Girl Cares for Poor Granny When Everyone Turned Their Backs on Her, Finds Her Will after She Dies– Story of the Day

Olivia had to work harder than ever, but she didn't regret caring for her grandmother even for a minute. Days after Mrs. Janes passed, Olivia was surprised to discover an envelope addressed to her.

"Sweet Pea! You're back!"

Mrs. Janes would take off her gardening gloves, wipe her hands on the apron, and brace herself for the big hug from her little granddaughter Olivia. From Olivia's toddler days to high school, Olivia would jump off her school bus at 3 p.m. and run past the squeaky gates of Mrs. Janes' house straight to the beautiful garden at the back.

Olivia would clean up, have a bowl of fresh fruit that grandma put together, and run back into the garden to get her hands dirty. Olivia would love to ask questions about 'this plant, that shrub, and the other tree.' And Mrs. Janes would never tire of answering them.

After Mrs. Janes decided it was enough gardening for the day, it would be time to braid Olivia's hair. Before getting started, Mrs. Janes would tell her: "Go, pick any fallen flower you like. No plucking from the shrubs!" Olivia always picked a sweet pea flower from under the shrub. She loved the smell, even more than roses or gardenias.

Mrs. Janes would braid Olivia's hair, and in the end, she would clean and tuck the delicate pink flower into the braid and kiss it softly.

"Now off you go!" She would free Olivia to play around the house.

The comforting fragrance of sweet peas was a constant backdrop to the lazy, laughter-filled afternoons the grandmother-granddaughter spent together.

The least we can do for those who raised us is show them every last shred of love and kindess in their sunset years.

That was two decades ago, and yet, as Olivia stood alone in the now-neglected garden, she could sense the faintest aroma of her favorite flower.

Everything in the house looked different but felt alarmingly the same. Every wall and corner had history, and every scratch and stain on the old wooden furniture spoke of a memory of its own. But all that character seemed to be losing color after the death of its owner.

It was as if the house knew that Mrs. Janes had passed a week ago. It was as if every inanimate thing was lying upside down, upset and abandoned.

"At least I got to spend grandma's final few years with her here, in the place she loved most," Olivia thought, trying to soothe her grief.

Olivia tiptoed back into the house, briefly checking on her 7-year-old daughter Lina. The latter was in the middle of her afternoon nap.

She looked at the time. 'Any minute now!'

Olivia anticipated that her mother and sister would walk through the door and tussle for their greed to be fed.

The front door clicked. 'I've got to change those locks,' Olivia thought as she heard the door being pushed open.

"Olivia, my darling. How are you?" her mother Margaret asked with an exaggerated sigh of pity. She took off her hat and began to place it on the table. A visible layer of dust on the table triggered an expression of disgust on her face. Margaret put her hat back on and resumed her act.

"You just stormed off midway through the memorial service - everyone was taken aback! You also missed a lovely speech by your sister. This girl can really move an audience to tears with her writing." Olivia watched as her mother signaled Victoria to jump in on the awkward conversation.

"Are you doing okay, Ollie? And where's little Lina?" Olivia almost chuckled at her sister calling her 'Ollie.' Since childhood, Victoria would only call her sister 'Ollie' when she needed something from her. It was such an obvious tell!

"I'm alright, Lina is taking a nap, and I know exactly why you're here."

That last part took Margaret and Victoria by shock. 34-year-old Olivia was usually kind, patient, and non-confrontational.

"What are you talking ab—"

"I know you're here for the house and the inheritance."

The mother and daughter's faces looked as though they were thieves that had been caught red-handed.

"That is one of the things I wanted to talk to you about, yes." Margaret tried to sound confident. But Olivia was in no mood to listen.

"I have already made up my mind."

"Is that right?" Margaret grabbed her purse tighter to fight the bout of anger that was rising within.

"I never wanted the money," Olivia confessed.

Victoria's eyes widened with shock and greed. 'Does this mean what I think it means?' She let a smile slip out but quickly corrected her face to a blank expression.

"That's right. I never cared about this old house or grandma's saved-up money. You did."

"You both love this house, don't you? I'm sure you would have taken care of this property long ago. Still, you didn't like that it came with the additional responsibility of grandma."

Olivia walked across the hall, speaking with a sense of detachment that felt freeing.

"I look at this house, and it makes me sad. Because all throughout the past few months, I would keep picturing the four of us together. Having breakfast in the garden, reviving memories from 'the good old days,' taking turns to pamper and spoil grandma. I knew it seemed unlikely to ever happen, but I kept visualizing it.

"And on her last day…she wanted to talk to you."

It was true. Mrs. Janes wanted to talk to the daughter and granddaughter who had abandoned her. But neither Margaret nor Victoria answered the repeated calls from her that day.

At night, Mrs. Janes sat in bed, breathing heavily but quietly, sharing the silence with the granddaughter who had become everything to her. 'If it weren't for her, I would've gone long ago. Or worse, I would've been living without dignity at that nursing home,' she thought.

Mrs. Janes remembered the day her daughter had forcefully driven her to the dingy old facility.

"Mom, what do you want from us? Victoria and I have to live our own lives. I can't have you living with me, not with the amount of guests I entertain every other day. I can't just sacrifice my lifestyle like that.

"And you cannot honestly think that Victoria will take you in. She's a young woman, for god's sake. She's got a boyfriend who might move in with her any day now. Can you imagine how awkward it would be for her to have you around the house?

"We obviously can't let you live alone in the old house - soon, you'll need someone to clean up after you. Do you even know how much a nurse costs these days?"

"It would just make sense to set you up at the nursing home and sell the house. It will not be worth a fortune, but I'm sure we can put the money to some good use.

"And if you're banking on Olivia coming to whisk you away, here's a reality check. She's on the other side of the country. She's probably scrambling to make ends meet for herself and her daughter. She won't have nearly enough to pay your medical bills. And she's not coming back-"

Just then, Margaret's phone rang.

The timing of the universe was impeccable as ever. It was Olivia.

To Margaret's surprise, Olivia was returning to her hometown with a promotion. Moreover, she was willing and excited to move in with her grandmother.

From that day, Mrs. Janes' old family house came alive, thanks to the warmth and love of the three generations of women who lived there.

Olivia worked harder than ever before. Though she had to delay her dream of buying a car or taking her daughter to Disneyland, her heart had nothing but satisfaction.

She would often steal glimpses of her grandma and Lina bonding over plants, picking fallen sweet peas and tucking them in each other's hair. 'Lina is such a lucky girl!' Olivia would think. 'And so am I!'

Olivia would tear up thinking about how her grandma had supported her through the darkest time in her life.

Olivia had just given birth to Lina when she discovered her husband's secret affair with another woman. It broke her heart that the man she had believed in had betrayed her despite his ordinary life. And while she was ready to suppress her anger and reconcile for the sake of Lina, her husband left her one morning without saying goodbye.

Lina was only three weeks old, and Olivia fell deeper into post-partum depression.

She longed to cry on her mother's lap and feel comforted. But Margaret was not only emotionally unavailable, but she was also somewhat dismissive of Olivia's pain.

"I had warned you about marrying some nobody like him," Margaret would scoff.

"If you had listened to me and found someone rich to marry, at least you would be left with half a fortune if the marriage failed. But no, you had to be a fool and fall for a good-for-nothing artist. Now you will think twice before ignoring my words again."

Olivia's heart got heavier with sorrow until her grandma walked in slowly to her room and spoke to her.

"Don't you take any of that to heart, sweet pea! Your mother is in no position to give you relationship advice, let me tell you that. You aren't half as stubborn as she was at your age. If I were to tell you the mistakes she's made in her time, you would consider yourself practically a saint!" Grandma managed to get a little chuckle out of Olivia.

"Besides, look at this little burrito of joy lying on your lap. Can you look at her and honestly regret your choices?"

Olivia looked at Lina sleeping peacefully and broke down. Once again, it was her grandmother who had soothed her.

It broke her heart to leave her grandmother and move to a different city for her new job. So when she had the chance to come back home, she took it, and the first call she made was to her mother.

"Lina and I are moving in with grandma next week. Please turn the car around, and drop her home. I'll take care of the rest," she had told Margaret.

Since Margaret had dropped Mrs. Janes back at the house, she and Victoria had only dropped by twice. Once, just a few weeks before Mrs. Janes passed away.

"How's the old hag doing?" Margaret had shocked Olivia with her choice of words.

"Your mother is doing just fine," she replied curtly. "Please, speak softly. She's asleep inside."

"Are you enjoying your moral high ground?" Victoria joined in on the mockery. "It must be fun, working yourself to death while looking down upon us!"

"Listen to me, honey. I was right about your good-for-nothing ex-husband, and I'm right about this. The old hag is blessing you dry! Just pack her a box and call the nursing home I mentioned. You don't even have to drop her - they'll come and take her away."

"First, stop calling her an old hag. And second, I'll keep the number of the nursing home. Not for grandma, but for someone else's turn that might be coming soon…."

That was enough to hurt Margaret's ego and drive her and Victoria out of the house.

They didn't even care to kiss Mrs. Janes goodbye. That was their last chance, and they had wasted it.

Olivia didn't know that Mrs. Janes had overheard Margaret's insults and wept quietly in bed. "I can't wait anymore. I have to make a choice."

The very next day, Mrs. Janes asked her lawyer to visit her. While Olivia was away at work, she got her final will drafted and signed.

A week later, Olivia was holding her grandmother's frail hand as she was slowly fading away. She had a satisfying homecooked meal, read one last story with Lina, and braided Olivia's hair one last time.

As she tried to carefully tuck a sweet pea flower in Olivia's hair, she said:

"Remember me. And remember who you are. You are an angel. And I am the fallen sweet pea flower you picked up off the mud and wore in your hair."

That night, Mrs. Janes breathed her last.

And it was only the next day, while going through her old things, that Olivia realized what her grandmother had done for her.

Olivia discovered an envelope in the desk drawer. "For my Sweet Pea."

She opened the envelope and found a letter and a lawyer's business card. Olivia felt a waft of her grandmother's sweet perfume as she unfolded and read the letter:

My dearest Sweet Pea,

I leave you everything I have left. All the love in my heart, a lifetime of hugs and blessings to you and Lina, and a hundred thousand memories.

I also leave you this house and whatever little I have saved up. I know you won't take it, but consider this my gift to Lina.

She deserves the world. And this house deserves both your peals of laughter for years to come.

Love you, always, Grandma

Margaret and Victoria's hearts froze as they read the letter. There was no mention of them at all.

Olivia spoke with a clarity that almost felt divine to her.

"So while it is true that I do not want any of it for myself, I want all of it for Lina. Because unlike you, dear mother, I believe that my daughter deserves the world."

What can we learn from this story?

• The least we can do for those who raised us is show them every last shred of love and kindness in their sunset years. Olivia never forgot her grandmother's kindness; and when the time came, she did everything she could to keep her grandmother happy and comfortable towards the end.
• Raise your children to be kind, not greedy. Margaret tried to teach her daughters to value money over relationships, something that would most likely backfire on her in the years to come.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about an old woman who is abandoned by her family in a nursing home until she inherits an astonishingly large fortune.

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. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.