Things went wrong from the word ‘go.’ Grandma Cara was ice-cold and rude to Kim who kept looking over at Jake with a bewildered look on her face. Jake frowned a warning at his grandmother but she just ignored him. Grandpa Kevin kept staring at Kim and asked her surname after which he kept very quiet.
Jake couldn’t remember a more awkward or uncomfortable evening. Things got worse after Jake came back home from walking Kim over to her house. His grandmother was waiting for him.
“I want you to call off this engagement,” she said. “This girl is all wrong for you.” “You don’t even know her! Jake exclaimed.
“I know her family, and they are trash!” Grandma Cara screamed. “Trash, do you hear me? She and her mother and her grandmother are trash!” Jake jumped up.
“I love you, Grandma Cara,” he cried. “But I will not allow you to talk about Kim or her family like that!”
But Grandma Cara had turned into a woman Jake didn’t even recognize. Her face was swollen and red, and thick tendons stood out in her neck.
“Her grandmother ruined my life!” she screamed. “I won’t let her ruin yours!” Grandpa Kevin ran in. “What on earth is going on, Cara?” he asked.
“Why are you screaming?” “Do you know who that cheap piece is?” asked Cara furiously. “She’s the granddaughter of YOUR cheap piece, Tracy! Yes!
I knew all about her, so you can stop pretending!” Grandpa Kevin looked shocked. “Tracy’s grandaughter?” he whispered. “I… I haven’t seen her in nearly 50 years, Cara.
This girl has done nothing to you. She doesn’t deserve your hate.” “What is going on?” asked Jake bewildered. Cara didn’t answer.
She turned around and screamed: “If you marry that girl, you can forget about seeing me or your grandfather ever again!” “NO!” cried Grandpa Kevin. “I won’t allow you to hurt Jake like this. Listen to me Jake, if you love this girl, marry her.
Follow your heart. I didn’t and I’ve regretted it for 50 years!” “How can you say that?” Cara cried and burst into tears. “I was unhappy,” Grandpa Kevin said quietly.
“I begged you for a divorce, and you told me I’d never see my children again. So I gave up the love of my life. I stayed, Cara.
So leave the kids alone!” Jake married Kim, but Cara wasn’t invited even though Grandpa Kevin was the best man. At the reception, Kim and Jake announced the pregnancy, and Kim’s grandmother finally told Kevin the truth. “Fifty years ago, your wife came to see me,” Tracy confessed.
“She told me she was pregnant, and that I was only one of your many lovers. So… I didn’t tell you I was pregnant. “Kim is our son’s daughter.
Jake and Kim are half cousins. I should have told you before. I’m sorry.” Grandpa Kevin started crying.
“I never even knew my son,” he sobbed. “I would have stayed with you…” Tracy shook her head. “I could never have taken my happiness at the expense of someone else’s.
It was better this way — and now we are family.”
Cara was devastated to be left out of her grandson’s life, and when Kevin flew to Seattle to be there for the baby’s birth, she begged to be allowed to go along. Fifty years too late, she apologized to Kevin. When she held her grandchild in her arms for the first time, Cara wept.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to Kim. “So many years and so much bitterness, and this is the sweetest moment of my life. Thank you.”
