Old Widow Finds Flowers on Her Doorstep Once a Week, Catches Unfamiliar Kid Who Leaves Them There – Story of the Day

An elderly widow starts finding flowers on her doorstep every Sunday and is determined to discover the identity of her mysterious benefactor.

The worse thing about being a widow was coming home to an empty house. Olivia would put the key into the lock and hear that solitary click. The door would swing open in absolute silence.

It felt as if the air had grown heavy and stale, unmoved by a single breath since she'd left. The house was lifeless, now, even when she was there. There was nothing to come home to, nothing to look forward to.

Olivia bitterly wished she'd died with Walter. What was she doing here? They had not been blessed with children, so she mattered to no one, and no one needed her. Or so she believed.

Because coming home was so painful, Olivia started going out less and less. She started ordering her groceries online instead of going to the store, and she stopped visiting her old friends.

"They'll soon be dead too," she told herself. "It will be one more thing to miss. Might as well stop going now!"

The only thing she still did was go to church on Sundays. Father Roger refused to make house calls for Olivia, even though she knew he visited Eveline Cardoza down the street and gave her Holy Communion!

An act of kindness can transform a life.

She'd tried to argue with him about it, and he simply cut her off. "You come to church, or not," he said firmly. "It's your decision, Olivia."

So Olivia went to church, and she grumbled all the time. She sat in the front pew where Father Roger could see her, and she walked in leaning heavily on her cane after service started, moaning loudly, so he'd know she was in pain.

He obviously didn't care! The man had no charity, Olivia thought angrily as she walked spryly up her driveway waving her cane. She was swinging the cane vindictively at a patch of marigolds when she saw the flowers on her doorstep.

It was a beautiful gift-wrapped bouquet with roses and wintergreen and gardenias. Who on earth could have brought it? Maybe it was a mistake, Olivia thought, inhaling the heavenly scent of the flowers.

Maybe it had been delivered to the wrong address by one of those irritating kids in a scooter. Olivia looked around, but the neighboring houses were shuttered. Most of the families were still away on vacation.

So Olivia decided to keep the flowers. There was no one to ask anyway! She rather enjoyed having them in the house. The flowers' perfume livened up the air, and that week she was inspired to go outside and do a bit of gardening. "What a lucky mistake!" she said to herself.

But maybe it wasn't a mistake, because the next Sunday, when she came home from church, there was ANOTHER bouquet waiting for her on the doorstep!

This time, it was sunflowers, and she placed them in the living room. It was like having a cool bonfire in the house, and Olivia never tired of the tumble of hot color.

Another mistake? Definitely not. Who then was bringing her flowers? She couldn't come up with a single name. Could it be Father Roger? She didn't think so. He wasn't pleased with her, and besides, it wasn't his style.

The next Sunday, it was pale pink carnations, and the next, the most delightful, delicate lilies-of-the valley she'd ever seen.

Olivia was determined to discover who was leaving the flowers, and since the mysterious friend was leaving them while she was at church, she decided not to go.

Olivia closed the drapes, just as she did when she went out, but she stood behind them and waited for her secret visitor. She had a long wait, and just when she was about to give up, she saw a car pull up in front of her house.

Someone got out and walked up to the door, carrying a bouquet of yellow roses. When the person got closer, Olivia saw that it was a girl, a very young girl, no more than 10 or 12.

The girl placed the flowers on her doorstep. Olivia opened the door, and the girl stepped back, frightened. She immediately turned and started to run away.

Olivia cried, "WAIT!" and ran after her. The girl stumbled, and Olvia managed to catch her. "Wait," she said again. "Please, wait. Don't be frightened. I just want to know why you are leaving the flowers! Who are you?"

The girl looked very embarrassed and said, "I... I'm Jessica. I saw you at the supermarket once, and you looked so sad...You reminded me of my grandmother. She died, you see... I told my mom I wanted to cheer you up, so we started bringing you flowers..."

Olivia smiled. "You did cheer me up, more than you know," she said. "Why don't you go call your mom, and you two have tea with me?"

Jessica ran to the car and talked to her mom. Jessica's mom was a slender woman with a kind face. She got out of the car and greeted Olivia shyly.

Jessica and her mom had a wonderful time visiting Olivia. As it turned out, they lived two streets down. They had just moved to town and didn't know a lot of people.

Olivia, Jessica, and her mom became great friends, and Jessica thought of Olivia as a grandmother. Life had brought Olivia a wonderful adoptive family and cured her loneliness. Olivia was very loved and needed.

What can we learn from this story?

• Don't shut yourself in. Reach out to others, and you'll find love and friendship. Jessica was sad and lonely, so she tried to make Olivia's life better.
• An act of kindness can transform a life. The flowers gave Olivia a new lease on life. She felt that someone cared about her -- and sometimes that is all we need.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a thirteen-year-old boy who gives the dog he'd longed for to a lonely widow. Nine years later, she appears at his wedding with a surprise for him

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.