“I’m grateful for your help, Steph,” Catherine said one day. “However, I need one more favor from you.”
“Sure, ma’am,” Stephanie replied. “Let me know if you need anything.”
“Can I at least see George one last time?
Can you please see if that’s possible?” Catherine’s eyes welled up with tears. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” Stephanie apologized. “The body was in a terrible state when we received it, and I’d recommend you don’t see it.”
Catherine still insisted on seeing George, but she couldn’t stand it for more than two minutes.
The fire had made it completely impossible to recognize that the lifeless human lying in the morgue was Catherine’s beloved husband George. The poor woman organized the funeral the following week, and Stephanie was by her side the entire time as support. But once everyone left after the funeral, she could feel the void once again.
As time went on, Catherine strived hard to recover from the trauma of losing her husband. But one day, she came out of her room to watch television with the rest of the residents, something she hadn’t done in the nursing home in the previous six years. But as she examined the screen more closely, her eyes welled up.
Is that really you, George? Catherine was both bewildered and overwhelmed. She wiped her tears away as she put on her specs and looked closely.
But just then, something piqued her interest. Wait, who’s that young woman? And why did she just kiss George?
Maybe I am mistaken. Perhaps that’s not George. She pondered as she moved closer to the television and took a front-row seat.
But as she stared longer, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing! It was Stephanie and George, and they were posing for a variety show in a new resort in Dayton, Miami with several other couples. Catherine dashed over to one of the nurses, Rose, who worked in the same facility.
“Rose, this man looks like the one on the TV, isn’t he the same?” she inquired, showing George’s picture because her eyes were no longer her friends in her old age. “Yes, ma’am,” Rose confirmed. “But wait a minute, isn’t that your husband?
And who is the lady he’s with?”
“It’s Stephanie, Rose,” Catherine said. “She told me my husband was dead. I can’t believe this.
I wonder if the whole fire in our house was just a ruse to get rid of me. Did my husband do it intentionally?” she burst into tears. “Did they plan it together?”
“I don’t think so, ma’am,” Rose replied.
“There were so many other ways for him to get rid of you. Why would he intentionally burn the house where he was staying? I suppose you should call the cops and inform them of the situation.”
Catherine followed Rose’s advice and dialed 911, only to discover a dark secret that Stephanie had been keeping for so long.
It turned out when George had an affair with a woman named Clara while in college, who was pregnant with Stephanie at the time they met. He was ready to take responsibility for the child, but all thanks to Clara, things got really messed up and he had to leave her. Years later, Stephanie wanted to take everything away from him as a form of retaliation.
So she not only set fire to their house but also forged documents claiming she was pregnant with George’s child. The cops looked into the situation and arrested the young woman. When George and Catherine met after 6 years at the police station, they couldn’t stop crying.
“I’m sorry, honey,” George said as he wrapped his arms around Catherine. “When I opened my eyes, I was in a completely different place. Stephanie told me you were dead before you even got to the hospital,” he explained.
“I shouldn’t have put my faith in her. When I lost you, I was dying, and I drank every day to forget about it. Stephanie was always there for me during the difficult times, so I thought maybe I had crossed the line in a drunken state.
But nothing of that sort ever happened.”
“As for Clara’s case, you already know everything about it, including how Clara dumped me for another rich guy, and when she returned, we were already together. Maybe if she had told her daughter the truth, she wouldn’t have turned out this way.”
“And you,” he added, turning to look at Stephanie. “My wife has a huge heart.
We would have adopted you if you had told me you were Clara’s daughter and didn’t have anyone to look after you. You don’t have to be so cheap! I hope you regret your decision now that you’re in prison.”
As the cops handcuffed Stephanie, she stood there embarrassed.
She tried to apologize to George after learning that her mother hadn’t told her the complete truth, but before that, George and Catherine walked away, hand-in-hand, hugging each other. What can we learn from this story? Source: amomama
