Our granddaughter wanted us to sell our house so she could help her boyfriend start a business. We told her she couldn’t do it.
Since Mary and George are going to be grandparents, all they want to do is spoil their granddaughter Ellie. But as Ellie gets older and gets ready to go to college, they need to teach her a lesson about who to trust with their money and their feelings.
When Monica got married, I realised that George and I had finally earned our time off. Our daughter got married, and now she will have grandchildren.
We were going to enjoy the rest of our healthy years until our grandkids came along.
A few years after that, Monica and Eddie had our only granddaughter, Ellie.
Time went by so quickly while George and I spoiled her. We could make things right by being good parents, and she was our chance to do that.
As we were leaving the hospital the day after Ellie was born, George said, “This little girl is everything.”
Getting into bed, he said, “Mary, we’re going to do everything we can for her.”
Yes, I agreed. We could do the right thing, and now that we had money, we could take good care of our niece.
Let’s go back 18 years.
Ellie is in high school right now and almost done with college. George and I loved every minute of it, but she grew up with the same attitude Monica did when she was young.
But Ellie’s point of view changed. Her bravado was no longer attractive; it was now a threat to who she was as a person.
In the kitchen, like every Sunday morning, I was making the pancake and bacon breakfast when the breeze came in. George and I had been doing this for so long that it was almost like second nature.
The quiet morning was broken by the sound of the doorbell. As usual, George brought us cups of tea.
I went to answer after turning off the hob.
Our granddaughter was waiting at the entry, and she was very careful not to look at me.
I stepped aside to let her in and said, “Hello, sweetheart.” “You made it in time for breakfast!”
Ellie made a face and pointed to George when he turned to look at the person at the door.
George wrapped his arms around her and said, “Come on, the bacon is extra crispy.”
In spite of this, Ellie shook her head.
She said something, and her voice shook a little to show how stiff she was being. She went on, “Look, I’ll get right to the point.”
There was something odd about what she did. She would often come in out of nowhere, hug and kiss us, and ask how we were doing. Each time she brought us cookies, they were baked with less sugar. She was going to show how much she loved him.
Ellie, on the other hand, was not at all like the girl we had seen grow up in front of us.
“You remember Tom?” she asked without much thought.
Tom was her boyfriend. He was already in college and living off of student debt. The few times George and I had met him, he seemed like a good person. But there was always something off about him that made me feel uneasy.
“Mon,” I told my daughter, “I don’t know what she sees in him.” One afternoon, we went to a coffee shop to catch up.
Monica bit into a cake and said, “Mom, I don’t know either.” She was quiet. I know Ellie, and Eddie doesn’t like that she’s dating someone older. She made her case by saying that Tom was a great match for her. he was helping her understand how things would be different from high school to college.
Ellie now leaned against the wall and kept talking.
“So Tom has this business idea, right?” All of this has something to do with eco-friendly energy. He has been talking to a lot of people, including counsellors. It could be big. Big. But there’s a catch. He needs money for it to really take off.
I watched as my granddaughter took her phone out of her pocket. Our eyes were still not meeting hers.
I and George looked at each other. I had a feeling about what would happen next.
Even so, Ellie’s words hit me like a punch in the stomach and were said in an unbelievably cold way. I never made a link between her and it.
“You guys need to sell the house and move in with your parents.” You will make a lot of money with this house, especially since it is in a great area. It’s good for you. Since you’re older now, don’t you want to be with your mum again?”
“Then what?” So I asked.
“Then you can give the money to Tom for his project!” she yelled, throwing her hands up.
George’s cup hit the saucer, and he furrowed his face in pain and shock at Ellie’s rude behaviour.
“Ellie,” was said. “This is our home.” You can’t get money out of it. We remember everything about our family and ourselves in it. Why do you think you can expect us to just give up on what looks like a dirty business deal?”
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t need to step in at that time. I sat down on the couch and waited for George to calm Eileen down.
He had been the only person who could calm her down and help her become herself again since she was a kid.
“Because you can be my grandparents!” Ellie’s voice cracked, and her usually calm tone changed. “You should want to help me.” Tom’s plan will work out. You’ll find out. This is all the money we need to get started.
The room fell into a tight, suffocating silence.
I could tell from the look in her eyes that she was desperate because they showed a wild and disturbing resolve. Because she loved Tom so much, it was clear that she was only seeing what she wanted to see.
But I had a strong feeling that Tom wasn’t the best choice for her. Even though their ages were different, something seemed off about them.
George and I looked at each other with hurt eyes. It was clear to both of us that going after her directly would not work. It would only annoy her and make her look for other ways to get the money.
“Let’s see what we can do,” George said.
As she left, the weight of her visit fell on us, and we sat down. George came up with a plan while I started to wash the dishes.
Strong-voiced, he said, “We need to show her, not tell her, what kind of person this man really is.”
George started a complicated scam that included making up a fake lottery ticket.
Johnny, the son of one of our neighbours, would often put up posters around the area looking for lost pets.
George came up with an innocent trick to find out what Tom was really up to that wouldn’t hurt him in the long run. After talking to Johnny, we ordered a prize ticket and sent it to Tom in a way that made it look like it was from a nearby store’s lucky draw.
We weren’t ready for how quickly and badly things turned out.
Ellie came back two days later while I was cleaning the living room. Her face was pale and wet with tears.
“What took place?” I wrapped my arms around her and asked.
She said, “Tom has left.” “Grandpa told me what he was doing.” And Tom got ready to leave as soon as he knew he had won. He left without me to start his real life in the Caribbean.
“Don’t worry, Mary. Johnny is very good at using computers, he can make it for us.”
Her voice and my heart both broke.
I knew Tom’s story would end in a sad way, but I didn’t think it would end so fast.
In a whisper, “I thought he loved me,” “I had no idea I was so blind.”
I stroked her hair and could feel her shaking with each cry.
While tears were coming to my eyes, I said, “Oh, my love, we didn’t mean to hurt you in this way.” “We had to make sure he was real before we changed our whole lives to help him.”
As the weeks turned into months, Ellie’s wounds began to get better. She brought her art tools and set up shop in the living room, where she stayed longer to spend time with us.
In the end, Tom was just another part of her growing up.
In that case, how would you have reacted?
