When my son turned his back on his own daughter, my husband and I didn’t hesitate to step in. Years later, a shocking demand at the worst possible moment unraveled more than just old wounds.
Sixteen years ago, my son, Tom, had a daughter named Ava with his now-ex-wife, Mia. My husband and I chose to help raise our granddaughter after her father disowned her.
But we didn’t anticipate him wanting paternity when he discovered how we wanted to provide for her future.
From the moment I met her, I adored Mia like she was my own. She had this spark, was clever, kind, and a little chaotic in her youth, earning the title “party girl.” But how she behaved was nothing I hadn’t been myself once.
She and Tom met during their junior year of college when she’d settled down more, and honestly, I thought they’d found something real.
Ava came into the picture not long after they married, and for a while, life seemed beautiful. I believed they’d grow old together.
But people change.
And not always for the better.
I am embarrassed to say this about my own child, and I don’t know where I went wrong with him, but Tom cheated on Mia. I still remember the night she showed up at our door, trembling and holding Ava, who was just a baby at the time.
It was pouring rain, and she didn’t say much at first. Just handed me Ava, sat down on the porch swing, and cried.
Tom had relocated with Mia back to the States months before the infidelity, and she had no one here, not a soul but us.
So, we did what any decent parents would do. My husband, Gary, and I took them in.
Mia didn’t act entitled or bitter. She offered to find a job to pay rent, clean, cook, whatever she could, but we refused.
She was family. She still is.
Their divorce left me heartbroken, but Gary and I focused our energy on helping Mia raise Ava in a stable and loving home.
Tom, on the other hand, didn’t seem affected or bothered about what he’d done and moved on disturbingly fast. Less than a year later, he married Lacey, a woman I’d met twice before their wedding.
…The story doesn’t end here, it continues on the next page 👇
