Rich Old Man Meets Boy Who Is Spitting Image of Late Wife, Years Later He Inherits All His Property – Story of the Day

When Dave visited his departed wife's grave one day, he didn't expect to meet anyone there - let alone a ten-year-old boy who looked just like her.

Charlotte and Dave's love story was etched in every nook of the neighborhood they grew up in. They were on the barks of every other tree in the high school where they met, the walls of the chapel they predicted they would get married in, and the minds of every person who was a part of their story, even if for a fleeting moment.

Everybody knew little excerpts of Charlotte and Dave's lives, and the storms they had weathered together for 44 years, right from high school.

And so, when Charlotte died after a prolonged battle with cancer, the entire neighborhood suddenly became foreign to her loving husband.

Dave was tired of all the talking, the grief therapy, the free pies, and well-meaning friends who were trying too hard. Today, he just wanted to sit at his beloved wife's headstone, feel the grass tickle his toes, and smell the flowers that decorated her final resting place.

The roses planted at Charlotte's grave were in full bloom. They reminded Dave that it had almost been a year since the love of his life had passed away.

He looked around the cemetery and saw children scattered around, paying their respects to someone they lost.

"Children! They know how to grieve without blaming God."

As he smiled back at one of the kids looking at him, he felt an emptiness in his heart. The one wish that the most envied couple in town didn't get was having a child.

"Charlotte, did we fail at life? Did you go with a heavy heart for not knowing the joy of being a mother? And will I go the same way, for never being a father?"

Kindness heals both ways.

Dave closed his eyes as a tear rolled down his face, knowing there was nothing he could do about that twinge of regret anymore.

When they were younger, all Charlotte wanted to do was help women who had faced abuse. She wouldn't let anything get in her way - not even her own desire to have a baby.

"Dave, this is when we can use our minds and bodies towards a cause we believe in. Let's wait until we're 30 to plan for our little one."

30 turned to 35, then to 40, and soon, there was barely any time in Dave and Charlotte's lives to discuss having a child. Even Dave, keen and excited to raise a baby with Charlotte, had buried himself in his father's automobile business, especially after his father's sudden death.

So there they were, Dave and Charlotte, making a mark for themselves in the community.

And yet now, Dave couldn't help but feel completely defeated, crying like a child at Charlotte's grave, asking her why they passed on one of the greatest joys they could've had.

"Are you her husband?" Dave's thoughts were interrupted by a young voice calling from behind.

Dave turned around and thought he had somehow been transported back to the past.

"You remind me of…my Charlotte!" Dave told the child.

The little boy held a rose in his hand, and his sweet face, which was etched in sorrow, was that of a young Charlotte.

"Yes, I am her husband. Who are you?" Dave asked, trying not to stare at the uncanny resemblance.

The boy wiped his tears, placed the rose on Charlotte's headstone, and said, "I'm her son."

Dave stood motionless as he let those words sink in. It was an outrageous statement, completely unexpected. But looking at the boy's face, Dave knew it was true.

For the rest of the afternoon, Dave sat down and was told a story he had never heard before - the tale of his beloved wife, an affair, and a child she loved more than life itself.

It took a moment, but Dave recognized the boy's father's name, Mr. Hathaway. He was a lawyer that had worked with Charlotte on a few cases back when Dave was away for business expansion for a whole year.

"I had never seen my mother until last year. My father always told me she had abandoned me and told me I was a mistake."

"I hated her until the day when I heard her voice for the very first time. I had decided to steal my father's phone and call her without him knowing. I wanted answers, and I wanted to know why she abandoned me."

Dave held the boy as he trembled while narrating the story.

"My mother told me there was a man she loved very much whom she was married to. She told me she did a bad thing and cheated on a good man, which was a mistake."

Dave could imagine Charlotte's guilt and pain as spoke to her child for the first time.

He could picture how Charlotte would have soothed the boy's anger with her words and told him the truth.

When the boy revealed how Charlotte would make time to visit him after school every few weeks, Dave imagined her leaving home, excited, thrilled, but heartbroken and helpless over keeping it a secret from her life partner.

There was also a wave of anger rising in Dave's mind.

"How could she do this to me? How could she lie to me all these years?"

Dave was torn as he battled his emotions. But then the boy repeated one thing that Charlotte had told him, and Dave's anger turned into sorrow again.

"Mom said, 'If I could take it all back, I would don't know if I would anything because, on the one hand, I would not have you in my life, but on the other hand, I would fear losing the only man I ever loved.'"

Dave burst into tears, and this time, it was the boy who tried to console him.

'What am I to do, Charlotte? With all the love you have left in my and this boy's heart? Why didn't you tell me that you had a child? Is this your way of destroying what's left of me?"

The overcast skies cleared, and a ray of sunlight illuminated Charlotte's final resting place.

"Or is this your way of bringing your two worlds together?" Dave silently asked.

He looked at the boy who was quietly sobbing. Just like Dave, he had no one. With Charlotte gone, the boy's father had abandoned him. "Maybe there is a way to heal from this…," Dave thought as the boy rose to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Dave stopped him.

"To the shelter where I live," the kid replied with lowered eyes.

Dave walked up to him, bent down on one knee, and said, "Kid, you are Charlotte's son. The woman I loved loved you more than anything in this world. You don't deserve a shelter; you deserve a home."

From that day onward, Dave took in the young boy, Steve, as his own child. Steve grew up listening to stories about the powerful and kind woman his mother was, and Dave lived the rest of his years knowing the joy of being a father.

And when the time came for him to breathe his last, Dave left his business and everything he and Charlotte had built in Steve's name, who had grown into a man with the fearlessness of his mother and the kindness of his adoptive father.

What can we learn from this story?

• Kindness heals both ways. Dave was not obliged to take care of Steve. But he chose to, knowing it was the kind thing to do. And it ended up giving him years of joy while he was able to raise Steve into a fine young man.
• Don't hesitate to share your secrets with those who love you. Dave lived for decades, not knowing that his wife got to be a mother. If she could have somehow found the courage to tell him, there was perhaps the slightest chance that they would have raised Steve together.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about an old widower who notices a little boy crying at his late wife's grave - and soon learns a shocking secret about his beloved wife.

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