“Mom?” he said, shocked. “What are you doing here?”
Amelia didn’t understand his expression and almost frowned, but she was was excited to be there and that’s what she focused on.
“Surprise!” she said, trying to sound enthusiastic although she was tired, hungry, and concerned about his attitude.
Mark stepped out, closing the door behind him and forcing her to take several steps back with her walker. “What are you doing, Mark?” she asked, frowning now.
“Mom! I told you you would meet the baby some other time.
You can’t come in right now!” he scolded her, his face crumpled in anger.
“I don’t understand. Why are you angry? I just walked almost five hours to see my grandson, Mark, and I brought—”
“I don’t care what you brought!
I don’t want you here right now. You need to go immediately! You’ll meet Hans another day, alright?
Please just go now!” he demanded, looking behind him as if worried that someone would see them. He opened the door and returned inside, shutting the door in her face and leaving her standing outside with her things.
Amelia was shocked. Tears gathered in her eyes.
He didn’t even ask if she was alright, although she had just told him about walking for five hours to get there. He knew she had problems with mobility.
But she didn’t want to cause any more trouble, so she started to turn around, then she remembered the bag in her hands. She decided to leave it outside his door, hoping he would find it later.
Amelia set out to walk home, prepared for the long, tiring hours that lay ahead.
Luckily, her neighbor, Mrs. Cassavetes, saw her and gave her a ride in her old car. When she arrived home, her legs gave out as soon as she closed her front door.
She sat down on the couch, and that’s when she noticed her legs were inflamed.
After some rest, she managed to stand up, get some ice, and take a pain reliever. But in the end, she had to sleep on the sofa because her bedroom seemed too far away.
***
Meanwhile, Mark said goodbye to his guests that night, waving at them through his front door. It had been a hectic day with many visitors, and it was finally over.
He hunched his shoulders, thinking about his actions earlier that day.
His mother had walked to his house from her own home, he thought guiltily, then shook his head, convincing himself that it was not his fault.
“She shouldn’t have done that,” he whispered to himself. As he turned around, he noticed the bag on the floor. He picked it up and saw a tag labeled, “From Grandma.”
Mark bit his lip, thinking about his mother leaving it there and returning to her house.
He opened the bag and realized what was inside. They were his old toys from his childhood. They never had much at his house, but these items were always precious to him.
They still were. He couldn’t help but start crying.
Camilla saw him outside and got worried. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“I did something horrible to my mother,” he wailed, and his wife embraced him.
He revealed everything he had done, including that he started pulling away from his family because they were all poor, and he felt ashamed. “I can’t believe I was so horrible to her!”
After his wife comforted him, Mark decided to drive to his mother’s house immediately with a big apology. He still had the keys to her house in case of emergencies, so when he got there, he decided not to ring the doorbell and just use them to get in.
But he was greeted by the vision of his mother passed out on the couch with cold compresses on her legs.
“Mom,” he whispered, waking her up gently.
“Mark, why are you here?” she said groggily and tried to get up, but he stopped her.
“Don’t move,” he said and picked up his mother as if she weighed nothing, moving her to her bedroom. He added more ice to her cold compresses and helped her put them on her swollen legs. He also made her something to eat, and they drank tea together.
Then he apologized for his attitude and told her the truth.
Luckily, his mother was the most fantastic person in the world. “I had a feeling you were ashamed, but I’m glad you came here right away to apologize. That’s what I taught you.
When you do something wrong, you have to make things right,” Amelia reassured him, and Mark cried into her arms for some time.
He stayed with her the entire night, and fortunately, her legs were much better. The next morning, they decided to go to his house so she could meet his new baby, Hans.
Camilla also apologized because she had no idea what Mark did, but she should’ve asked why Amelia was not there. They spent a wonderful day together, and Amelia gave Camilla tons of advice about babies.
Eventually, Mark asked his mother to move in with them because they had a huge house, and he didn’t want her to be all alone so far away.
What can we learn from this story?
Source: amomama
