Um homem abandonado pelos pais quando criança em um orfanato os encontra em um asilo cinquenta e sete anos depois e precisa tomar uma decisão que mudará sua vida.
As primeiras memórias de Brendan eram de estar com fome e assustado, de vozes raivosas discutindo sobre ele. As mãos que cuidavam dele e deveriam ter sido gentis eram ásperas em vez disso.
Brendan se lembrou de sair de sua pequena cama e cambalear em direção ao som da música e das risadas, sua fralda encharcada e pesada. Então as risadas pararam. “Pelo amor de Deus, precisamos nos livrar daquele pirralho!”, gritou uma voz de mulher. Era sua mãe.
Às vezes, quando sua mãe estava sonolenta e feliz, ela deixava Brandan se aconchegar em seu calor, e então ele se sentia seguro e contente. Mas, principalmente, a visão de Brendan irritava seus pais.
Levaria muitos anos até que um Brendan adulto entendesse por que o pequeno Brendan era tão infeliz e indesejado. Seus pais eram ricos, vivendo de fundos fiduciários. Quando Brendan nasceu, eles estavam vivendo em uma comunidade.
A amargura é um veneno e o perdão é o único antídoto.
Eram os anos 60 e a era da paz, do amor e do flower-power estava a todo vapor, mas para os pais de Brendan, isso não significava amor por crianças. Quando Margaret descobriu que estava grávida, ela ficou horrorizada e furiosa.
Horrorizada porque não tinha intenção de ser mãe — nunca! — e furiosa porque era tarde demais para impedir o nascimento de Brendan. Felizmente para Margaret e o pai de Brendan, Rafe, a comuna estava cheia de mulheres maternais que adoravam bebês e cuidavam do pequeno Brendan.
Apenas para fins ilustrativos. | Fonte: Unsplash
Brendan não deveria ser Brendan — eles queriam um nome adequadamente romântico, como Moonchild —, mas o homem no caixa olhou para os pés descalços e as contas de amor de Margaret e perguntou o nome do pai dela.
“Brendan”, ela respondeu. E o homem registrou Brendan como Brendan — um nome sensato e útil. Margaret e Rafe viveram na comuna até Brendan ter quase três anos, então decidiram seguir em frente.
Eles estavam pensando em seguir um novo guru que estava na moda. O homem, um esteta indiano, tinha dado uma palestra em São Francisco e o casal tinha ficado encantado com sua filosofia de viver uma vida significativa.
O guru dirigia um ashram na Índia e Margaret e Rafe imediatamente decidiram que era lá que eles deveriam estar. Mas o que fazer com Brendan? Eles não poderiam levá-lo…
Apenas para fins ilustrativos. | Fonte: Unsplash
“Vamos deixá-lo em um orfanato”, disse Margaret. “Não é lá que eles cuidam das crianças?”
Rafe estava menos certo. “E Oliver Twist? Eu não gostaria que nada assim acontecesse com o garoto.”
“Bobagem!” gritou Margaret. “Tenho certeza de que vai ficar tudo bem! E ele não vai ficar pobre, vai? Ele tem seu próprio fundo fiduciário desde o nascimento e vai ficar bem assim que crescer. Ele vai ter tudo o que precisa!”
Então, três dias depois, Margaret e Rafe entraram em um orfanato administrado por um convento nos arredores de São Francisco e largaram Brendan, de três anos, no saguão. Tudo o que deixaram com ele foi sua certidão de nascimento e os documentos referentes ao seu fundo fiduciário.
Apenas para fins ilustrativos. | Fonte: Unsplash
Para Brendan, as freiras com seus cocares brancos como asas eram como anjos. Elas o pegaram, o banharam e cuidaram da erupção cutânea dolorosa e constante que o atormentava desde o nascimento e o alimentaram.
Pela primeira vez, Brendan estava cercado por pessoas amorosas, atenciosas e gentis. No orfanato, ele floresceu como um garotinho ativo e alegre — mas às vezes ele caía em silêncios profundos.
Conforme ele foi ficando mais velho, ele entendeu mais e mais de suas vagas memórias. Ele aprendeu sobre seu fundo fiduciário e a fortuna que ele lhe ofereceria quando ele fosse mais velho. Ele sabia que seus pais não o abandonaram por pobreza e desespero.
A maioria das crianças no orfanato ERAM órfãs, mas muito poucas foram deixadas lá quando seus pais não podiam mais alimentá-las, para que não morressem de fome. Mas os pais de Brendan eram ricos…
Apenas para fins ilustrativos. | Fonte: Unsplash
Quando Brendan fez 18 anos, ele deixou o orfanato e as freiras gentis e foi para a faculdade. O fundo fiduciário havia amadurecido e havia dinheiro de sobra para pagar a faculdade, ou mesmo para Brendan viver o resto da vida sem trabalhar.
Mas Brendan queria construir pontes, como a ponte de São Francisco. Ele queria construir pontes que voassem alto e parecessem que poderiam alcançar o céu.
Na faculdade, ele conheceu Susan, uma adorável artista, e os dois se apaixonaram. Eles se casaram após a formatura e tiveram dois filhos. Quando segurou seus filhos nos braços pela primeira vez, Brendan sentiu uma onda de amor tão grande que não conseguia entender como seus próprios pais puderam tê-lo abandonado.
Sua amargura e raiva em relação a eles cresceram rapidamente com seu amor pelos filhos. “Eles nunca me amaram do jeito que eu amo Meg e Brian”, ele disse a Susan. “Eles nunca me amaram de jeito nenhum!”
Apenas para fins ilustrativos. | Fonte: Pexels
Brendan era avô quando finalmente teve notícias de seus “pais”. O escritório de advocacia que administrava seu fundo fiduciário o contatou e disse que seus pais finalmente tinham esgotado seus próprios fundos fiduciários.
“Eles são indigentes, Brendan”, disse o advogado. “Pagamos o restante do fundo fiduciário para a casa de repouso em que estão hospedados, mas em seis meses eles ficarão sem teto.”
“Por que você está me ligando?” perguntou Brendan friamente. O homem hesitou. “Bem… eles são seus pais”, ele disse. “Nós achamos que você deveria ser informado… E talvez algum sentimento natural…”
“Eles não eram pais biológicos”, Brendan respondeu. “Não tenho sentimentos por eles, a menos que seja um desdém saudável.”
Apenas para fins ilustrativos. | Fonte: Unsplash
Mas o chamado do advogado continuou incomodando Brendan, puxando sua consciência. “Tenho sessenta anos e não devo nada a eles!”, ele disse a Susan. “Então por que me sinto assim?”
“Porque você é um bom homem”, Susan disse a ele gentilmente. “E bons homens fazem a coisa certa…”
Então, duas semanas depois, Brendan e Susan dirigiram até o asilo onde Margaret e Rafe agora residiam. As crianças-flores de cabelos longos, ágeis e bonitas que eles tinham sido já tinham ido embora há muito tempo.
Eles eram velhos e não envelheciam graciosamente. Quando um cuidador anunciou a visita do filho, os dois ficaram atordoados. Então Margaret se levantou e foi em direção a Brendan, com os braços abertos.
Apenas para fins ilustrativos. | Fonte: Unsplash
“Brendan, meu bebê!” ela soluçou, mas não havia lágrimas em seus pequenos olhos brilhantes.
Brendan escapou facilmente do abraço dela. “Olá, mãe”, ele disse. “Estou surpreso que você se lembre de mim, eu certamente não teria te reconhecido.”
Rafe sorriu, mostrando que a maioria dos dentes tinha sumido. “Agora, meu garoto, não vamos ficar pensando no passado…” ele disse. “Estamos tão felizes em ver você! A vida não tem sido fácil… Não somos mais quem costumávamos ser…”
“Por favor, meu filho”, Margaret sussurrou. “Não nos abandone!”
“Abandonar você?” perguntou Brendan. “Você quer fazer com você o que fez comigo?”
Apenas para fins ilustrativos. | Fonte: Unsplash
“Nós deixamos o dinheiro para você!” gritou Rafe. “Você não era pobre, como nós somos agora!”
“Você não me deixou o dinheiro”, Brendan disse calmamente. “Aquele fundo fiduciário foi criado automaticamente pelo espólio do avô no momento em que nasci. Você não teve nada a ver com isso.
“Mas sabe de uma coisa? Eu não vou te abandonar, não porque você merece algo melhor, mas porque eu sou uma pessoa melhor do que qualquer um de vocês. Eu sei o que é amor e compaixão. Eu te perdôo, mesmo que você não mereça perdão, e eu vou te ajudar. Você pode ficar com o dinheiro!”
Rafe olhou para Brendan com lágrimas nos olhos. “Estamos tão sozinhos, meu filho, tão sozinhos… O que o dinheiro pode nos comprar agora? Mais dias solitários? Por favor…”
Apenas para fins ilustrativos. | Fonte: Unsplash
Brendan assentiu. “Então agora você entende o que eu sentia”, ele disse. “Eu era criança, e tudo que eu queria era ser amado e querido. Você acha que dinheiro foi algum consolo? Agora você está velho, e você também quer ser amado, estar com a família.
“Está tudo bem, eu vou levar vocês para casa comigo, pai, mãe. Vocês não vão morrer sozinhos.”
Brendan levou Margaret e Rafe para casa com ele e contratou uma cuidadora para eles. Margaret adorava conversar com seus netos e bisnetos e contar histórias sobre seus dias loucos nos anos 60 e tocar violão com Bob Dylan em uma fogueira.
Rafe se sentava ao lado de Brendan sempre que podia e segurava sua mão em sua garra frágil. Brendan doou a enorme fortuna que havia acumulado em seu fundo fiduciário para o orfanato que o havia criado e lhe mostrado o que era amor e cuidado.
O que podemos aprender com essa história?
Dinheiro não substitui amor. Os pais de Brendan o abandonaram e deixaram muito dinheiro para ele, mas não lhe deram amor e ternura.
A amargura é um veneno e o perdão é o único antídoto. Brendan carregou o ressentimento em relação aos pais em seu coração até que finalmente os perdoou.
After Our Mom’s Death, My Sister Claimed I Had No Right to Inheritance and Brought Out Old Documents—But in the End, She Deeply Regretted It
When Charlotte’s mother dies, her sister Barbara wastes no time trying to cut her out of the inheritance. Armed with an old document, Barbara smugly tries to throw a spanner in the works. But when the truth comes out, it’s Barbara who faces the ultimate betrayal, and by the time she realizes her mistake, it’s far too late.
I always thought family was unbreakable.
That no matter what, blood was blood, and at the end of the day, we would always have each other’s backs. That’s how family works, right?
A woman sitting on a bed | Source: Midjourney
But after my mother passed away, my sister Barbara came waltzing in and made me question everything I thought I knew.
And by the time the truth finally came out?
Barbara was the one begging for forgiveness.
My mother raised two daughters: myself, Charlotte, and my older sister, Barbara.
Two smiling women | Source: Midjourney
Naturally, Barbara was always the golden child. She was the one who got all the attention.
Barbara craved a roast chicken? My mother had one cooking away the moment her words left her lips. Barbara needed dry cleaning fetched? My mother would jump into her car and fetch it.
Barbara was also beautiful. Stunningly beautiful and never failed to make heads turn. She was blonde with piercing blue eyes, just like my mother.
Roast chicken and veggies on a tray | Source: Midjourney
Meanwhile, I was the odd one out. I had dark hair, dark eyes, and to be honest, I never really looked like either of them.
But I never questioned it. Why would I? I loved my mother.
No, I adored my mother with everything I had. She was my entire world.
A smiling woman | Source: Midjourney
So when she got sick, I was the one who put my life on hold to take care of her. I didn’t complain once. Not when bruises bloomed on my arms as she held onto me tightly when I took her to the bathroom. Not when she got frustrated and threw her food across the room. Not even when she would break down and cry for hours.
Barbara, on the other hand?
She was too busy chasing her dreams of becoming an actress.
“I can’t take care of Mom, Charlotte. I have auditions. I have producers to meet. I have to stay relevant and seen at events. You understand, right? Right, Lottie?”
An ill woman laying in bed | Source: Midjourney
And I did.
Because that’s what I always did. I was always understanding, while Barbara lived her life however she pleased. I tried not to focus on her and how I could have done with the help.
Instead, I let Barbara come in and out of the house, wearing her new clothes and showing off photos of her with actors and actresses that she had met.
A woman standing by a mirror | Source: Midjourney
“This is a glamorous life, Mom,” she said one day when Mom was too weak to get out of bed to eat her soup. “And you should really clean up your look, Lottie. You need to get noticed. Your posture is horrible because you sit hunched in front of that computer.”
“It’s my job, Barbara,” I said simply.
Life continued in that way for months. And finally, Mom passed away. But that was when Barbara came back.
A bowl of soup | Source: Midjourney
And she wasn’t grieving. Not at all. She was hungry, starving even.
For our mother’s money.
After the funeral, we met with Alistair, my mother’s lawyer. Barbara walked in like she owned the place, dressed in black but wearing diamond earrings I had never seen before.
I should have known something was off when she sat down with a smug smile.
A woman standing in a doorway | Source: Midjourney
The lawyer pulled out the official will, but before he could even read it, my sister pulled her first stunt. Barbara reached into her designer bag and pulled out a yellowed, folded piece of paper.
“Before you read that,” she said sweetly, “I have something interesting to share.”
She slid the paper across the table to me.
“Look what I found in Mom’s drawer when I was searching for her jewelry.”
A piece of paper on a table | Source: Midjourney
I unfolded it, and as soon as I read the words at the top, my stomach dropped.
ADOPTION DECREE.
Barbara leaned back with a smirk.
“Well, well, well,” she drawled. “Looks like I finally know why you always looked so different from us.”
My hands shook as I re-read the document.
A woman reading a piece of paper | Source: Midjourney
Once. Twice. Three times.
“You… you’re lying,” I gasped. “You made this up! You got one of your strange friends to make this!”
She let out a fake gasp, her long nails tapping against the desk.
“Oh, Charlotte,” she said. “Don’t be so dramatic. My friends have things to do with their lives. And anyway, it’s all right there. You’re adopted. Girl, you’re not even Mom’s real daughter. I always knew that your brown eyes and brown hair had no place in our family.”
A woman’s hand on a desk | Source: Midjourney
I felt sick. I felt the bile rise in my throat.
Had my mother hidden this from me my entire life? But why would she do that? Why not tell me the truth?
Would it have changed anything?
Not for me. I would have been more grateful for her.
Barbara crossed her arms.
An upset woman | Source: Midjourney
“So, despite Mom’s will saying that we split everything, you know, she kept saying that, I’ll be making sure that you get nothing. You don’t belong in this family, so why should you get anything?”
“Ladies, calm down. Let’s take a moment to think about this,” the lawyer said.
But I was too stunned to speak. Barbara’s words had cut me. Deep.
A smug woman | Source: Midjourney
And that’s when I saw it. There was one detail she had overlooked in her ploy. The name on the adoption paperwork had been erased. Someone had deliberately tried to remove it.
And that?
That made me suspicious.
“Please, Alistair,” she said. “You can do whatever comes next, but in terms of the estate, I want it all. I can wait until you sort out the paperwork.”
A lawyer sitting at his desk | Source: Midjourney
The lawyer sighed and nodded.
“But I think the two of you need to have a heart-to-heart before we meet again.”
Barbara scoffed.
“That’s not necessary.”
Barbara was so confident that she had won. But I wasn’t about to let her take everything without proof. I didn’t want to be horrible about it, but I had missed two promotions in the months that I had been looking after our mother.
A smug woman sitting in an office | Source: Midjourney
I needed to know that I had the safety net of her money. I just needed to have something to my name…
I decided to demand a DNA test.
“What’s the point, Charlotte?” she scoffed. “You know what it’ll say, Lottie. That you’re not family. I wonder where Mom found you. Do you think your birth mother misses you?”
I didn’t think anything other than the fact that our mother would be turning over in her grave at Barbara’s behavior.
A woman standing in a kitchen | Source: Midjourney
“Just do it,” I demanded. “Think of it this way. If I am really adopted and there’s proof, you’ll have more claim to everything.”
That did it. She moved her head slowly from side to side. Suddenly, she got off the couch, martini in hand, and looked at me.
“Fine. Let’s do it.”
But the results?
A frowning woman | Source: Midjourney
Oh my goodness. They shocked everyone. Because Barbara?
She was the one who wasn’t biologically related to our mother.
After the results came in, I went to my Aunt Helen, my mother’s younger sister. She had been tight-lipped about everything, but after I told her about the DNA results, she finally told me the truth.
“Your mother never wanted you both to know, Lottie,” Aunt Helen said, tears in her eyes. “Because she knew how much it would hurt you both.”
A sad older woman | Source: Midjourney
“Know what?” I asked, heart pounding, but I figured that it was about Barbara’s birth.
“Barbara wasn’t Mom’s biological daughter, Lottie.”
“So, you knew?”
Aunt Helen nodded.
“Your mother found Barbara at a train station when she was two years old. She was abandoned. My sister took her in, raised her as her own. And she never, ever wanted Barbara to feel anything less than loved. It helped that she had the same blonde hair and blue eyes.”
A little girl sitting on a bench | Source: Midjourney
“Okay,” I said slowly, trying to fit all the puzzle pieces together. “But how did Barbara have an adoption decree? If she was found at a train station, I mean?”
Aunt Helen sighed and glanced out the window as if she was gathering her thoughts.
“Because your mother made it official, darling. She went through the court system and legally adopted Barbara a year later. She wanted to make sure that no one could ever take her away.”
A mother and daughter duo in a court room | Source: Midjourney
My stomach twisted. I didn’t know how to feel. Or what to feel.
“So, Mom just didn’t tell her?”
Aunt Helen shook her head.
“She never told either of you, Lottie,” Aunt Helen said softly. “Because in her eyes, it didn’t matter. Barbara was her daughter, just like you were. Blood or not, she loved you both the same, and nothing was going to change that.”
An older woman sitting on a couch | Source: Midjourney
But Barbara had never seen it that way.
She had spent her entire life being treated like the golden child, like she was the one who belonged.
And yet, in the end?
Barbara was the adopted one. I was our mother’s real daughter…
A woman sitting on a couch | Source: Midjourney
The biological daughter.
When I told my sister the truth, she laughed at first. We were standing in the kitchen and I couldn’t wait to get it out. She needed to know the truth, too.
“You’re lying now, Charlotte,” she said. “You probably got someone to doctor the results, didn’t you? Or you hacked into the system! You’re the computer whiz…”
But when I showed her the DNA test and told her everything Aunt Helen had said?
Her face went pale.
An upset woman | Source: Midjourney
“No. No, this can’t be right. Mom loved me. She… she wouldn’t just take in some abandoned kid!”
But she did. She had.
“Barbara,” I said. “She loved you. And you being adopted doesn’t change that. Our mother was wonderful. She probably saw you and couldn’t wait to love you.”
Barbara looked at me. She was… I don’t know. I couldn’t read her face. I couldn’t understand what she was thinking. I had no idea.
A woman leaning against a kitchen counter | Source: Midjourney
She was blank.
As for my mom, she had given Barbara everything. She had seen a little child and wanted to take her home and love her, to make that child her own.
And instead of spreading that love and joy… what did Barbara do in return?
She had tried to steal my inheritance.
A child sitting on a bench | Source: Midjourney
She had tried to erase me from my own mother’s life.
And now?
She was the one who lost everything.
We went to see the lawyer again. Together, but in different cars. Barbara couldn’t even look at me.
Alistair had confirmed that my mother’s will was valid. Despite Barbara’s cruel attempt to cut me out, I still got half of everything.
A lawyer sitting at his desk | Source: Midjourney
“But… wait!” Barbara said, her fingernails digging into her thigh. “I don’t want to share…”
“Barbara,” Alistair said. “It’s clear. Your mother wanted the two of you to share everything. A straight 50-50. Now, if you want to play this biological daughter game, I don’t know what to tell you… Charlotte could take everything.”
My sister thought she could rewrite history, but legally? She couldn’t touch a thing.
The will was still clear. We were supposed to split everything.
A document on a desk | Source: Midjourney
But after her stunt? After trying to erase me from my own mother’s legacy? Barbara lost more than just her pride.
“Let’s go to court,” she said.
“I really don’t recommend that,” Alistair said.
“So, what?” Barbara blurted. “You just want us to split the money and then pretend that we’re family again? I don’t want anything to do with Charlotte. I want my money and my house. And then I want to be done with this!”
An upset woman | Source: Midjourney
“Barbara, come on…” I said.
“Just be quiet!” she bellowed, throwing one of Alistair’s pens onto the floor. “I don’t want you around. You’ll just be here to remind me that I’m not biologically our mother’s daughter. So, no. We’re doing this. And when I win, you’re going to get the hell out of my house.”
That was it. That did it. I didn’t want to be nice. I didn’t want to share. I didn’t want Barbara around any more than she wanted me around.
A pen on a carpet | Source: Midjourney
So?
I hired Alistair on the spot. For me this time, not on behalf of my mother’s deceased estate.
“Let’s do it,” I said. “Let’s go to court.”
“But I want Alistair!” Barbara said, standing up.
“Too late, sis,” I said.
Months later, Barbara fought it in court, desperate to take everything for herself. But she failed.
A woman standing with her arms folded | Source: Midjourney
In the end, the judge ruled against her.
And I got it all.
She tried to destroy me, and in doing so, she destroyed herself and her future.
And do you know what?
I think she deserved every single bit of it.
A woman sitting on a couch | Source: Midjourney
What would you have done?
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