An older woman who lost almost everyone she loved finds new affection in her grandson’s best friend and sews a prom gown for her. Years later, the girl unexpectedly calls her to a hospital and requests that she holds her hand during childbirth.
For most people in her neighborhood, Tilly, 70, was a busybody who was always on her feet doing something or the other and never interacted with her neighbors.
They knew she had a grandson, Harper, who she’d been raising alone after her only daughter and son-in-law died in a car crash. Because Tilly’s husband had passed away long ago and Harper’s late father was an orphan, she was the only one the boy had.
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But while Tilly had stepped in to care for him, she was silently struggling with her own grief, too. When Harper would be asleep, she would sit alone for hours with her daughter’s picture and cry.
“It should have been me, darling,” she’d tell her late daughter. “God was unfair. He should have taken me, not you!”
As years passed and little Harper became a teen, Tilly learned how to deal with the pain. She decided to pull herself together for the sake of her grandson. But all that pain left her cranky and unsociable.
Tilly disliked interacting with anyone except Harper. But one day, a girl changed Tilly’s world.
The older woman was sitting on her porch, drinking tea and reading a book, when she heard a soft sob around her. She looked up from her book and turned sideways to see a young girl hugging her knees and crying on the front porch of the adjacent house.
“You can bawl your eyes out somewhere else, girl!” said Tilly rudely. “You are disturbing my reading!”
The girl looked up, and Tilly noticed her eyes were red from all the crying.
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“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I didn’t mean to disturb you!”
“Oh well, you did!” said Tilly. “Why are you crying, huh?”
“I don’t have a dress for prom,” said the girl. “And I… I’ve got no money!”
“Well then, stop bothering my reading and go ask your parents to do something! Being a crybaby will certainly not help you!”
“I don’t have a mother,” the girl said. “And my dad… he… he doesn’t care.”
The girl’s confession made Tilly sad. “My grandson doesn’t have parents either, but he has me. You’ve got nobody else to help you?”
The girl shook her head sadly.
Tilly sighed. She didn’t want to, but she found herself feeling sorry for the girl. “How about you come in and tell me what kind of dress you want?” she said after a brief pause. “I could make you one!”
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“Would you?” asked the girl as her eyes lit up. “Really?”
“I can’t promise that, but I can try!” grumbled Tilly. “You can decide if you want to continue crying or if you want the dress!”
So the girl dashed to Tilly’s house, and as she came in, she introduced herself as Harper’s best friend.
“You’re Harper’s Gran!” she said, looking at the photos on the wall. “Oh! He’s my best friend. I’m Summer.”
“You have a lovely name,” Tilly said with a smile, then realized she was complimenting someone for the first time in years. She quickly frowned and said, “Are you really my grandson’s best friend? I’ve never seen you with him before!”
“That’s because I never get to meet Harper after school. I work part-time at the cafe down the street,” Summer said. “Dad doesn’t care about me. He spends all of his money on, well, things that no child my age should see…”
“Anyway, I’m old enough to care for myself, but Dad took all the money I’d saved, and I don’t know what to do about the prom dress. He hasn’t been home since yesterday. This isn’t the first time. He vanishes for several days in a row sometimes.”
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Tilly was almost in tears after hearing what Summer said. She sat alone that night, wondering if she was prepared to sew again. She took out her old sewing machine and sobbed like a child while running her fingers across it.
Several years ago, before Tilly gave birth to Harper’s mother, she had suffered several miscarriages. She’d sewn dresses for her unborn children on that sewing machine, and looking at it brought back painful memories.
“My dear Summer,” she told herself, looking at the girl. “This child needs me. She needs me more than anything. I can put my pain aside and do this. Oh, I can!”
Tilly dusted the machine and drew a layout of the dress she wanted to make for Summer. And after hours of intense work, when Summer wore the dress to prom, Tilly found herself crying because the young girl looked so beautiful.
“Brilliant,” she whispered. “You look brilliant!”
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“Thank you very much, Gran Tilly!”
Summer kissed Tilly on the cheek unexpectedly, and the older lady’s eyes were startled wide open.
“Oh, thank—thank you… darling,” she said.
Summer grinned. “You’re cute, Gran Tilly! You really are!”
That night, the young girl stole the show in Gran Tilly’s beautiful gown. Harper himself couldn’t take his eyes off her, and she was crowned the prom queen.
When Harper returned home, he showed Tilly a video of Summer dedicating her prom speech to her, which made the older lady tear up again. Tilly was welcoming tears of joy, happiness, and love for the first time in ages. She had felt loved because of Summer. She had felt loved because of a stranger.
***
Several years passed, and Tilly grew older. Harper had eventually moved out and was serving in the Army, so all his aging grandmother had anymore was her loneliness and books.
One day, Harper called Tilly and announced he was getting married to Summer. “I proposed to her, Gran… it all happened too fast, but we didn’t want to go ahead with the wedding without you.”
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Tilly was shocked because she didn’t know they were dating. “Well,” she said, sounding emotional, “I’m happy. Summer is a beautiful, beautiful girl! But I haven’t seen her since she moved out.”
“She’s living with a friend, Gran. They work at the same company. But she’s in the city and said she’d soon be moving back to her old house until I’m back. Her dad left the house years ago to live with another woman.”
Tilly was so happy! She couldn’t contain her tears. “Oh, I’m so happy for you! So happy!”
But the wedding had to be postponed because Harper couldn’t make it home on time. He sent a letter to Tilly stating he’ll be home months later.
So Tilly was lonely again. She wished Summer had been there with her. It had been years since she’d seen her.
One day, Tilly was having breakfast when her phone rang.
“Gran…” she heard a breathless voice on the other end of the line, which worried her. “It’s me! Summer!”
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“Darling!” gasped Tilly. “Oh, what happened? Are you alright?”
“I need you to be here, Gran Tilly,” she said breathlessly, “Please… please, just come.”
“Oh honey, but where are you? What’s wrong?”
“Text…” said Summer, and the call was disconnected.
Tilly received an address in the message and hopped into a cab to get there. She was perplexed when she found herself outside a maternity hospital minutes later.
“Summer Collins?” she inquired of the receptionist, who directed her to the emergency room.
“Ms. Warshaw?” a nurse asked Tilly there, and she nodded. “Oh, please come in.”
As Tilly entered the room, she was shocked to find a pregnant Summer crying. “Hold my hands, Gran Tilly…” the girl whispered breathlessly. “I wanted my family to be there while I give birth to my child… Harper is not here, but you are!”
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Tilly held her hands and cried. “Child?” Everything was moving so fast!
“PUSH!” said the doctor to Summer. “PUSH! You’ll be ok!”
Tilly held Summer’s hands in hers as the young girl pushed with all her strength. And after a series of tries and a loud scream, Summer finally relaxed, and a little soul’s bright cries filled the room.
“Gran Tilly,” said Summer. “Your great-grandchild… I’m so glad he has you as a great-grandmother….”
“Oh, dear…” Tilly sobbed as she held the tiny life in her arms. She couldn’t believe she was a great-grandmother now.
“Ray,” she eventually said, gently holding the baby. “Summer, you brought sunshine into my life. And this child brightened my life further. He is the ray of light you brought into our lives. We’ll call him Ray.”
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When Harper returned from the Army, he was on cloud nine to learn he had become a father. Summer said she wanted to surprise him and Tilly together, but Tilly found out first.
“Ray completed my family,” Tilly cried. “He really did. My heart healed today. I’m just so happy.”
What can we learn from this story?
Love is patient and kind. It can mend the most broken of hearts. Summer made Tilly feel loved, and Ray’s love further healed her broken heart.
When God takes away something, he always gives something in return. Sometimes, that something becomes precious to us. God took away Tilly’s daughter and son-in-law, but he blessed her with a family, a loving one, years later.
Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.
If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about an 81-year-old woman who didn’t sleep a wink sewing a blanket for a blind man who turned out to be her late son’s carbon copy.
This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone’s life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.