ivan differently,” his dad added. “To me, you were both my sons. But now, I can’t believe that it’s you who genuinely loves and cares for us. And Ivan left us for dead.”
Chuck shook his head. “I owe you both so much more than just money,” he replied. “You gave me a home – a family. Money is nothing to me. Family is everything! I love you both and will take care of you for the rest of my life,” he promised.
What can we learn from this story?
- Never forget those who helped you. Chuck never forgot his foster parents, who did so much to raise him. He lived comfortably because of them and wanted to give back to them as much as he could.
- Family matters over everything. Ivan betrayed his parents over money, valuing material possessions over familial relationships. Meanwhile, Chuck always cherished family over everything else, so he was more than willing to cut his fortune in half if it meant his parents living comfortably.
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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a single mom of three who adopted twins abandoned in a park, only for their birth mother to show up on their 18th birthday.
This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers 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.
A woman told her daughter that her father had passed away – years later, the girl uncovered a heartbreaking truth
When Cassie returns from a getaway with her husband and son, she walks into her home to see a cryptic message from her mother — telling her to watch a video. As Cassie presses play, her entire life changes. In the end, she’s left wondering which of her parents are worthy of forgiveness.
In my eyes, my father could do no wrong. He was everything I needed him to be and more. He was a businessman who was always traveling, but he ensured that he made enough time for me.
“You’re my little girl, Cassie,” he would say, bopping my nose with his index finger. “You’re the most special.”
My parents always went out of their way for me — ensuring that despite their busy schedules, we would have family dinner almost every night.
It was the one thing that kept me grounded while both of my friends from school were in the middle of their parents’ messy divorces.
“I think it’s trendy now,” I told my mother as she cut slices of banana bread for me after school one day.
“Cas, you cannot think that divorce is trendy,” she laughed. “It’s devastating and traumatic, and very few families actually keep things civil.”
“I’m just saying that it’s trendy because a lot of kids live between two homes,” I explained to her. “It’s one of those things we were talking about in class today.”
I was fourteen, and the world seemed more dramatic than it should have been.
But what I didn’t know was that my words seemed to be an incantation that settled over our home.
A few weeks after that conversation, my father went away on a business trip. A few hours after he had been gone, there was news of his passing.
“How?” I asked. “How did he die?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Cassie,” she replied. “I’m just saying what the paramedics told me.”
“So what will we do next?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” she asked, puzzled by the question.
“For the funeral?” I asked. “Aren’t we going to have one?”
“I don’t think so,” my mother replied. “Dad wanted to be cremated and have his ashes spread at the beach. Let’s do that instead.”
I couldn’t fathom why my mother would want to do that — but at the end of the day, she knew my father best. And the longer I thought about it, the more beautiful and sentimental a private ceremony at the beach felt.
“Don’t be difficult, Cassie,” my mother said when she saw me thinking about my next move.
“I’m not,” I said. “Really. I was just thinking about it. It’s a great idea, Mom.”
I could have fought her for a send-off that I thought would have been more appropriate. But what use would it have been? At the end of the day, we had both lost him.
The months following the beach ceremony felt weighted, and I knew that I was becoming deeply depressed — my father had been our world. And his absence was felt more than anything.
But, with time, I learned to live with it.
Last week, I decided to book a cabin in the woods for a little family vacation. My son was adamant that camping was the new best thing, and I knew that despite the wonders of nature, I wasn’t going to camp in a tent without a bathroom in sight.
Instead, I thought that a cabin would be the best option — my husband, Derek, could camp outside with Drew, our son, if he insisted on it.
We had a dog, therefore, I asked my mother to house-sit for the week so that we could be at peace, knowing that Romeo was taken care of.
A week away was more than enough to restore my mind — and eventually, when we went back home, I was surprised to see that my mother wasn’t there. In fact, it looked like she had never been there.
But there, on the coffee table, was a note beneath the TV remote.
Watch this, Cassie. I’m sorry. — Mom
I didn’t know what was in store for me, but while Derek got Drew into the bath, I put the TV on and began to watch whatever my mother had planned.
The TV flickered to life, and there he was, my father, his voice a long-lost melody, his image aged but still, unmistakably him.
Tears streamed down my face as the realization that he was still alive enveloped me in a mix of joy and disbelief.
The video message was nothing short of unpredictable.
My dear Cassie, I’m still here, alive. I’m so sorry for the pain that you must have felt from my loss. But it was needed. I needed to be removed from your life because of the sordid truth of my past. Your mother knows everything, please ask her for the truth.
My health is on a steady decline, and I would love to see you and explain it all.
Love you, Dad.
Without telling Derek or Drew anything, I grabbed the car keys and ran out. I needed my mother to explain.
“So, I bet you’ve got questions for me,” she said, opening the door.
“Explain it all,” I said.
“Cassie, it’s heavy. You look tired from your trip; are you sure you want to do this now?” she asked.
I nodded. It was now or never. I needed to know why my father faked his own death to get out of our lives.
My mother made us some tea and took out some shortbread.
“Darling,” she said. “I’ll understand if you don’t forgive me, but there’s so much about that time that I need to tell you.”
I sipped my tea, trying to figure out what my mother was about to tell me.
“I remember that you were telling me about your friend’s parents getting divorced. Do you remember that?” she asked.
I nodded. Of course, I did. It was the strangest thing, but it was so common when I was in school.
“Well, your father and I were not legally married. So when I told him about our conversation regarding divorce, he was actually relieved. Without being married, there would be no divorce.”
“What’s the big deal?” I asked.
“Then I found out that the real reason that we didn’t get married was because your father was already married to another woman.”
“What?” I exclaimed, almost dropping my cup. “To who?”
“To a woman in the town where he always had his business trips.”
“You didn’t know?” I asked, unable to believe her words.
“Of course not!” she exclaimed. “But when I pressed him about it, he decided to choose that family over us. So, I told him that the story was going to be his death.”
We were both silent for a moment.
Turns out that my mother told him that she would never tell me the truth, not when he was my favorite person. She couldn’t burst my bubble in that way. And she refused to let him see me one more time.
“It was better for you to think that it was an accident,” my mother said. “It just made more sense.”
Now, I understood why we didn’t have a funeral for him.
“What did we throw into the sea, then?” I asked.
“Dust,” she replied with a straight face.
My mother had spoken to him twice over the years. The second time being a day ago.
During their meeting, my father confessed his imminent death due to illness and requested that she give me the recording. My mother, torn by guilt and love, chose to write me the note and have the recording all set for me to watch.
“I would have taken the secret to my grave,” she said. “But knowing that he was ill and wanted to see you just struck something in me.”
Compelled by a need to confront the reality of my father’s existence, I traveled to the state where he lived with his other family.
I spent a few weeks with my father — going in and out of hospitals, watching him take an array of different medication, and growing weaker by the day.
Sitting at his bedside, I listened to his stories, the regrets, the moments of joy, and the love he had for all his children — myself included.
When things started to go downhill, I asked Derek to fly over with Drew. It was going to be a fleeting moment, but at least I’d know that my son had met my father.
A few days later, my father died.
Even now, I don’t know if I’ve forgiven him for the lie of having a double life. I just know that when it came to it in the end — I wanted to spend time with him. I had shoved my feelings aside, hoping for memories that I could figure out later.
But now that the dust has settled, I’m trying to figure out if I should forgive my mother for lying.
What would you do?
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