Everyone at a birthday party mocked a poorly dressed girl and her mother until the ruckus caught the attention of a wealthy man.
Madison Lando brought her daughter Trudy up all by herself. The 33-year-old woman had been married to a miner named Joe Lando until he died in a mysterious mining accident along with some of his colleagues.
She had loved the stubborn man for most of her adult life, having been in love with him since their high school days. The pair welcomed their daughter, Trudy, out of wedlock but immediately tied the knot to avoid problems with their conventional parents.
Madison never liked her husband’s mining job, a transition he made after losing his job as an archaeologist. She found mining too dangerous and often argued with him about it. But her husband would win the arguments by pointing out that the pay was better than having nothing at all.
When he passed away, Madison was mad at him for a long time. “I warned you to stop doing it,” she would say whenever she thought about him.
The accident happened two years before, and their daughter, three at the time, had to grow up without a father. But even after all those years, Madison remained single, focusing on surviving with her child.
It was not easy for them, especially after the little money her husband saved for emergencies ran out. Affording a simple meal became a struggle, yet Madison somehow managed to provide for herself and her daughter.
That’s how they lived, until one day, fate changed their lives. During this period, Trudy had completed kindergarten, and a very wealthy classmate of hers extended an invitation to the entire class for her birthday party, as announced by her butler.
“Miss Bella La Fontaine will be holding a custom birthday party to celebrate a new year for herself. You are all cordially invited to this event but there is a condition,” he added after the cheers died down. “All dresses to be allowed must be bought at the Fontaine clothing store, and of course, there will be discounts.”
When Madison got home that day, she told her mother about the party. “Mom, everyone will be there. I have to go!” the girl said, excited. “We need to get to the store to pick my dress.”
“Yes, yes, let’s go,” her mom said with feigned excitement.
She did not really have a lot of money aside from the $100 tip she had received at the restaurant where she worked during morning hours. “It will be just fine,” she told herself as she followed her daughter.
However, as soon as she set eyes on the price tag attached to the clothes, Madison knew that the money she held was never going to be enough. Each dress cost nothing less than five times what she had. They quietly left the store while those who could afford the dresses bought them.
Madison was unhappy with what was happening, so she went down to a fabric store, picked out a similar fabric as the dress in Fontaine, and took it home to sew.
“Just you wait baby, you’ll have a dress soon,” she said.
It took her all night to sew the dress, but the end product was perfect. “Thank you mom, I love it,” Trudy said, genuinely pleased with all the work her mother put in. “I can’t wait to show it off.”
However, as she and her mother walked into the party, they caught the attention of many of the rich kids and their parents, who started to laugh at Trudy’s attire.
Trudy burst into tears and ran out of the building with her eyes blurred by tears and without care for her life until she ran smack dab into the side of a white limousine that had rolled up at the entrance of the building.
As she stood there dazed, the driver disembarked and began shouting obscenities at her. However, he promptly hushed down when the occupant in the back seat stepped out.
It was a handsome man in his 40s. He was expensively dressed, and his gaze, very much like hers, scanned the girl for injuries before he spoke.
“You should be more careful little girl,” he said in a voice that sounded familiar to her — then she heard her mom speak behind her.
“Joe?” she said. At the mention of the name, the man perked up and looked at the woman with his mouth agape. “Is it really you?” Madison asked as she moved closer.
“Maddy?” he asked with a confused look on his face when he turned to Trudy and called her name as well.
Suddenly, the three people became indistinguishable from one another as they hugged tightly. This was her husband, whom she believed had died five years before. “Trudy, this is your father!”
“Finally, I found you!” he said.
“What happened? Where have you been?” his wife said in between hugs.
“Let’s head inside, I’m here to offer gifts to the daughter of a business associate,” he said. “We can catch up then.”
“We can’t go back in there Joe, not after what happened,” Madison said.
“Tell me,” he said.
After learning what had happened, Joe went with his family to the party hall, but this time, as the moms laughed at them again, Joe rose to their defense.
“Our daughter may not have such expensive outfits as your children, but she has been taught how to be a good person. It is people with poor souls like you who can hardly be helped.”
Nobody could think of an answer. And those who could were too afraid to confront a wealthy man like Joe. He returned home with Madison and his child, where they caught up.
It turned out that on the day of the mining accident, Joe had been wearing his friend’s jacket. He had not escaped unscathed, as a huge rock had knocked him unconscious during the accident.
When he woke up, he did not remember anything and had been identified by documents that belonged to his friend, who had no family or close friends, so no one came to visit him at the hospital.
His memory did not return immediately, and by the time it did, Madison and Trudy had already moved. “We had to,” she sobbed. “We lost the house to the bank.”
Joe began to look for them, and while he did, he opened his own mining business, worked hard, and became a millionaire.
And now, after reuniting with his family, Joe intended to make up for lost time. He moved Trudy and her mother to his luxury condo, where he hoped to live with them happily and get to know his daughter more.