Every Day Rich Man Sees Homeless Older Lady with Baby in Her Arms, Who Looks at Him with Blame — Story of the Day

A rich man is irritated by the constant presence of an older woman standing outside his office building day after day with a baby in her arms, and hate in her eyes.

Ken Garson was used to getting what he wanted when he wanted it, and what he most wanted right now was to get rid of a strange woman who had planted herself outside his office building and stared daggers at him every morning.

He'd talked to his chief of security about it but had been told that since the woman was standing on the pavement (which was public) and had neither physically threatened Garson nor verbally abused him, she was within her rights. What did she want? Why did she stare?

Garson wanted to know, he wanted her gone, but at the same time, something told him this woman carried a terrible threat to his complacent, secure lifestyle. Strangely enough, his fear didn't fade.

It had now been two weeks, and the woman was there every afternoon when he left work, watching, and it seemed to Garson, waiting. But waiting for what? He asked security to add extra detail in the afternoon.

They did, but all the woman did was stand there, the baby in her arms looking around with big blue eyes, sucking its thumb, and occasionally laughing or speaking nonsense to the woman.

She was definitely not the baby's mother. She was in her fifties, and still a handsome woman with a slender figure, but two deep lines of pain and disappointment bracketed her mouth.

The older woman's dark eyes were sunken and weary, and showed evidence of some deep grief. Those eyes screamed soundless accusations at Garson, and when he passed her he turned his face away.

One afternoon, his father-in-law, Jorge Valdano, the company's CEO and majority shareholder, had come to visit, and so had Garson's wife, Brenda. Jorge had left early to catch a plane to Houston, but Brenda stayed.

Taking the elevator down to the ground floor with Brenda, Garson didn't even think about the older woman and the baby. He was playing the charming Ken Garson, perfect and ever-devoted husband to Jorge Valdano's only child and heir.

Brenda was laughing, clinging to Garson's arm when the woman stepped in front of her. "Be careful, girl," she cried. "Or this man will ruin your life the way he ruined my daughter's."

Brenda stepped back shocked, and the baby started to cry. Garson gestured the security guards forward and they moved towards the woman. "Get her out of here!" he cried. "She's mad!"

"Mad?" cried the woman. "I'm mad? You're throwing me and your son out and I'm the one who's mad?"

Our actions have consequences in other people's lives.

Brenda placed a hand on the security guard's arm. "Wait, let's hear the woman out." She turned to Garson, "I want to know what she means by 'your son.'"

The older woman turned to Brenda. "My daughter was beautiful, just like you. She came to work for this man and he told her he loved her. But my Anne was a good girl!"

"Anne?" asked Garson. "Anne Radley? I fired her for incompetence..."

"Anne fell in love with him, and believed him when he told her he had filed for divorce, that he would marry her -- and so she sinned," the woman said bitterly.

"He was divorcing his wife?" asked Brenda, throwing Garson a cold glance.

"Brenda, darling, surely you don't believe..." Garson gasped.

"But when my Anne fell pregnant, he couldn't wait to get rid of her," the woman told Brenda, "and find a new girl to seduce. I guess that's you! My daughter begged him for help, but he said the baby wasn't his..."

"It's not!" cried Garson. "That Anne was a complete slut, she had affairs with everyone..."

"That's not true!" cried one of the older security guards. "Anne Radley was a good woman, and the only person she stayed late with at the office was you!"

Brenda turned to the woman and said quietly, "Mrs. Radley, I'm Ken Garson's wife. Where is your daughter?"

Mrs. Radley's mouth twisted with pain. "Dead! She died of a stroke after Freddy was born, and she asked me to do right by her baby."

Brenda threw her husband a long cool look. "Mrs. Radley, I suggest the first thing we do is have a DNA test, and then I will help you file a paternity suit against Ken Garson."

"What?" screamed Garson. "Are you MAD?" Then he softened his voice. "Brenda honey, this woman is deranged by grief. And besides, I won't submit to a DNA!"

"You don't have to, Ken," said Brenda. "I'll collect DNA from our daughter and son for comparison." And she did.

At the same time that Mrs. Radley filed a paternity suit against Ken Garson, Brenda filed for a divorce. Garson's whole world fell apart like a house of cards after that. His father-in-law fired him, and that wonderful life of luxury and leisure he so enjoyed evaporated into thin air.

As for Mrs. Radley and Freddy, they moved in with Brenda. Freddy was raised with Garson's other children, and when he went to visit the son and daughter he shared with Brenda, he'd sometimes catch a glimpse of the toddler with his head of curls and his blue eyes.

Garson finally realized that he had not only cheated on Brenda, but he had also cheated Anne out of her future, her right to love and be loved by a good man. Everything he'd done had brought pain, now he hoped he might redeem himself with his three children.

What can we learn from this story?

• Our actions have consequences in other people's lives. Garson thought only of what he wanted and didn't care what happened to Anne, or her child.
• Sometimes we have to lose everything to value what we had. Garson had a great life, but he cheated on his wife and took advantage of people. Only when he lost it all did he realize what he'd had.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a woman who handed her teenage son to the police because she couldn't control him.

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