When Mary and George became grandparents, they were overjoyed to spoil their granddaughter, Ellie. But as Ellie grew older and prepared to go off to college, the couple found themselves needing to teach her an important lesson about love, trust, and money.
The day my daughter, Monica, got married, I realized that George and I had finally earned some time for ourselves. We were now the parents of a married woman, and soon enough, we would be grandparents. Until those grandchildren arrived, we planned to make the most of the healthy years we had left.
A few years later, Monica and Eddie brought our only granddaughter, Ellie, into the world.
Time flew by as George and I doted on Ellie. She was our chance to make up for all the mistakes we might have made as parents.
“This little girl is everything,” George said the day we brought Ellie home from the hospital.
“We’re going to give her everything we can, Mary,” he added as we got into bed that night.
I agreed wholeheartedly. This was our opportunity to do things right, and now that we had some money, spoiling our granddaughter was something we could definitely afford to do.
Fast forward eighteen years.
Ellie was in high school and almost ready to go to college. We had watched her grow up with all the spunk and sass that Monica had as a child, and George and I loved every moment of it.
But then something changed in Ellie. Her once feisty personality started to shift into something different—something that worried us.
One Sunday morning started like any other. The kitchen was filled with the aroma of pancakes and bacon as I prepared breakfast, a routine George and I had followed for years. George was making tea, just like he always did, when the doorbell rang, interrupting the peaceful morning.
I turned off the stove and went to answer the door.
There stood Ellie, our beloved granddaughter, but something was off. She was avoiding eye contact with me.
“Hi, darling,” I greeted her warmly, stepping aside to let her in. “You’re just in time for breakfast!”
Ellie barely smiled and gave George a quick nod when he came to see who was at the door.
“Come on, the bacon is extra crispy,” George said, reaching out to hug her.
But Ellie shook her head.
“Look, I’ll get straight to the point,” she said, her voice trembling a little, despite the tough front she was putting on.
Everything about her behavior was strange. Usually, Ellie would burst through the door with hugs and kisses, asking us about our health and bringing us homemade cookies. But today, she seemed like a shadow of the joyful girl we had raised.
“Do you remember Tom?” she asked suddenly.
Tom was her boyfriend, a college student living on loans. George and I had met him a few times. He seemed decent enough, but there was always something about him that didn’t sit right with me.
“I don’t know what she sees in him, Mon,” I had told my daughter during one of our coffee dates.
“I don’t know either, Mom,” Monica had replied, her fork digging into a slice of cake. “Eddie isn’t thrilled about her dating an older guy, but you know Ellie. She insists that Tom is good for her, that he’s helping her prepare for the transition to college.”
Now, Ellie was leaning against the wall, continuing her story.
“Tom has this startup idea, right? It’s all about renewable energy or something. He’s been talking to a lot of people—advisors and such. It could be huge, but he needs some money to get it off the ground.”
As she spoke, Ellie pulled out her phone, still avoiding eye contact.
George and I exchanged a knowing glance. We could see where this was heading, but that didn’t make it any less shocking when Ellie finally said it.
“I need you guys to sell the house and move in with Mom and Dad. You’ll get a lot of money for this place, especially because of the neighborhood. And you’re old anyway, wouldn’t you want to be closer to Mom?”
“And then what?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
“And then you can give the money to Tom for his project!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in frustration.
George’s tea cup clattered against the saucer, his face a mix of hurt and disbelief at the sheer audacity of her request.
“Ellie,” George said gently but firmly. “This is our home. It’s not just some investment to cash out. It’s filled with memories—our memories, our family’s memories. Why would you ask us to give it up for a business venture that sounds more like a scheme than anything else?”
I remained quiet, sitting down on the couch and waiting for George to help Ellie see reason. He had always been the one to calm her down and guide her back when she was upset.
“Because you’re my grandparents!” Ellie’s voice cracked, her tough exterior starting to crumble. “You should want to help me. Tom’s idea will work, you’ll see. We just need this startup capital.”
The room was thick with tension, the kind that made it hard to breathe.
I could see the desperation in Ellie’s eyes—a wild, determined look that worried me deeply. It was clear that she was lost in her love for Tom, blind to anything that might show him in a bad light.
George and I exchanged another look, both of us feeling the same heartbreak. We knew that confronting her directly wouldn’t help. It might only push her away and make her try to find the money some other way.
“We’ll see what we can do,” George told her softly.
After she left, we sat in silence, the weight of her visit heavy on our hearts. I began washing the dishes, giving George time to think of a plan.
“We need to show her, not just tell her, who this man really is,” George finally said, his voice filled with determination.
George came up with a clever but harmless plan—a fake lottery ticket.
“Don’t worry, Mary, Johnny’s a whiz with computers. He can make it look real,” he assured me.
Johnny was our neighbor’s son, always creating posters and digital designs. George’s idea was simple—send Tom an anonymous letter with a fake lottery ticket, making him think he’d won a huge jackpot.
The plan worked faster and more effectively than we expected.
Two days later, as I was vacuuming the living room, Ellie burst through the door, her face pale and tear-streaked.
“What happened?” I asked, pulling her into my arms.
“Tom’s gone,” she sobbed. “Grandpa told me what he did. As soon as Tom thought he’d won, he packed his bags. He said he was leaving to start his new life in the Caribbean—without me.”
Her voice broke, and my heart broke with it.
I knew Tom wasn’t right for Ellie, but I didn’t think it would all fall apart so quickly.
“I thought he loved me,” she whimpered. “How could I have been so blind?”
I stroked her hair, feeling her shudder with each sob.
“Oh, sweetheart, we never wanted to hurt you like this,” I murmured, my own eyes filling with tears. “We just needed to see if he was the real deal before we all sacrificed so much.”
In the weeks that followed, Ellie slowly began to heal. She spent more time with us, bringing her art supplies and setting up in our living room.
Eventually, Tom became just another chapter in her journey of growing up.
What would you have done?
