‘I Never Knew about You, Son’ Man Says to Little Boy He Meets in Shelter for the 1st Time – Story of the Day

Harry had lost the mother he adored and the dad who he never felt connected with. Just when he thought he had no one, a man came looking for him at the shelter. Who was he, and why did he feel so close?

It had been six days, and nobody at the shelter had succeeded in getting a word out of Harry. The boy would lie wrapped in the old blanket given to him all day, and he would barely touch the meals that were brought to him.

It was a tragedy that struck his small world and destroyed it. It was a grief that his little heart couldn't see beyond.

"Mama…" Harry would mumble with trembling lips before bursting into tears again.

Harry's mother, Delilah, was a beautiful young woman with an anxious but loving heart. She would often worry about money, though Robert, Delilah's husband, had quite a lot of it.

Robert was a successful businessman and not much else. From what Harry could tell, he was a perpetually angry and displeased husband to Delilah and a disinterested father to him.

Harry's entire childhood so far has been only about two things: struggling to keep his mother calm and his father happy.

"It looked like she wanted to tell me something…but she didn't," Daniel reflected.

And now, a week after they had both died in a road accident, Harry felt robbed of every scrap of happiness he had in his life.

"Mama, I miss you! Come back and take me home…" the boy cried until a man's voice shook him into silence.

"Are you Delilah's son?"

Harry's innocent heart was throbbing with fantastical hope that the man was a messenger from the heavens or was here to tell him that she was miraculously still alive.

Instead, the man knelt before Harry, his wide eyes full of tears, his palms cold on Harry's cheeks.

"Who is this man?" Harry wondered as he looked into his eyes. From within, the boy felt a strange familiarity with the man he had never seen before.

"Why are you crying?" Harry spoke his first words in days.

"I'm crying because…I never knew about you, son," the man replied through tears.

Looking at the little face of the boy that reminded him of the estranged love of his life, Daniel thanked the universe a million times.

The social worker who visited Daniel the previous day had told him the truth after all. Harry was indeed his son.

That afternoon, the deep unspoken connection between Harry and Daniel finally unraveled. The boy listened as Daniel revealed how Delilah was his one true love and how they had spent seven years of their youth together.

"Your mother was an incredible woman. Despite the hardships that she and I grew up with, Delilah never dreamed small. She wanted a life of comfort, wealth, and adventure. And she truly believed in me."

"I loved her with everything I had, but I wasn't half as ambitious as her. She truly believed in me and tried to get me to mend my ways and live towards a purpose, a goal. But I always came up short, and eventually, Delilah couldn't wait anymore."

"She loved me, too, but she wouldn't forgive herself if she settled for a limited life…"

Harry wiped the man's tears and asked, "So, you and mom broke up?"

Harry nodded and revealed that seven years ago, in a sudden outpour of rain, Delilah walked away from him for the last time.

"It looked like she wanted to tell me something…but she didn't," Daniel reflected.

Harry looked closely at Daniel, and he felt safe enough to finally unburden his heart and open up about his late mother and father…

Daniel had known back then that Delilah had left him for a wealthier man, a businessman of sorts. After years, Daniel finally got to know the full story - of Robert and Delilah and the rocky marriage that they shared until the day they died.

Harry buried his face in his palms and said, "I wish I was there to bring you guys back together. I wish…I wish you were my father. Because my dad…he wasn't a very good man. Sometimes, he didn't feel like my dad," Harry blurted.

Daniel hugged the boy, looking for the courage to reveal a life-changing truth to him.

"I am your father, Harry!" Daniel cried, gripping his son's hands.

It was true. That rainy day, when Daniel and Delilah had parted, Delilah wanted to tell him that she was pregnant with his child. But Delilah knew Daniel wouldn't be able to handle the truth or the responsibility of a child.

And seven years after their breakup, Daniel still had nothing. He was still struggling to make a living and still hadn't found his purpose. But all of that changed when he met Harry.

"Delilah, I promise you. I will be the best father I can be for our son," his heart spoke to the heavens.

When Harry learned the truth about Daniel, he refused to let go of him. He realized he had one last chance, one tiny hope of having a loving family, and he held on to it with all his might.

But there was one more hurdle standing between the father and son. Daniel had to make himself financially capable of providing for his son.

"Harry, my child," Daniel loosened his son's grasp around his leg and made him understand, "I need to go for now. I need to put a few things together for us before I can bring you home. But know this. I will bring you home. You are my son, and I will come back for you…"

The year that followed was the most critical year in Daniel's life, and he didn't waste a moment of it. The man turned his life around, found a stable job, rented a more decent apartment, and laid out plan after plan for the future of his sweet child.

And exactly 365 days later, Daniel was back in his second-hand car at the shelter to find Harry waiting at the gate, carrying nothing but a bright smile.

That day was the beginning of the best days of Daniel's and Harry's lives.

What can we learn from this story?

• Sometimes, life gives you a second chance at a family. Daniel and Harry both found each other at a time when they thought they had lost everything, and it brought back joy and purpose into their lives.
• Between loved ones, secrets can turn into regrets. Had Delilah told Daniel that he was going to be a father, their love story could have taken a turn instead of an abrupt ending.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about an emotional reunion between a mother who gave up her newborn son when she was young, only to see him again on her 90th birthday.

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.