A married woman comes to her neighbor’s rescue and helps her home-deliver her baby, only to discover that the father of the child is her own husband.
Sarah Harper had known Erica Vernon for over six years. The Vernons had moved in next door the same week as Sarah and her husband Kieran — both couples were newlyweds and they’d fallen into an easy friendship.
But within a year or two, Sarah realized the Vernons were in trouble. Lester Vernon seemed to be jealous and suspicious and made his poor wife’s life a living hell. Sarah pitied Erica, who was as faithful to her husband as she was to Kieran — or so Sarah thought.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Unsplash
Things became more and more unpleasant as time went on. The screaming fights from next door became more and more raucous, and the two couples stopped going out together.
Sarah would often see Erica looking weepy and unhappy, and even though Lester was always pleasant and polite to Sarah, he never gave her a chance to speak up for her friend.
One day Sarah ran into Lester at the supermarket and decided to take the bull by the horns. “Lester,” she said carefully, “I know it’s none of my business but I hate to see you two so unhappy. Have you thought about couple’s counseling? Erica loves you so much…”
Lester looked at her for a long moment, then he said, “Listen, Sarah, if I were you I wouldn’t defend Erica. You think she’s your friend, but she isn’t.” And with that, Lester turned his back and walked away.
Just three weeks later, Lester walked out on Erica, and Sarah was horrified to discover that her friend was three months pregnant. “But Erica, did you tell him?” Sarah asked.
The truth always comes out in the most unexpected ways.
Erica couldn’t stop crying. “I did, Sarah, but he said it wasn’t his, that I’d been cheating! I can’t have this baby on my own, I can’t!”
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
Sarah raised her chin resolutely. “You won’t be! I promise you, Kieran, and I will be with you every step of the way!” Erica threw her arms around Sarah, sobbing with gratitude.
That evening, Sarah told Kieran what was happening next door. “I told poor Erica that we’d be with her, help her through her pregnancy.”
Kieran didn’t look the least bit thrilled. “Honestly Sarah, I wish you wouldn’t be so impulsive! It’s a huge responsibility, and I don’t even know that woman that well!”
“We’ve been living next door to her for six years, Kieran!” Sarah exclaimed. “She’s my best friend and I thought you liked her!”
“Not really,” Kieran said. “She’s OK, I guess, but she’s always been more your friend than mine.”
“Oh honey,” Sarah said tenderly, wrapping her arms around her husband’s neck and kissing him. “Please be nice to the poor girl, she has no one!” Cunningly, Sarah nibbled at the side of her husband’s neck, at a sensitive area he called his ‘lucky bump.’
For illustration purposes only | Source: Unsplash
“You minx,” Kieran growled. “You always know how to convince me!”
Sarah giggled and gave the ‘lucky bump’ a lick. “Your mom told me it’s the Harper men’s only weakness and I’d better take full advantage!” The rest of the evening ended in love-making, and Kieran agreed to help Erica as much as they could.
So it was Sarah who accompanied Erica to all her doctor’s appointments and her scans, to the nutritionist and to the Lamaze classes, and even to the natural childbirth course that promised to have mom and helpers ready to usher the baby into the world without medical help.
“Not that I intend to have this baby anywhere but a hospital with lots of painkillers!” Erica said. “But it’s good to be prepared!”
For illustration purposes only | Source: Unsplash
And it was a good thing too because one afternoon Erica phoned Sarah gasping. “Sarah, I think it’s time!” she cried. Sarah rushed over immediately and was shocked to find her friend in a pool of liquid.
“Your water has broken!” Sarah cried. “I’m calling the hospital.”
The hospital advised her that it would be at least half an hour if not more before the ambulance could be with them, so Sarah made Erica as comfortable as possible.
She noticed that Erica’s contractions were closer and closer together… She peeked and saw to her horror that the baby’s head was crowning! “Erica,” she cried, “the baby’s coming!”
“He can’t!” Erica screamed, clutching at her belly. “It’s supposed to take hours!”
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
“Well,” Sarah said. “Ready or not, he’s on his way!” And she ran to get hot water, a warm blanket, scissors, and some cord. Kneeling by Erica’s spread knees, Sarah encouraged her to push.
Sarah watched breathlessly as the baby emerged from Erica’s straining body. She tenderly caught it and laid it on the soft blanket while she tied off and cut the umbilical cord — just like they had taught her at the natural childbirth class.
Then Sarah picked up the baby. “It’s a boy!” she cried to the exhausted Erica. “A beautiful, perfect baby boy!” Sarah started wiping the baby down gently, and she discovered that the baby wasn’t quite perfect.
On the side of his neck was a small hard bump, a familiar bump. A ‘lucky bump.’ Looking down at the tiny innocent creature in her hands Sarah suddenly understood it all.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Unsplash
“Lester…” she whispered. “Lester was right, wasn’t he, Erica? You were having an affair and it was with my husband.”
Erica gasped and tried to sit up. “Oh no, Sarah, never…”
“Don’t lie to me, I have the proof right here!” Sarah said raising the baby in her hands.
“Don’t hurt him!” screamed Erica. “Yes, he’s Kieran’s. We’ve been lovers for six years, I’ll tell you anything you want, but don’t hurt my baby!”
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
“I would never hurt your baby, Erica,” Sarah said scornfully. “I’m not like you. I don’t destroy other people’s happiness.” Sarah put the baby in Erica’s arms and left her to wait for the ambulance on her own.
That night, when Kieran arrived home, he found the house empty and silent. Sarah left him without a word and filed for divorce. It took her a long time to learn to trust again, but a few years later Sarah met a wonderful man and remarried.
She is a happy woman, and she and her husband are now expecting their second baby.
What can we learn from this story?
- Sometimes the people we trust the most are the ones who betray us. Sarah never imagined that her best friend and her husband were betraying her.
- The truth always comes out in the most unexpected ways. Kieran and Erica never imagined the baby would have an inherited defect that would betray their cheating.
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I Became a Burden to My Father after I Lost the Ability to Walk – Story of the Day
I Became a Burden to My Father after I Lost the Ability to Walk – Story of the Day
I was paralyzed and trapped in a wheelchair in an accident, and my father refused to be burdened with me. But then he gets taught an important lesson.
I was 19 when I was run over by a car on my way to work. For me, it was the end of the world: a screech of tires, darkness, and pain. And when I woke up, I heard the voices say I’d never walk again.
I kept asking for my father, but he only showed up three days later, looking the worse for the wear and I knew he’d been on a bender while I’d lain there fighting for my life.
She was injured in a horrible accident | Source: Shutterstock.com
My mother died when I was 12, a victim of breast cancer. I remember her as a sweet, weary woman, always cringing from my father’s cruel words, working to keep food on the table while he drank his paycheck away.
As soon as I turned 14, he ordered me to find a part-time job to help with the bills, and when I was 16, I dropped out of school and started working full time to support myself — and him.
But when my father finally arrived at the hospital to visit me, there was neither compassion nor gratitude in his eyes. The doctor explained that although my spine was not severed there had been severe bruising and compression.
I might — by a long shot — recover my ability to walk, but most likely, I would be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. And that was when my father walked away. He said to the doctor, “She’s over 18, isn’t she? She’s an adult, right? So she’s not my responsibility anymore. You take her.”
My father was an alcoholic | Source: Unsplash
I remember my doctor’s horrified expression and my father’s gaze sweeping over my limp legs. “Useless! Useless like your mother!”
Those were the last words I’d hear from him for the next six years. A little while later I was transferred to a recovery center where I was lucky enough to be assigned to a therapist named Carol Hanson.
Family is built on love, not a biological bond, or shared DNA.
She was an older, motherly woman who immediately took me under her wing. Carol was as loving as she was demanding, and she was very demanding. Over the next year, she pushed me towards a recovery I’d never dreamed possible.
The day I stood on my own two feet and took my first step, I cried like a baby, and so did Carol. It was only the beginning, and the next few months I worked even harder, but finally was pronounced healthy.
I woke to discover I was paralyzed | Source: Unsplash
It was a bittersweet moment for me. I was healed from my injury and I was walking again, but I was terrified. I had nowhere to go, no family. I was all alone in the world.
Carol walked in and found me crying. She sat beside me on the bed and put her arms around me. “Jenny,” she said to me, “it’s all right to be scared. You’re starting your life again.”
“I have no one, and nowhere to go,” I whispered, remembering other patients leaving surrounded by loving family, “I’m alone.”
“No you’re not,” Carol said firmly, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. Would you like to move in with me? Just until you get your life together again…”
I was stuck in a wheelchair | Source: Unsplash
So I did, and it was lovely. Carol and I got on beautifully, and she gave me my own room, a pretty room, the prettiest I’d ever seen. “It was my daughter’s,” Carol explained with tears in her eyes. “I lost her like you lost your mother.”
I started googling for jobs the next day on Carol’s computer, but when I came down to breakfast there were some informative flyers on the table from the local high school announcing night classes for adults wanting to complete their secondary education.
“I think,” said Carol firmly, “that you need to go back to school so you can go back to college.”
My mouth dropped open. “College? I can’t afford college!” I gasped. “Carol, I don’t have a cent to my name and no way to support myself if I don’t get a job, and quickly.”
The physiotherapist helped me heal | Source: Pexels
Carol shook her head: “No, Jenny, you can’t afford NOT to go to college. Listen, I will lend you the money, and when you graduate, you pay me back — just like a student loan with a bank.”
Anyway, she talked me into it, and I quickly completed the high school certification I needed and applied to the local college. I’ll admit Carol’s example inspired me to become a nurse, and four years later, I graduated summa cum laude.
I started working at a local hospital and ended up specializing in neo-natal care. One day, a TV crew came in to do a news story on a set of identical triplets and ended up interviewing me.
For a while, I was a bit of a celebrity, but the attention brought me an unwanted visitor. The doorbell rang and when I opened it, I was stunned to see my father standing there.
I became a nurse | Source: Pixabay
He looked terrible, like a bum, and he reeked of alcohol and sweat. “Jenny, my sweet baby girl!” he cried, reaching out his hands. “I’ve finally found you again.”
“Found me again?” I asked sharply, “You abandoned me in the hospital because I was useless, remember, like my mother?”
He squeezed out a few tears. “Oh my baby,” he sobbed. “Forgive me, I was frightened and in shock… You won’t turn your dad away now, would you? I haven’t been well…”
“You look fine to me,” I told him coldly, but my trained eye had already noted the yellow tinge to his skin and eyes. He had some kind of liver disorder, probably due to his drinking.
An unexpected visitor | Source: Pixabay
He shuffled forward. “I’m sick, Jenny, daddy really needs you…And…” he licked his lips thirstily. “And I’m broke, baby, no money for food…You’re not going to let your daddy go hungry, are you?”
“Like you left me to my fate? Helpless in a wheelchair? Guess what ‘DADDY,’ I am. Get out.” I slammed the door in his face and walked back into the lounge.
Carol looked up at me and smiled. “Who was that, Jenny?”
“Oh, just some man selling something!” I went to the sofa, sat down beside Carol, and hugged her fiercely. Carol hugged me back.
Carol adopted me | Source: Pexels
“Jenny,” she said, “there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. Would you allow me to adopt you? Become your mother? Because in my heart you already are my daughter.”
I started crying and I just couldn’t stop. I had been cursed with a terrible childhood, and now as an adult, I had been lucky enough to find a loving home and a parent who cherished me.
What can we learn from this story?
1. Family is built on love, not a biological bond, or shared DNA.
2. What you give is what you get, as Jenny’s father discovered.
Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.
If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a beautiful socialite who humiliates an old friend and ends up regretting it.
This account is inspired by our reader’s story but written by a professional writer. All names have been changed to protect identities and ensure privacy. Share your story with us, maybe it will change someone’s life.
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