MILLIONAIRE LEARNS HIS DAUGHTER AND FOUR GRANDKIDS HAVE BEEN LIVING IN A CAR FOR YEARS
A WEALTHY FATHER LEARNS HIS DAUGHTER AND FOUR GRANDCHILDREN HAVE BEEN LIVING IN A CAR FOR YEARS
Steve Walton was far from pleased when his butler informed him that Pastor Morris had come to see him.
Having just returned from a lengthy trip to Singapore, Steve wasn’t in the mood to entertain the pastor’s usual requests for help.
He motioned impatiently for the pastor to sit. “Get to the point,” Steve snapped. “What do you need now?”
“Mr. Walton, I’ve found Susan,” the pastor said gently. Steve’s heart skipped a beat. His daughter had left home nearly fifteen years ago, and he hadn’t heard from her since.
“Susan?” Steve asked, his voice rising. “Where is she? How is she? When did you see her?” The pastor took a deep breath.
“I was in Los Angeles, working with a friend on a mission for the homeless. That’s when I came across her.” “Was she volunteering?” Steve asked, eager for good news.
“Did you tell her I’ve been looking for her?” “No,” the pastor replied softly. “She wasn’t volunteering. She’s homeless, Mr. Walton. She and her children have been living in a car.”
Steve’s world seemed to tilt. He sank into his chair, stunned. “Homeless? Susan? And children?” he gasped, unable to comprehend.
“Yes,” Pastor Morris confirmed. “And when I asked her to come back home, she wouldn’t listen.” “Why?” Steve asked, frustration creeping into his voice. “Is she still with that man?”
“The man she married passed away three years ago,” the pastor explained. “She said she wouldn’t bring her children into a home where their father wasn’t respected.”
Steve’s anger flared. After all these years, Susan was still defying him! He remembered the last time they spoke—she had been sixteen, pregnant, and with the gardener.
“Pregnant at sixteen, with the gardener!” he had shouted in his office. “I’ll deal with that. He’s fired! You’ll never see him again!”
“That’s my baby, Dad,” Susan had said, tears in her eyes. “And I love him. I’m going to marry him.” “If you marry him, you’re on your own!” Steve had yelled.
“No more money! You’re out of this house!” Tears had streamed down Susan’s face as she said, “I love you, Dad,” and walked out. Despite his efforts, he never found her.
“How many children does she have?” Steve asked, his voice shaking. “Four,” the pastor replied. “Three girls and a boy. Beautiful children.”
Without another word, Steve grabbed his phone. “Get my jet ready,” he ordered. “Pastor, will you come with me to Los Angeles? We need to find my daughter.”
Two hours later, they landed in Los Angeles. A limo was waiting, and the pastor directed the driver to a parking lot near a large mall. At the far end of the lot, they spotted a pickup truck with a tent in the back.
The pastor explained that after Susan’s husband died in a car accident, the insurance company refused to pay, and the bank repossessed their house.
Susan packed her children and their belongings into the truck and found work as a cleaner at the mall. She used the mall’s bathrooms to freshen up and bought leftover food from restaurants at the end of the day.
Despite everything, she managed to care for her children, keeping them fed, clean, and in school. As they approached the truck, they heard the sound of children laughing.
Two kids ran out from the back—a fourteen-year-old girl laughing as she tickled a seven-year-old boy. They froze when they saw Steve and the pastor.
“Mom!” the girl called out. “That preacher friend of yours is here!” A voice from inside the tent called, “Pastor Morris?”
Then Susan appeared, her face registering shock when she saw Steve standing beside the pastor. “Dad?” she said, her eyes filling with tears.
Steve was taken aback. His daughter, just thirty-one, looked much older than her years. Her face showed the toll of hardship, and her hands bore the marks of hard labor.
“Susan,” Steve whispered. “Look at what he did to you! I wanted so much more for you! And you married that man. What did he give you? Poverty?”
Susan shook her head. “He loved me, Dad. He gave me four wonderful children. When he died, I had nowhere to go. But I’ve done my best for my kids. I will always love him. Just like I’ve always loved you.”
Tears welled up in Steve’s eyes. “Forgive me, Susan,” he sobbed. “Please, come home. Let me help you and the children!”
He embraced his daughter, who wept in his arms, knowing that this moment would change everything.
Susan introduced her father to his three granddaughters and then placed her hand on the shoulder of a young boy. “And this is little Stevie,” she smiled.
“You named him after me?” Steve asked, astonished. “After everything I did?”
“I love you, Dad,” Susan said softly. “I always have.”
That afternoon, they all flew back to Texas together. It was the start of a new chapter for all of them.
