Man Sees Groom's Mother at Daughter's Wedding and Recognizes Woman from His Distant Past — Story of the Day

A supposedly faithful married man is stunned when he recognizes the mother of his daughter's bridegroom at her wedding.

Lesley West was a single child, and she wasn't ashamed to admit she was daddy's little girl. Her father, Donald West, had spoiled Lesley, and the two had always been especially close.

When Lesley brought her fiancé home to meet her parents, she was delighted when David and Donald became instant best friends. She never imagined her father would try to stop her wedding at the last minute.

After college, Lesley had been offered a job in New York, far away from her parents and her home in Portland, Oregon. The nearly three-thousand-mile distance made Lesley's trips home rare.

When Lesley announced her wedding plans five years after she and David had moved in together, her parents had tried to persuade her to hold the ceremony in Oregon, but she declined.

"David has six brothers and sisters, all married with families," Lesley had pointed out. "Apart from gran, our family is just the three of us. It will be easier for us to fly to New York -- and besides, you guys need a break!"

So the Wests had booked their flights so they would arrive early in the morning of the day before the wedding, with plenty of time to get settled in and meet David's family at the rehearsal dinner.

But as they say, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and the result was a disaster beyond anything they could have imagined. As the Wests' plane was taxiing for take-off, a bird flew into one of the engines, and the flight was aborted.

Bad deeds always come back to haunt you when you least expect them.

That meant that not only did they miss the rehearsal dinner, but the next connection they could find to New York would get them there just minutes before the wedding was scheduled to start!

Donald, his wife Kate, and his mother Diane were nervous wrecks by the time the plane landed at Kennedy. The two ladies had dressed in the cramped airplane bathroom, and done their best with hair and make-up.

As for Donald, he just brushed back his thinning hair and straightened his tie. Nothing was going to stop him from walking his little girl down the aisle. The three Wests hopped into a taxi, and Donald promised the driver a huge tip if he could get them there on time.

The taxi screeched to a halt in front of the church just as Lesley was about to start her march down the aisle all on her own. Donald had never seen his daughter look so lovely, or so fragile.

"My darling;" he said as he tucked her trembling hand into the crook of her arm. "Let's give the rest of your wonderful life a marvelous start!" The first notes of the wedding march sounded and father and daughter crossed the threshold into the church.

"Thank you, daddy!" whispered Lesley. "I was so afraid I'd be here all alone..."

"My sweet, even if we hadn't made it, you'd never be alone," Donald said. "David adores you and he is a good man."

"I'm just sorry you didn't get to meet his family yesterday, daddy," Lesley said. "You're going to love them!"

A pretty girl waved shyly at Lesley and she said, "That's David's sister Beth, and her daughter, and David's brother Frank..."

The red carpet had seemed endless, but Donald saw that they were now just steps from the altar. "Oh look! That lady with the pale blue hat? That's David's mom!"

Donald glanced at the woman and his heart lept into his throat. He heard his own voice cry out hoarsely, "Stop! Stop the wedding immediately!" Then it seemed as if every drop of blood in his body swelled his head to bursting and he felt himself falling.

When he came to, his daughter and David were leaning over him. Lesley was ashen under her white veil, and over her shoulder, he saw David's mother looking down at him with horror in her eyes.

David helped him to sit up. "Donald," he said. "We've called for a doctor. The excitement's been too much for you..."

Donald pushed him away. "You can't marry my daughter!" he cried. Suddenly he was remembering how easy it had been to like this young man, how much they had in common. His age, the similarities, it all added up.

"Calm down Daddy!" Lesley said, trying to smile, "I'm the one who's supposed to get cold feet, not you!"

"You don't understand," Donald gasped. "You can't marry David -- he's my son. Ask her, ask Molly..." and Donald pointed an accusing finger at David's mom. She turned her face away and nodded.

"He could be yours, Donald, I couldn't be sure..." Molly whispered, ashamed, "But it was just a fling, and I love my husband, so I didn't want to think about it..."

Lesley was swaying on her feet, and David slipped a supportive arm around her. "How could you, Daddy!" she cried bitterly, "What have you done to us? I'm pregnant!"

"Wait, Lesley," David said calmly. "Mom's not sure, so we do DNA tests..." Then he paused and frowned. "Lesley, we DID do DNA tests! Remember those ancestry DNA tests we did together? If you were my half-sibling it would have shown up in the test! All my brothers and sisters showed up, and even some distant cousins I didn't know I had!"

Lesley started crying with relief and hugged David, but Donald saw that everyone else was moving away from him as if he had the plague. His wife Kate was staring at him.

"Lesley is six months older than David, Donald," she commented in an icy voice. "You cheated on me while I was carrying your child?"

Donald hung his head in shame and didn't answer. He saw Molly being ushered away by her angry-looking husband.

After a brief conference with the priest, the wedding was postponed until the next day, with only their closest friends and family in attendance.

As for Lesley's dad and David's mom, they were too ashamed to attend and had a lot of explaining to do to their spouses. A few hours of irresponsible pleasure had nearly ruined their children's lives.

What can we learn from this story?

• Bad deeds always come back to haunt you when you least expect them. Donald never imagined he had once had an affair with her daughter's fiancé's mom -- and that it would all come out.
• The consequences of our decisions affect the people around us. We don't live in a bubble -- our actions impact the lives of the people who love us, so we should always think twice before we act.

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 a nurse who is shocked when her patient wakes from a coma with a heartbreaking request.

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