A woman ashamed of her poor mom tried to exclude her from her wedding ceremony by pretending to be an orphan — in the end, she came to regret her actions.
Jane was an only child, and she was four when her good-for-nothing father decided to abandon her and her mother Peace.
Left to fend for both of them, the woman slaved away on a small farm on weekdays while working part-time jobs on weekends. It was hard, but she wanted to ensure that her daughter never lacked anything.
Peace slaved for years, caring for her daughter, but after the girl became a teenager, she started to belittle her mother. “Mom!” she yelled one day as they were about to leave their home for the yearly fundraising event they held in her school.
“Can’t you get something else to wear? If you’re dressed like that, my friends won’t let me hear the end of it. It looks scruffy,” she said.
“But pumpkin, this gown is just about 12 months old and it also happens to be one of my favorites,” Peace said by way of explanation.
“But you’ve worn it so many times! Please change it to something else. I have no desire to get picked on by everyone who can see how old it is.”
Her daughter’s words cut through to the bone, and Peace’s eyes quickly blurred with unshed tears. She couldn’t believe her daughter could ridicule her like that; however, she held her peace because she wrote it off as her just being childish.
“She didn’t mean it,” Peace thought as she went back indoors to change into another outfit before taking her daughter to her school.
When Jane clocked 18, she moved from Houston to San Antonio partially because of schooling but mostly to avoid her poor mother, whom she rarely called after securing admission.
A year later, at her university, she ran into a rich man known as Amos Jones. They started courting shortly after they met, and after a month, he asked for her hand in marriage.
She was overjoyed because she had always dreamt of getting swept off her feet by a wealthy lover. It meant riches for her as well, which was her true dream.
Jane avoided telling Amos anything about her parents, and when he pressed for details, she would lie by telling him she was an orphan who lost her parents at a tender age and was subsequently brought into a foster home.
Thanks to her bald-faced lie, she did not find it difficult to exclude her poor mother from the guest list for the wedding.
The venue for the event was one of the most famous halls in San Antonio, and Jane was ecstatic about it. The fact that her mother would be absent was also a thought that brought her joy; however, little did she know there was a storm coming.
For some unknown reason, her mother had felt a strong urge to see her daughter, so she had planned a surprise visit a mere two days before the wedding.
The woman spent hours on the road just to see her daughter, but when she arrived at her home, the girl was nowhere to be found. Peace decided she would wait for some time before she left since she had spent a long time on the road just to see her daughter.
The woman had been dozing when Jane finally arrived, but she was shocked to see her with a wedding gown when she opened her eyes.
“Is that yours, Jane?” Peace asked.
Jane took a moment to compose herself, but Peace quickly noted the look of fear that had entered her eyes. “No, mom, this belongs to a friend! Do come inside. Have you been waiting a long time? I’ll get you some iced tea,” Jane said quickly, avoiding her mother’s gaze and rushing inside.
Peace was baffled by the somewhat warm response from her daughter, who had always been cold and standoffish towards her. The woman could sense that her daughter was not telling her something, so she followed the girl into her home.
“Why are you carrying your friend’s wedding gown around? Will you be going as well? If so, we should go shopping for something you can wear.”
“Oh, that’s not needed, mom,” Jane said as she set a kettle on the stove. “I have a couple of dresses I’m considering and it’ll be one of them I end up wearing.”
“Ah, I see. So, when will the wedding be?”
“It’s the following week, mom,” Jane lied.
“The tea is ready,” she said with false cheer. “Do you mind passing me the cookie jar on the kitchen shelf?”
“No problem, pumpkin!” Peace said before she gracefully rose to retrieve it. As she returned, she noticed her daughter’s phone screen flashing with a message notification from a contact named Sherry.
“The guest list for the ceremony is almost complete. I really wish someone from your family could pitch in. You must miss your parents in times like this,” it read.
The phone had been on the kitchen counter, so Peace was able to pick it up and open the message even though she knew it was wrong to snoop.
Fortunately for her, the device was unlocked, so she opened the full message and saw some other damning ones. Her daughter had lied. She felt tears roll down her cheeks as she saw rehearsal pictures on her daughter’s phone. Indeed, Jane was the one getting married, but she had chosen not to invite her.
Just then, Jane, who, after waiting for her mom’s return for a few minutes, had decided to look for her, walked into the kitchen, and as soon as she saw her phone with Peace, she lost her composure and rushed to collect it.
“Mom! I hate it when people touch my phone without my express permission! Let me have it!”
“Am I so terrible?” Jane asked. “Why would you lie about being an orphan while keeping knowledge of your wedding from me?”
“It’s not a big deal, mother, no need to start a drama here. It’s meant to be a small ceremony with only a few close friends, that’s why I didn’t invite you.”
“What?” Peace asked.
“Look, mom, this is my wedding and if I don’t want you there, you can’t be there. That’s all there is to it!”
“I was unaware you hated me this much but what makes it worse is that you’re also embarrassed by me.”
“That’s enough mother! The man I plan to marry is a rich guy so everyone at the wedding will be from the elite. If they see a filthy and shabbily dressed woman like you presented as my mom, he won’t like it.”
Peace couldn’t believe her daughter was looking down on her. “So please mom, for my sake, don’t make a scene. Just accept my decision and leave. Forget there’s even a wedding,” Jane finished.
What she heard from Jane cut her just like the ones she uttered as a teenager, so Peace picked up her bag and hastily departed before more tears spilled down her cheeks.
Nothing was heard from her until the wedding day when her desire to see Jane in a gown overrode her bruised pride and hurt heart.
She logged into her Facebook account and started stalking Jane’s page, hoping to find pictures of her in the gown, but all she saw was news that the wedding was postponed.
A post from Jane revealed that there had been issues with the cake, urging people to message her with information about a good baker who could help.
Peace took up the challenge and spent all night baking a cake for Jane despite what the girl had done to hurt her. Then the next morning, she sent it to her house with a note attached.
“I hope you enjoy this cake, honey. Unfortunately, I couldn’t copy the design I saw on your Facebook page, but I put in my best. With love, mom.”
Peace expected a happy reply from Jane that day, but none came. She was disappointed and saddened until two days later when she heard a knock at the door.
When she opened it, Jane and her husband were standing out on her porch dressed for their wedding.
“Get changed quickly mom,” Jane said as she handed Peace a new dress. “We don’t want to be late for the wedding. I’m sorry for my selfishness. Because you sent the lovely cake, we decided to hold the wedding at the church, and I thought it was time to introduce everyone to the woman who raised me and made me the woman I am today. I’m sorry it took so long to get back to you but it took time to send out new invites and reshuffle the arrangements. I love you very much, mom, please come and give me away at my wedding.”
“She means it ma’am,” Amos pitched in. “I had no idea Jane still had you around, I would never have permitted her to exclude you, I apologize on her behalf. Do come with us.”
Peace kept crying as she went into her home to change, and she didn’t stop as she walked her daughter down the aisle and placed her hand in Amos’s.
Jane learned a valuable lesson that day as she watched her overjoyed yet tearful mother — never look down on anyone.
