A young woman takes a job as a maid for a blind woman, then she sees a mysterious photo of herself as a baby in her employer's home.
It was just an ordinary day. Leah Salsburg came home from school and dropped her bag. The high school senior called out, "Mom!" but there was no answer. Leah frowned. Her mom should have been home hours ago.
Then Leah walked into the family room and found her mom splayed on the floor, unconscious. As she knelt at her mother's side and reached for her phone to call 911, Leah knew her carefree days were over.
Leah's mother had a stroke and it left her with severe limitations. Not only was Mrs. Salsburg unable to work, but the medical treatments she now required would also place a strain on the family resources.
Mr. Salsburg had died a few years earlier, and the two women were left to fend for themselves. Leah was now 18 and a grown woman, so she decided to give up her dream of going to college to help her mother.
But jobs weren't exactly thick on the grown in their small North Carolina town, so Leah accepted a job as a maid for a local wealthy woman, Heather Bansfield.
The strangest coincidences sometimes lead to a miracle.
Mrs. Bansfield was a local celebrity, born to one of the state's richest families and known for her eccentricity. She had unfortunately lost her sight in a car accident and was known to have a cranky temper.
Whatever it took, Leah thought. The salary was great, and the package included medical insurance which would encompass her mom as her dependent. Leah wasn't afraid of hard work, and she could handle a little temper!
Her first meeting with Mrs. Bansfield heartened her. The older woman was sitting in her lounge having a cup of tea and when Leah came in she tilted her head. "Who's that?" she asked.
"Good morning, Mrs. Bansfield, I'm Leah, the new maid? the housekeeper, Miss. Trent interviewed me?"
Mrs. Bansfield turned her head towards Leah. "Yes, she told me," she said. "You have a pleasant voice, Leah. How old are you?"
"I'm 18, Ma'am," she replied.
Mrs. Bansfield sighed. "My granddaughter would be 18 now..."
"Would be?" asked Leah. "Did she pass away, Ma'am?"
Mrs. Bansfield's hands started shaking, and her teacup fell onto the floor and shattered. Leah ran forward to pick up the pieces. "It's alright, Ma'am," she said quietly. "I'll clean up and bring you another cup."
From then on Leah would bring Mrs. Bansfield her tea, and the two would chat briefly about the weather, or the blind woman's two cats. Leah felt sorry for Mrs. Bansfield, her sadness, and her loneliness.
She was sure the blind woman was mourning a tragedy, but she never imagined it would affect her. A few weeks after she started working for Mrs. Bansfield, the woman locked herself in her room.
Mrs. Trent told Leah to stay away. "It's the anniversary of her daughter's death, Leah, and she always locks herself away."
"I didn't know her daughter had died," Leah exclaimed. "I thought it was the granddaughter!"
Mrs. Trent shook her head sadly. "No, Darlene, Mrs. Bansfield's daughter, got mixed up with a bad lot, drugs and drink...and she fell pregnant," she said. "By the time Mrs. Bansfield found Darlene, the child was gone.
"Darlene had given her away for adoption when she discovered she had AIDS. Mrs. Bansfield stayed by her daughter's side, but she never found her granddaughter. All she has of her is a photo from when she was two years old, days before the adoption."
"Poor thing!" said Leah and went back to her work, but she couldn't stop thinking about Mrs. Bansfield and her sadness. "Imagine," she told her mom later that night, "Her granddaughter was adopted, just like me, but she might not have been as lucky as I was!"
Leah's mom hugged her daughter. "Honey, I'm the one who was lucky to get you for a daughter!" Leah hugged her mom back. It was worth all the hard work in the world to help her mom!
The next day, Leah was cleaning the ground floor when she heard a crash upstairs in Mrs. Bansfield's room. She called out to Mrs. Trent but there was no answer, so she knocked on the door of Mrs. Bansfield's room.
She heard the blind woman sobbing inside, so she walked in and saw her kneeling on the floor trying to pick up a picture frame that had fallen over. She helped Mrs. Bansfield back into her chair, then knelt to pick up the frame.
When she saw the photo in the pretty silver frame, she was stunned. The snap showed a pretty toddler with her curls in a ponytail. "That's me!" she gasped. "Where did you get this?"
"You?" asked Mrs. Bansfield. "What do you mean that's you?"
"It's a photo of me," Leah said. "It's me...Even the little mole I have on my chin!"
The blind woman reached out and placed her hands on Leah's face. "It can't be..." she whispered. "You...You're not adopted, are you?"
"Yes, I am," whispered Leah. "My mom and dad adopted me when I was two..."
Mrs. Bansfield was clinging to Leah and sobbing. "Oh, sweet baby!" she cried. "God sent you to me!" Leah was shocked and afraid, and most of all she didn't want to upset Mrs. Bansfield.
Leah brought Mrs. Bansfield some chamomile tea and held her hand until she fell asleep. That night, she told her mother the whole story. "I think she is my grandmother," she said. "Maybe..."
The next day, Mrs. Bansfield asked Leah to agree to a DNA test to confirm her identity. She readily agreed, and when the results came back, Mrs. Bansfield asked Leah and her mom to move in with her.
"My money is your money," Mrs. Bansfield said to Leah. "Whatever your mother needs I'll pay for, but you're going to college!"
Leah and her mother found themselves pampered and beloved by a woman who'd given up the dream of having a family.
What can we learn from this story?
The strangest coincidences sometimes lead to a miracle. Leah ended up working for her grandmother who had been looking for her for 16 years.
Family is built on love and devotion. Leah and her mother became Mrs. Bansfield's family and loved her for her kindness.
