After losing his beloved wife in a horrific car accident three years before, Sam Jordan was left as a single dad caring for their daughter Mia, who was only four when her mom, Jennifer, passed away.
Life had become very difficult for Sam, who was trying to resolve his own grief, while also helping Mia through hers. When the two finally reached a place where they were ready to move forward, Sam decided to hit the restart button by taking his daughter on a trip.
What he didn’t know is that this trip would send them spiraling back to the time he lost his wife. We hope this feel-good story brings some hope into your life!
Three years after his wife Jenny died in a car crash, Sam Jordon, 34, booked a two-week beach getaway to southern California, which would be a welcome break from their Colorado hometown.
Once arriving at their little vacation home, the father and daughter duo quickly fell into vacation mode, settling into a daily routine of going to the beach in the morning, picnic lunches, and sightseeing in the afternoon.
Then, one afternoon, something extraordinary happened. Breaking from the burning sun, Sam and Mia, now 7, grabbed some ice cream and walked across the sandy beaches, hand in hand.
Then Mia shouted words Sam never expected to hear.
“Daddy, it’s mommy!” she cried.
Breaking free of her father’s hand which tightly grasped hers, Mia was gone, weaving through the crowd people gathered on the boardwalk. Sam dropped his ice cream and chased Mia. Finally catching up to her, he grabbed her hands and sternly told her “You know you can’t run away like that!”
Mia, who was trying to free her one hand to point at a lady, said “But daddy, it’s mommy! She’s right there!” Using her head to show him the direction she her mom, Sam followed her glare and spotted a couple, standing a little further away.
Sam dropped to his knees and took Mia’s little hands in his. “Honey, you know mommy’s in heaven…”
Mia refused to step down, insisting it was her mother, “No daddy, it’s mommy! That’s mommy!” Though she was very young when Jennifer died, there were photos of her all through the house, and one on her nightstand, that she said goodnight to before falling asleep.
Sam was about to explain once again that Jenny was gone when the woman Mia had pointed out turned around. When he saw her face, Sam felt that he had been gut punched and gasped to catch his breath. The woman looked exactly like his late wife!
Rising to his feet, he took Mia’s hand and stood there in shock as the woman walked toward them.
As the woman neared the pair, again Mia broke free from her dad, who was too shocked to notice she was no longer holding his hand.
Running toward the woman, Mia wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist and cried, “Mommy! I knew it was you!”
The woman looked down at Mia and smiled, and then looked up at Sam, apologetically. “I wish I was your mommy,” she said.
They meet again
Sam was about to ask the woman forgiveness for his daughter’s eager embrace but when the man she was with turned around, he was stunned.
It was an old friend, Clive, whom he hadn’t seen since Jennifer’s funeral.
Sam stood there speechless, while Mia still tightly grasped the woman’s waist.
Clive looked ashamed and grabbing the arm of the woman who looked like Jennifer, he said, “We have to go!”
The woman snapped back, “Sam, why are you being so rude to this little girl?”
The bigger question was why was the woman, who looked like his deceased wife, calling his friend Sam?
Finally, Sam found the words and started expressing his confusion.
“What’s going on here, Clive? Who is this…lady?” he asked.
Responding in his place, the woman said, “I’m Sam’s wife,” she said, running her fingers through Mia’s hair. “I’m Jennifer.”
The little girl shouted, “Daddy, I told you so! It is mommy!”
“Mommy?” the woman said, gently touching Mia’s face. “I do wish I was your mommy. I always wanted a little girl…I was going to call her…Mia.”
“I’m Mia,” the child said, adding “And you’re my mommy, and that’s my daddy!”
“It’s not what you think. I didn’t plan it, it just happened,” Clive said.
“What happened?” Sam asked.
Clive explained that after the accident, the car Jennifer was driving was so badly burned that they weren’t able to identify the body.
“After the accident…We had the funeral…Then one night I was watching a late-night missing persons show, and they showed the photo of a woman who’d been found. It was Jennifer! She’d suffered a major brain injury and didn’t remember who she was, but doctors thought from the injuries and the burns she’d been in a bad crash.”
Then he explained that on the night of the crash, Jennifer picked up a woman looking for a ride. The vehicle hydroplaned from the pools of water on the road that were caused from the earlier storm and when Jennifer lost control, it crashed into a tree and rolled over several times. Both women were thrown from the car, one tossed midway while it rolled down a hill, and the other landed a couple feet away when it came to a stop and exploded.
“Why didn’t you come to me?” Sam said angrily, tears breaking from his eyes. “Mia and I haven’t stopped mourning her, Mia has been growing up without her mother!”
Feeling the shame but not regretting what he did, Clive replied, “I loved Jenny. You knew it when you started dating her. You took her from me, so I took her back…”
Jennifer was listening to this in horrified silence. “You…You told me you were my husband…You said my dreams about a baby girl were fantasy…you lied to me!”
Sam called 911 and saw that Clive would get what he deserved.
Later, explained to Mia that mommy needed time to remember everything, he asked her, along with Jennifer to be patient.
“These three years I always felt that something was wrong. [Clive] told me I loved him, that he was my husband, but it never felt…right. I was always missing something, and I didn’t know what it was,” Jennifer said reaching out for Mia’s hands. “Now it feels right.”
It took a little time, but the family was back together again, leaving behind the mess that one man’s obsession made of their lives.
What can we learn from this story?
- The heart knows where it belongs. Even though Clive told Jennifer that he was her husband, her instincts told her otherwise.
- Never give up hope, because happiness always finds its way into your life.
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