A man abandoned his young daughter with his mother to go off with his new wife, and when he returned ten years later, he wasn’t welcomed as he expected.
Doris Durán had raised her only son alone after her husband left her when Nicolás was just seven years old. It hadn’t been easy, but by working two jobs, she made sure her son never lacked anything.
At the time, she was thirty years old. She never imagined she would go through the same thing again at age 60. Nor that Nicolás would abandon his own daughter, Paula. It baffled her how much he resembled his father.
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Nicolás had married a lovely young woman, Sandra, but sadly she passed away when Paula was just nine years old.
Doris believed her son had felt very lonely, and maybe that’s why he fell madly in love with Diana just a few weeks after his wife’s death. Six months later, they got married.
Little Paula, who had always been a happy and lively child, had suddenly become unusually quiet and withdrawn. Doris preferred to attribute it to the loss of her mother. She believed her son was a good man and wasn’t ready to face the truth.
The summer Paula turned ten, Nicolás asked Doris if she could take care of his daughter for three weeks while he and Diana went on vacation alone.
“Every couple needs some alone time, Mom,” he said. “And Paula has become difficult lately… She doesn’t get along with Diana.”
Doris listened, surprised. “Alright, Nico,” she said. “Maybe a break will be good for all three of you. But if you don’t mind… I think Diana knew what she was getting into. She knew you had a grieving daughter.”
“A grown woman should be able to handle the pain of a small child who’s still trying to cope with her mother’s death and her father’s quick remarriage,” she added.
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Nicolás’s face turned red, and he pressed his lips into a tight line—a gesture Doris knew well.
“I should’ve known you’d take Paula’s side!” he shouted. “Diana loves me, she makes me happy, and that’s all that matters.”
“Well, SOMEONE has to be on Paula’s side, and I’m shocked it’s not her own father,” Doris said, wounded. “Your daughter’s happiness should be YOUR priority!”
Nicolás stormed out, but when he returned a week later with Paula and her suitcase, he seemed just as cheerful as ever. He gave his daughter a loving goodbye kiss and hugged Doris.
“I’ll be back on August 27th, Mom,” he said and left with a big smile on his face.
Doris and Paula wouldn’t see him again for more than a decade. August 27th came and went, and Nicolás never showed up. Doris called him, only to find his number had been disconnected.
He never called his daughter again after leaving, though he had occasionally replied to her texts—until the day he was supposed to return. Doris discovered they had sold their house. He had left with Diana.
He had abandoned his daughter with his mother without a word and without caring for her well-being. Doris sat Paula down and said:
“Listen, we’ll be alright, you and me. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you. I love you, Paula. And I know your father will come back someday, regretting what he’s done.”
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But it would be years before they saw him again. Ten years later, Nicolás drove to his mother’s house. The place looked abandoned. The yard was overgrown with weeds, and the windows were shut tight.
Nicolás knocked on his mother’s neighbor’s door. The woman was surprised to see him and seemed reluctant to give him his daughter’s address. She looked at his shabby clothes and old rusty car.
“Paula got married, and Doris lives with her. Don’t expect the warm welcome the prodigal son got,” she said coldly. She was his mother’s best friend. “After what you did to them, I’d expect the worst if I were you.”
Nicolás didn’t even reply. He just turned his back and walked away. He wasn’t worried—he thought he knew how to handle his mother…
When he got to the address, he was stunned. His daughter and mother were living in a huge, luxurious mansion!
He walked to the door and rang the bell. “I’d like to speak with Doris or Paula Durán, please,” he said to the uniformed maid who answered.
“You must mean Mrs. Durán and Mrs. Hidalgo, sir,” the maid corrected him with a disdainful smile, then led him into an enormous, elegant living room.
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A few minutes later, Paula entered. She looked at him in silence, without any trace of surprise, and Nicolás realized the nosy neighbor had warned them he was coming.
“Paula, my baby…” he said, stepping forward to hug the beautiful woman his daughter had become. She stepped back.
“What do you want, Father?” she asked, without a hint of anger in her voice.
“I wanted to see you and my mother, sweetheart,” Nicolás said with his best smile. “I’ve missed you both so much…”
At that moment, Doris walked in. She, too, looked calm and very well put together.
“Nicolás,” she said with slight indifference. “What are you doing here?”
Nicolás blushed. “I wanted to see my family,” he said in a choked voice. “I was hoping for a warm welcome!”
“You abandoned me, Father,” Paula said coolly. “Did you expect warmth?”
Nicolás looked at his mother, hoping for support. “It wasn’t me… Diana… she insisted. She said she’d leave me if I didn’t…”
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“Wow!” exclaimed Doris, revealing her discomfort. “You’re here alone. Does that mean the money ran out and Diana left you too?”
Nicolás didn’t take the hint. He looked around the beautiful room with envy. “I see you’ve done very well!” he said bitterly. “Maybe you could help me with something… I’m unemployed and have nowhere to go…”
“I’m surprised you have the nerve to ask us for anything, Father,” Paula said. “You left us when we needed you most, but we managed to get by. And yes, we live well now, but not thanks to you.”
“I’m still your father,” Nicolás said indignantly.
“You’re nobody to me,” she replied. Then she approached her grandmother, who looked at Nicolás with a hint of sadness in her eyes. “But for Grandma Doris’s sake, I’ll help you.”
Paula went to a delicate Louis XV desk and opened a drawer. She took out a set of keys to their old house and put some money into an envelope.
“These are the keys to the old house.”
“There’s $5,000 in this envelope. You won’t get a cent more, so don’t bother coming back.”
Paula put her arm around Grandma Doris’s shoulders and led her out of the room. Within seconds, the maid was there to escort Nicolás to the door.
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Nicolás sat in his car for a long time, staring at his daughter’s vast property.
“I did what I had to do,” he complained. “That was the only way I could be happy, and they had each other. Why do they treat me like this? It’s so unfair!”
What can we learn from this story?
• Selfish people cannot see the needs of others. Nicolás didn’t think twice before abandoning his family to fully enjoy his life.
• You reap what you sow. Nicolás expected to share in his daughter’s prosperity after ten years of abandonment and was shocked by her coldness. However, they were more generous to him than he had been to them, even letting him live in their old house.
