At a birthday party, everyone made fun of a poorly dressed girl and her mother until the rowdiness caught the attention of a wealthy man.
Madison Lando raised her daughter Trudy alone. The 33-year-old had been married to a miner named Joe Lando until he died in a mysterious mining accident along with some of his co-workers.
She had loved this stubborn man for most of her adult life, having been in love with him since high school. The couple welcomed their daughter, Trudy, out of wedlock, but married immediately to avoid problems with their conventional parents.
Madison never liked her husband’s job as a miner, a transition he made after he lost his job as an archaeologist. She found mining too dangerous and often argued with him about it. But her husband won the argument by pointing out that the pay was better than nothing at all.
When he passed away, Madison held a grudge against him for a long time. “I warned you to stop doing that,” she would say whenever she thought of him.
The accident had happened two years before, and their daughter, three years old at the time, had to grow up without a father. But even after all these years, Madison remained single, focusing on surviving with her child.
It wasn’t easy for them, especially after the little money her husband had saved for emergencies ran out. Even just eating a simple meal became a struggle, but Madison somehow managed to provide for herself and her daughter.
That’s how they lived, until fate changed their lives. During that time, Trudy had finished kindergarten and one of her very rich classmates invited the entire class to her birthday party, as her butler had said.
“Miss Bella La Fontaine will be hosting a personalized birthday party to celebrate a new year for herself. You are all cordially invited to this event, but there is one condition,” he added after the cheers had died down. “All permitted dresses must be purchased from the Fontaine clothing boutique, and of course, there will be discounts.”
When Madison got home that day, she told her mother about the party. “Mom, everyone is going to be there. I have to go!” the girl said excitedly. “We have to go to the store to pick out my dress.”
“Yeah, yeah, let’s go,” her mother said with feigned excitement.
She didn’t really have much money except for the $100 tip she got from the restaurant where she worked during the morning hours. “It’ll be okay,” she told herself as she followed her daughter.
However, as soon as she laid eyes on the price tags attached to the clothes, Madison knew that the money she had would never be enough. Each dress cost nothing less than five times what she had. They silently left the store while those who could afford the dresses bought them.
Madison wasn’t happy with what was happening, so she went to a fabric store, picked out a fabric similar to Fontaine’s dress, and took it home to sew it.
“Just wait, baby, you’ll have a dress soon,” she said.
It took her all night to sew the dress, but the end result was perfect. “Thanks, Mom, I love it,” Trudy said, truly delighted with all of her mother’s work. “I can’t wait to show it off.”
However, as she and her mother entered the party, they caught the attention of many rich kids and their parents, who began laughing at Trudy’s outfit.
Trudy burst into tears and ran out of the building, her eyes blurred with tears and not caring for her life, until she crashed into the side of a white limousine that had pulled up to the building’s entrance.
As she stood there, dazed, the driver got out and began yelling obscenities at her. However, he quickly fell silent when the backseat occupant got out.
He was a handsome man in his forties. He was dressed luxuriously and his gaze, very similar to hers, scanned the girl for injuries before he spoke.
“You should be more careful, little girl,” he said in a voice that sounded familiar—and then she heard her mother speak behind her.
“Joe?” she said. At the mention of the name, the man straightened up and gaped at the woman. “Is that really you?” Madison asked as she approached.
“Maddy?” he asked with a confused look as he turned to Trudy and called her name as well.
Suddenly, the three people became indistinguishable from each other as they hugged each other tightly. It was her husband, who she thought had died five years ago. “Trudy, it’s your father!”
“I finally found you!” he said.
“What happened? Where have you been?” his wife asked between hugs.
“Let’s go inside, I’m here to deliver gifts to a business associate’s daughter,” he said. “We can make it up to you then.”
“We can’t go back there Joe, not after what happened,” Madison said.
“Tell me,” he said.
After learning what had happened, Joe went with his family to the village hall, but this time, when the mothers were still making fun of them, Joe stood up for them.
“Our daughter may not have clothes as expensive as your children, but she was taught to be a good person. It’s poor people like you who can hardly be helped.”
No one could find an answer. And those who could were too afraid to confront a rich man like Joe. He went home with Madison and her child, where they were reunited with their family.
It turned out that on the day of the mining accident, Joe was wearing his friend’s jacket. He didn’t come out unscathed, because a huge rock had knocked him unconscious during the accident.
When he woke up, he didn’t remember anything and had been identified by documents belonging to his friend, who had no family or close friends, so no one came to visit him in the hospital.
Her memory didn’t come back to her immediately, and by the time it did, Madison and Trudy had already moved. “We had to do it,” she sobbed. “We lost the house to the bank.”
Joe started looking for them, and in the meantime, he opened his own mining company, worked hard, and became a millionaire.
And now, after being reunited with his family, Joe intended to make up for lost time. He moved Trudy and her mother into his luxury condo, where he hoped to live happily with them and get to know his daughter better.