“I can’t pick you up, Mom. I have to run some errands for Camilla, and other people are coming. We’ll set a time for you to see the baby,” Mark told his mother, Amelia, on the phone. Amelia was supposed to come to see their newborn baby for the first time, and he had to pick her up because she lived far from his house.
“Are you sure? It’s pretty quick by car,” Amelia almost pleaded. She truly wanted to meet her grandson.
“Some other time, Mom. I have to go. See you later!” he hung up.
She worried about Mark’s attitude lately. It seemed like he had been pulling away from her. It started happening when he married Camilla, who came from an extremely wealthy family in Connecticut.
Amelia raised Mark as a single mother with the help of his grandmother.
But now, her son had everything. Camilla’s parents gave them a huge house as a gift after they eloped, and he was living the high life.
Ever since then, Amelia felt left out, as if he was ashamed of his background, though he never said it outright.
“You’re being silly,” she told herself often when she thought about this matter. “Mark is just busy. Now they have a baby and a million things to do. He’ll pick you up some other time.”
But she suddenly came up with an idea. She could walk to his house. Though it might be challenging, she could do it. The bus routes didn’t reach his home, and she couldn’t afford it, so walking was her only option.
Amelia heaved herself up with her walker. She hung her purse and a bag on the walker securely and started her journey. It was slow, and although she could lean on the walker, it was tough on her.
She was forced to stop several times along the way, and before she knew it, two hours had passed. Three. Four. Finally, she reached his house, heaving heavily but happy that she had done it even with her walking issues.
She rang the doorbell, and then took the special bag as she wanted Mark to open it right away. But when he answered the door, his face fell.
“Mom?” he said, sh0cked. “What are you doing here?”
Amelia 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, and closed 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. He returned inside, shutting the door in her face and leaving her standing outside with her things.
Amelia was in sh0ck. Tears gathered in her eyes. He didn’t even ask if she was alright, though 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. Luckily, her neighbor, Mrs. Cassavetes, saw her and gave her a ride in her old car. When she came home, her legs gave out. She sat down on the couch, and that’s when she noticed her legs were inflamed.
Camilla saw him outside and got worried. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“I did something horrible to my mother,” he wailed. 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!”
His wife comforted him, and 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. 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.
Camilla also apologized because she didn’t know 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.
