At 86, Lola Simpson sat quietly by the window of her nursing home room, her frail hands folded in her lap as she watched the breeze flutter through the small garden outside. Another birthday had passed. Another year of silence from her daughter, Natalie, and her son-in-law, Roger.
Six years had gone by since the day Natalie dropped her mother off at Big Hearts Nursing Home like forgotten furniture. She didn’t cry. She didn’t promise to return. She simply took the house keys, moved into Lola’s home with Roger, and disappeared. The excuse? “Mom needs professional care.”
That had been the last real conversation.
Every now and then, Lola would dial their number, hoping to hear Natalie’s voice—even just her voicemail. But the calls stopped going through. Lola began to wonder if she had been erased completely. She had no one left.
Or so she thought.
One afternoon, Lola was flipping through a worn family album, her trembling fingers brushing against a photo of a much younger Natalie sitting in her lap, giggling. That was when the tears came.
A young nurse, Mary, happened to pass by and noticed. She had heard the whispers among the staff—how Lola had been abandoned. How her daughter had taken her home and never looked back.
“Mrs. Simpson,” Mary asked gently, “are you alright?”
Lola shook her head, unable to speak.
“She hasn’t visited once. Six years,” she finally whispered. “Every year, I wait. I imagine she’ll walk through the door. But she never does.”
Mary’s heart ached. She smiled softly, trying to bring some warmth back into the room. “They say good things come to those who wait. Maybe your story isn’t over yet.”
Lola chuckled faintly, touched by Mary’s kindness. That night, Mary couldn’t sleep. She kept thinking about Lola—about the kind woman with the empty photo albums and hollow birthday cards.
Over dinner, Mary pitched the unthinkable to her husband, Josh.
“Could we… take her in?”
Josh blinked. “Mary, we live in a two-bedroom house. Three kids. Tight budget. We’re barely hanging on.”
“I know,” she said. “But this woman… she has no one. Not even a phone call in six years.”
Josh sat quietly. A memory surfaced—his own mother, who passed away alone in a hospital while he worked overtime shifts to support their family. Regret tightened in his chest.
“…Okay,” he said at last. “We’ll figure it out.”
Lola was stunned when Mary brought her the news. Someone wanted her. Someone saw value in her.
Within days, she moved into Mary’s bustling home, filled with toy-strewn floors, laughter, and the occasional sibling squabble. Mary’s kids called her Grandma Lola. Josh fixed her favorite tea every night. For the first time in years, Lola felt like part of a family again.
