Son Visits 100 y.o. Mom First Time in Decades, Finds Her House Deserted – Story of the Day

Douglas visits his mother’s house expecting to find a valuable inheritance, but instead, the place is falling apart. While cleaning up, Douglas accidentally uncovers evidence that contradicts his beliefs about a family betrayal that happened decades earlier.

"I never thought I'd return here," Douglas said into his phone as he stared at the darkened house through his car window. This was his home once, but over the past few years, he came to think of it as the lair where the greatest enemy of his happiness lived: his hundred-year-old mother.

"I realize this is difficult for you, Douglas, but sometimes facing the past is the only way to move forward," Mrs. Sykes, his mother's lawyer, replied. "You have to decide if it's worth it."

"I know, it's just..." Douglas trailed off. So much pain still lived in his heart from Mom's betrayal. "She almost destroyed our family, Mrs. Sykes."

Douglas soon ended the conversation and approached the house, but this was not the home he remembered. The steps leading up to the porch were rotting, and the yellow paint was flaking off in huge swathes.

"This place is falling apart," Douglas muttered as he unlocked the front door, "just like our relationship."

Douglas wrinkled his nose when he stepped inside. He flicked on the light and was stunned by the sight of peeling wallpaper and dirty dishes on the coffee table.

He hadn't visited his mother in a long while because of the trouble she caused in the past. He'd meant to come and see her, but he never got around to it. Now, he almost regretted it. It was clear that Mom hadn't been able to look after herself for a long time.

Douglas fetched some trash bags and started cleaning up. Everything in the fridge had spoiled, and cockroaches had invaded the pantry. A mountain of old newspapers was piled up near the front door, and an entire community of spiders lived on the bookshelves.

Douglas was busy chasing the spiders away when a book tipped off the shelf. An envelope fell from the book and landed at his feet. Douglas picked it up with a sigh and looked inside.

Time stopped as Douglas stared at the photograph he'd discovered. He forgot to breathe. Although the photo was decades old, the faces of the people in the picture were as clear as if it had been taken yesterday. What he saw changed everything.

Douglas sank into a nearby armchair. The rest of the photos spilled from the envelope, a storyboard of lies and deceit scattered on the worn carpet before him. He wanted this to be fake, wanted to return to the world where everything was clear-cut, and his heart wasn't shattered into splinters.

But the evidence was undeniable. All these years he thought his mother had betrayed him, but it was really Emma, his wife! He couldn't take his eyes off the photos as he finally put together the pieces of a hidden affair that played out decades ago.

Years earlier

"So, we're agreed?" Emma shifted position to look up at Douglas with raised eyebrows. "No take-backs, right? We’re both willing to do whatever it takes to become parents."

"Right." Douglas smiled and tried to get Emma back into position, nestled against his side, but instead, she leaped to her feet.

"Then I'm going to look for a fertility doctor immediately." Emma beamed at Douglas. "The sooner we figure out why I'm not falling pregnant, the sooner we can fix it and become parents."

Douglas fought a wave of panic as he watched Emma flip through the phone book. A fertility doctor? He couldn't let her do that. If she discovered he was infertile, Emma would leave him.

"Don't you think that's a little extreme, Em?" Douglas asked. "We haven't been trying long, maybe we just need more time."

Emma shook her head. "I don't want to wait anymore, Doug."

Douglas thought fast. He took the phone book from her hands and asked her to leave everything to him.

"Don't you worry about a thing, honey. I'll take care of it," he said.

Emma hugged him tightly and pressed a kiss to his cheek. He forced himself to smile even though his insides squirmed. It felt wrong to accept her gratitude when he only wanted to find a way to keep his secret, but he had no choice.

The next day, Douglas drove to the hospital after work. He'd need Mom's help if his plan were going to work. He went to the private room where his father was being treated for a grave illness.

"Douglas? I didn't know you were coming by today," his mother greeted him at the door. "Your father's sleeping right now. It was a rough day."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but I actually came here to see you, Mom." Douglas beckoned to his mother. "Can we talk somewhere? I need help, and you're the only one who can fix this problem."

Douglas and his mother went downstairs to the small cafe on the lowest floor of the hospital. He told his mother everything while they sat at a corner table nursing cups of coffee.

"Please, Mom. I’m sure Emma will leave me if she finds out I'm the reason we can't have children. You're a doctor, you must know someone who'll be able to help me."

"By lying for you?" Mom pinched the bridge of her nose and spoke in a hush. "You're asking me to use my connections and friendships to coerce a fellow doctor into committing malpractice?"

Douglas hung his head. "I know I'm asking you to do something wrong, but it's important. I love Emma with all my heart and if she leaves me...there's no reason for me to carry on living without her."

Mom sighed. "I may know someone who'd be willing to help you. Give me a few days to speak to him. I'll let you know what he says when you and Emma visit for lunch this Sunday."

"Thank you, Mom!" Douglas took her hands between his across the table. "This means the world to me."

Mom frowned. "A good mother will do anything to protect her children's happiness."

Douglas and Emma sat together in Dr. Moore's office two weeks later. Emma's face had turned blank, and she seemed to be holding her breath.

"...treatments which may work, but I'm going to be honest with the pair of you, the prognosis is not good." Dr. Moore gave Emma a sympathetic look.

"I know it's hard to hear, but it's highly improbable that you'll ever fall pregnant."

Emma still didn't respond. Douglas squeezed her hand and leaned closer to her, calling her name softly. She looked at him then and burst into tears.

"How can life be so cruel?" Emma wept. "All I want is to have our children, but my own body has betrayed me."

Douglas took Emma home and settled her in bed. His heart ached as he listened to his wife sobbing. He'd known she wouldn't take the news well, but he hadn't been prepared for this outpouring of grief.

"It's all for the best in the long run," Douglas told himself as he took Emma's dinner back to the kitchen. He’d ordered her favorite Chinese takeout, but she hadn’t touched it. "One of these days, all this pain will be worth it."

A year passed, and as much as Douglas tried to continue his married life as normal, it always felt like there was a space between him and Emma now, a hollowness where a baby should've been. He did everything he could to bridge that space, buying Emma flowers and taking her on special dates, but nothing seemed to work.

One night, all of that changed. Douglas was getting ready for bed when Emma emerged from the bathroom. She held her hands behind her back, and a mysterious smile curved her lips.

"Something miraculous has happened," she announced in a voice thick with emotion. Before he could ask any questions, she held up a thin, plastic stick. Two lines stood out clearly in a square on the end of the stick.

"You're pregnant," Douglas breathed. "This is incredible! How is it possible?"

Emma ran into his arms and pressed a finger to his lips. "Don't question a miracle, Doug! This baby is a gift from God." She smiled up at him as the tears poured down her face. "We're going to have a baby!"

"Are you blind, Douglas?" Mom scowled at him. "Something isn't right here. This child can't possibly be yours."

"How dare you?" Douglas stood. "I hurried over here to share my good news with you, to tell you about my miracle baby, and this is your reply?"

Mom shook her head. "We've gone over this, Doug. Because you got mumps after puberty, and got it so badly, your chances of being a father—"

"I know!" Douglas shouted. "But it's not one hundred percent impossible. Why can't you be happy for me, Mom? Why do you have to accuse Emma of...she would never cheat on me!"

"You're so caught up in what you want to believe that you can't see the truth."

Mom crossed her arms. "I'll just have to prove it to you then."

"You stay out of our marriage," Douglas pointed at Mom. "I'll never forgive you if you ruin my relationship with Emma. She's the love of my life, the mother of my child, and I won't let you get in the way of our love."

Douglas ran from his mother's house and sped home. He couldn't believe her! What sort of mother heard such good news and immediately accused her daughter-in-law of infidelity?

"This baby is a gift from God," Douglas muttered as he waited for the traffic light to change at an intersection. "They're a miracle, a blessing."

But Mom's words lingered in the back of his mind. He thought of the distance he'd felt in his marriage over the past year and an insidious doubt lodged in his heart.

Maybe Mom was right to be suspicious...no. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He and Emma were forever. Their love was deep and true. But it couldn't do any harm to prove Mom wrong, could it?

Deep down, Douglas knew his thoughts made no sense. After all, the only way to prove Mom wrong was to investigate Emma as though she were cheating. He glossed over that in his thoughts as he came up with a plan.

A week later, Douglas told Emma that he had to leave town for a few days for a business trip. He packed his suitcase, kissed Emma goodbye, and checked into a hotel two blocks away.

That night, Douglas drove past his house. He was so shocked to see a strange car parked in the driveway that he nearly drove into a tree. He parked his car and ran toward his home.

He heard them the moment he entered the house. Moans melted into gasps and the low murmur of lovers voicing their pleasure to each other. Douglas felt like his legs had turned to lead, like his heart was withering in his chest.

A woman cried out then, and the world melted away in the incandescent rage that filled every cell of his body.

That was his sound, a cry that belonged exclusively to the passionate moments between husband and wife. Red washed through his vision as he followed the sounds upstairs and turned the bedroom door handle. It was locked.

"Let me in, Emma!" Douglas screamed as he pounded his fist against the door. "Open up now, or I'll kill both of you!"

His blows against the door echoed down the hallway, the only sounds in a house that had otherwise fallen abruptly into silence.

Emma's name tore his throat to shreds when he screamed for her. He felt no pain as he beat against the door, but his fists weren't strong enough. He spun and grabbed a statue of a rearing horse from a table in the hallway.

Douglas rammed the statue into the door. The wood cracked, and one of the horse’s legs broke off with a loud snap and ricocheted off the wall.

"You can't hide from me," Douglas yelled as he rammed the door again. The statue's head lodged in the hole he created. "I'm coming in!"

"Wait!" A woman shouted from inside. "I'm going to open the door."

Douglas froze. That voice...he was sure the cries he heard downstairs were from Emma, but the woman who called to him now wasn't her.

The horse statue fell from his hands and hit the floor with a loud thunk. Douglas was suddenly aware of the ache in his hands from beating them against the door and the raw feeling in his throat from shouting. The lock on the door clicked, and the hinges creaked as it slowly opened.

A woman stood in the doorway wearing nothing but a man's t-shirt. Douglas could see nothing else but her as he stood in the hallway, gasping for breath, blood roaring in his ears as he waited for the world to make sense again. Eventually, he shook his head and stepped closer.

"Mom?" Douglas said. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"I can explain everything." Mom raised her hands placatingly, but then Douglas saw the man getting dressed near his bed.

"Are you kidding me?" Douglas burst into the room. "Adam?"

Emma's stepfather hung his head. Even in the dimly lit room, Douglas saw the man's cheeks were red as tomatoes.

"I’m sorry you had to find out like this, Douglas, but—"

"Don't even speak to me," Douglas cut Adam off and turned back to his mother.

"Dad is in hospital, holding onto life with the help of machines, and you're sleeping with my wife's stepfather in our bed? What...why...do you not see how messed up this is?"

"I'm sorry, Doug." Mom wiped tears from her face and hung her head. "I know this looks bad—"

"Looks bad?" Douglas laughed incredulously. "It is bad, Mom. The sort of bad that you can't explain or apologize for." He pointed toward the door. "Get out of my house, both of you. I can't bear to look at you anymore."

Doug waited in the hallway while his mother and Adam finished dressing then he showed them both out. At the door, Mom turned to speak to him.

"I'm truly sorry about this, Doug," she said. "I couldn't let you know..." she glanced over her shoulder to Adam, who was getting into his car. "Some truths are too painful, son."

"No, what's painful is knowing that you're cheating on Dad while he's practically on his deathbed." Doug leaned in closer. "Now I understand why you were so quick to accuse Emma of cheating on me. It's because you had a guilty conscience and were imprinting on her!"

Mom recoiled with a gasp. "I...you don't understand."

"I don't want to understand. Now, I've wasted enough time talking to you. Get off my porch, and out of my life. I never want to see you again!"

Douglas shut the door in his mother's face. He couldn't believe what he'd just witnessed but didn't have time to process any of it. He didn't know where Emma might have gone, but he had to tidy up before she returned. She could never find out about any of this.

Present day

Douglas stared down at the photos scattered over the carpet. The tears in his eyes blurred the details, but that didn't save him from the images scarred into his mind:

Adam's lips pressed against Emma's cheek; her lips parted as though she was gasping. Both of them tumbled into a landscape of wrinkled sheets and twisted covers on his bed, bare shoulders peeking out, his hands all over her...how could this be?

Douglas remembered how certain he was that the woman he heard crying out that night was Emma and how surprised he'd been to see his mother open the bedroom door. He frowned down at the photos. Were these taken from the balcony outside his bedroom?

He remembered early mornings when he'd taken his coffee outside and peered in through the balcony door to watch Emma sleeping. The angle was right...Mom must've taken these photos from his balcony.

But why? Why go to all the effort of catching his cheating wife in the act, with her freaking stepfather, no less, and then step in to cover it up? Why...

That was when Douglas remembered his mother's words.

Mom said a good mother would do anything to protect her child's happiness on the day she agreed to help him hide his infertility. Just before he told her that he never wanted to see her again, she'd told him that some truths were too painful.

"This is what you meant." Douglas stomped on one of the photos.

Mom had come to his house that night to prove that Emma was unfaithful. When Mom discovered her lover's identity, she chose to protect Douglas from the truth by taking the blame on her own shoulders instead.

If Mom hadn't stepped in...Douglas had been mad enough to kill that night. And that was before he saw Adam! How could Emma have done that to him, and with her stepfather! The implications were nauseating. He couldn't get around it.

One thing was crystal clear, however: he owed his mother a huge apology.

Douglas dialed Mrs. Sykes's number as he locked up. She answered within minutes.

"I'm with your mother right now, in her hospital room," Mrs. Sykes told Douglas.

"How is she doing?" Douglas climbed into his car.

"It's hard to say, Douglas. The doctors tell me she could hang on for another few days, or she might pass in the next minute. They just don't know."

"I'm on my way there right now, and Mrs. Sykes? Please tell her that I'm very sorry, and I'm coming to see her. Will you do that for me?"

"Of course! I'm sure she'd love to see you."

Douglas hung up and headed straight for the hospital. The roads were quiet and he drove as fast as possible, arriving there within half an hour. He went straight to Mom's room.

It was quiet inside, but it shouldn't have been. Douglas stared at the machines positioned on either side of Mom's hospital bed, machines that should've been beeping but weren't. Mom had a faint smile on her face, as though she were dreaming about something beautiful.

"Mrs. Sykes?" Douglas slowly approached the woman sitting upright in the chair beside his mother's bed.

Mrs. Sykes looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Douglas. I told her you said you were sorry and she seemed to understand. She said something about the truth coming out," Mrs. Sykes shrugged, "but refused to elaborate. She wanted to see you, but she just couldn't hold out any longer."

Douglas looked at Mom's smile again and burst into tears. He was vaguely aware of Mrs. Sykes's hand on his shoulder, but nothing mattered anymore. He was too late. Mom was gone.

What can we learn from this story?

• You cannot build happiness on a foundation of lies. Douglas should never have lied to his wife about being infertile. If they had discussed this issue openly, they might've been able to build a stronger relationship but instead, it caused an existing problem to worsen.
• Sometimes you have to look past the obvious to find the truth. Douglas accepted everything at face value, and that prevented him from seeing the bigger picture about his wife's pregnancy and his mother's betrayal.

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