Peter Setton was enraged at the sight of his two-year-old grandson, the child of a man he hated, and it drove him to do the unthinkable.
Glen was teething, and he was understandably weepy, but Pete had no patience and no tolerance for the baby’s gripes. Alice was shocked by the look of anger and intense dislike her father threw at her tiny, helpless son.
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“Dad,” she cried. “Please, dad, he can’t help it! He’s in pain!”
“Pain!” screamed Pete. “What does that stupid creature know about pain?”
“Stop it!” Alice cried. “Don’t you talk to my son like that! He’s not stupid; he’s a baby!”
We need to let our children live their own lives.
“Get out,” Pete shouted. “Take your brat and get out! I knew it would come to this when you got involved with that piece of trash! Now I have to support you AND his kid, and put up with his tantrums? GET OUT!”
Alice looked at her father sadly. “Yes, I will leave,” she said quietly. “I won’t stay in a house where my innocent son is despised and hated. I’d rather live on the streets.”
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“That’s exactly where you’ll end up without my money!” Pete screamed. “You and that snot-nosed brat!”
An hour later, Pete was sitting at the kitchen table, and the house was dead quiet. He could hear his breath hitching in and out. He dropped his head into his trembling hands. “Oh my God,” he whispered. “What have I done?”
No one ever controls everything, as Pete should have known. Life is constantly throwing us curveballs, and it threw Pete quite a few. First, his beloved wife Maryanne had succumbed to cancer, leaving him to raise their daughter Alice by himself.
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Alice became the center of his world, and he was unprepared when she’d fallen in love with a young man from his work — John Bradley. Pete had liked John and considered him as his most likely successor in the organization.
Now Alice was less his by yet another parcel. She was about to become a wife and mother, and Pete would be only a small part of her life. He couldn’t stand that; he wouldn’t stand for that.
Then John had vanished, quit his job, and walked out on Alice and the baby, which meant Alice wouldn’t be leaving him. Alice and Glen were there 24 hours a day, but the baby was a constant reminder of John…
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“What have I done?” whispered Pete again. “My little girl, out on the streets!” He jumped to his feet and grabbed his car keys. He spent the rest of the night driving around, looking for Alice and the baby to no avail.
No one had seen Alice or the baby. They seemed to have vanished into thin air. On the evening of the fifth day, an old homeless woman pushing a shopping cart with a one-eyed dog in it told Pete she’d seen a stroller under the bridge.
Pete had thrown the woman a $50 bill and raced to the bridge. The stroller was there under the bridge, and it was Alice’s stroller! There were also a series of tents and rough shelters, and a group of people was gathered around a fire.
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“Step away from her!” Pete shouted at the man. “I’m calling the police. Alice, it’s OK; I’m here; you’re safe!”
Alice walked toward her father, but the expression on her face was far from welcoming. “What do you want?” she asked. “You want to call the police? Go ahead! Tell them how you ruined my life. Tell them to arrest the man who took me in when you kicked me out!”
“Alice, I’m sorry…” Pete said in a calmer voice. “I was wrong; I’ve been looking for you; I want you to come home… I love you, Alice.”
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Then, Pete realized that the man standing next to Alice was John Bradley. “He told me everything, dad!” Alice said. “He told me you fired him, that you made sure he couldn’t get another job. You ruined his life, so he stayed away because he couldn’t take care of Glen and me.”
“Please, Alice,” Pete said. “I don’t want my little girl living like this!”
“I don’t want my little boy to grow up with hate, dad,” said Alice sadly. “There are worse things than poverty, and hate is one of them.”
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The door to the trailer swung open, and out stepped Pete. “Dad!” gasped Alice. “What are you doing?”
“You are right, Alice,” Pete admitted. “I made some bad decisions, and I hurt you and John and Glen. But last night, I realized that I have to be near you any way I can.”
“But, dad,” Alice cried. “You have asthma; this is the worse place for you!”
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“You’re wrong, my dearest,” Pete said. “Anywhere you are is the best place for me. Please give me another chance. Let me try to make things right.”
Pete rehired John, and six months later, he announced that he was retiring and that his new son-in-law was taking his place in the organization. “From now on,” Pete announced. “I’m a professional, full-time grandfather!”
What can we learn from this story?
- We need to let our children live their own lives. Pete was so frightened of losing Alice that he drove her away.
- It is never too late to make amends. Pete realized what he’d done, and he went out of his way to make sure he corrected his mistakes, getting John reinstated and becoming a loving grandfather.