Henry, 41, was a widower with four children. He worked as a janitor at the airport to support them. Because they lived hand-to-mouth, money was sometimes scarce, and Henry found it hard to make ends meet.
Fortunately, his co-workers were kind enough to donate their children’s used clothes and toys to Henry’s children. Their wives also sent food from time to time. Since Henry refused to accept the money offered to him, they found other ways to help him.
One day, Henry was sweeping the runway after a flight landed when he came across an abandoned stroller. He stopped in his tracks to inspect it and found a girl, who appeared to be about two years old, sleeping quietly inside.
«How could someone be so oblivious and leave their child here?» he wondered, looking around. There wasn’t a shadow of a person around, and he wondered how the authorities could have missed the stroller on the trail.
He gently pushed it toward the security office, where the authorities summoned the police. In the meantime, Henry decided to get back to work. As he was about to leave, the little girl began to cry, begging him to stay.
«Mommy? Where are you?» the little girl wailed, crying as she moved desperately in her stroller, trying to find her mom in the airport crowd.
Henry took her in his arms to comfort her.
«Your mommy will be here soon sweetie,» he said. «Don’t worry.»
Finally, the little girl stopped crying, but she continued to look for her mother with her eyes. Henry’s eyes, too, were fixed on the crowd, but he didn’t see a woman approaching them.
A few minutes later, the police arrived and an announcement was made about the lost daughter, but no woman reported the loss of her child. When the police asked her about her parents, she could not say much except that her father was dead and that she lived with her mother.
At that point, Henry knew he couldn’t leave the girl alone. As a father, his heart went out to her. Even though he knew it would be difficult, he decided to take care of her.
He told the police that he had four children and that he was willing to take care of the girl. The police were reluctant at first, but after checking his ID and doing a little investigation, they allowed him to take the girl home just for the night. Social Services was to pick her up the next day. Henry didn’t mind.
On his way home, he stopped at the grocery store to buy food and diapers for the girl. Once home, his children were excited to meet her. She was also happy.
That night, Henry and his children had dinner with the girl, and one of them read her stories until she fell asleep.
As she slept peacefully, Henry couldn’t take his eyes off her. He was worried about what would happen if her mother didn’t return. He knew that sending the girl to a shelter would be hard on her, so he started thinking about the possibility of adopting her. And the next morning, he had made his choice.
But when child protective services arrived, the social worker was reluctant to let him have the girl. It was only after hours of negotiation that Henry managed to convince them to let him take care of her. They agreed on one condition: that he obtain adoptive parent status and get a background check, which he did.
Months passed, and unfortunately, the police investigation yielded no results. The girl’s mother was not found, so finally Henry adopted her legally. He named her Blessie, because he considered her a blessing. Little did he know what was in store for her…
Henry and his children loved Blessie. The children helped him change Blessie’s diapers, and they even took turns feeding and bathing her. As the days passed, Blessie quickly adapted to Henry’s family.
Henry’s supervisor had increased his salary. He could now take better care of his children. And after a few years, he was offered a better job with a higher salary. Everything seemed to be going well in his life until an unexpected person knocked on his door on Blessie’s 18th birthday.
Standing on his doorstep was a visibly affluent woman wearing sparkly stilettos. Henry felt fear as he noticed the resemblance between this woman and Blessie.
«Henry Pate? My name is Ayleen Morales. You took my daughter in 16 years ago, and I’m here to get her back. I need her money,» she said. Henry felt bad, like the whole world was crumbling around him.
«Are you here for her? Where have you been all these years? Get out of here before I call the police! She has nothing to do with your money!»
The woman laughed, and Henry was stunned by her reaction.
«Oh, Henry. It’s not a big deal. Don’t get too upset about it. Look, at that time, I wasn’t thinking straight. I wasn’t ready for motherhood… A woman’s life cannot be reduced to her children. Now I’d like her back.»
«Get her back?» retorted Henry. «Listen, lady. My daughter is not a commodity that you can leave whenever you want and then come and claim her. I took her in legally, and she has nothing to do with you!»
«All right,» she says. «How about we make a deal? You keep her, and I’ll keep the money. She stands to inherit $3 million from my late husband, and I want it all for myself. If she comes with me to the lawyer’s office to sign the papers, I’ll let you have her. Here is the address in question,» she said, handing him a business card. «Visit her, and you’ll know….»
Henry was shocked.
Fortunately, Blessie wasn’t home when Ayleen visited, so things ended there, and Ayleen left. But later that evening, when Blessie came home, she guessed from his pale face that something was wrong, and he finally told her everything.
«What about it, Dad? I’m not going anywhere with her. You are my family. Why did you put up with her?»
«Oh, I don’t know, honey. All she thought about was the money. It seems your father left you a huge fortune, and she wants to take it. She left the lawyer’s address.»
Blessie was in tears.
«Great! She abandoned me, and now she wants the money! Well, all right. I won’t give her a dime of that money! But I’ll still go to the lawyer….»
Blessie wanted to know more about her father, as she had almost no memory of him, and she wondered if the lawyer could help her. The next day, she went to his office with Henry, but the truth broke her from the inside.
It turned out that her father, Ronald, was a wealthy man and that Ayleen had married him only for the money. She never wanted to give birth to Blessie, but she had to pretend to be a good mother because she wanted to enjoy Ronald’s fortune.
Unfortunately, he died in a car accident shortly after Blessie’s second birthday, but before he died, he had changed his will, which Ayleen did not know.
When she discovered that she wasn’t in the will and that Blessy would receive her fortune on her 18th birthday, she was furious. By then, she had abandoned Blessie and moved abroad with her boyfriend. She decided to wait until Blessie turned 18 to find her, and it wasn’t until 16 years after she abandoned her that she did.
«She deserves to rot in hell!» Blessie cried as she discovered the truth. «I’ll hate her all my life! She wants the money?! She’ll get nothing….»
In the end, Blessie didn’t sign the papers that stated she was giving up the inheritance. She finally received all that money, which she was managing with Henry.
Ayleen didn’t give up, trying to force things by harassing them, but she finally stopped when they reported her to the police.
«I’m so glad I found you, Dad,» Blessie told Henry one night. «Can you believe my mom came back into my life just because she wanted money? I hate her!»
«But you shouldn’t,» Henry told her. «You see, the bad things in life make us realize the importance of the good. If she hadn’t been so bad, I wouldn’t have found a girl like you. I love you, my darling. I’m so happy to have you too,» he added as they embraced affectionately.
