When Janet Kavana’s husband deprived her and their three young children of a home an food, the woman had only one place to go: her mother’s former country house.
But when she got there, something surprising from the past awaited her…
The car rocked with each sharp turn on the dirt road. The Kavana family had traveled to a small country town during the summer. There wasn’t much in the way of urban infrastructure, but the scenery was stunning. Along the route, there were many lakes and other lush vegetation.
Janet knew the place well and was surprised to find that the roads had changed little over the years. Her three kids were sleeping in the backseat and weren’t particularly interested in what was happening outside the window. They were all exhausted from the trip and everything they had been through over the past few months.
Janet drove the rental car while fighting back the tears. It had been months since she had been able to keep her head straight without the help of medication. She only prayed to God that her children would not notice her desperation. Then Janet pulled into a driveway.
“Here we go, Rick, Nate, and Milla! This is it,” the mother announced, recapturing their attention. Right in front of them was an old, seemingly deserted house. It was obvious that nature was in charge of beautifying the area, as wildflowers were growing everywhere and the weeds were a little high.
“Mom, it looks like a house from a horror movie,” Rick said.
Taking a step back, Milla reacted, “Oh, that’s scary!”
Janet knew that the kids wouldn’t be interested in the location right away, but she hoped that they would see how important it was. “It’s only temporary, right? We’ll figure it out,” she said as she prepared to close the car, pick up her bags, and walk to the door.
Even though they were scared, the kids ran ahead to explore. Janet was counting on their curiosity and desire for adventure to keep them busy after all the terrible things they’d been through.
Janet saw the old mailbox on the property once she climbed over the old fence. The sight of it brought back many good and surprising memories from her childhood.
Rick, the oldest, was checking out the house, which looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. Nate and Milla were looking for bugs and picking flowers.
“There’s a bee!” Nate yelled.
“There’s another one right here, too,” Milla added.
Nate and Milla looked dazzled, giving Janet faith in her plans. She thought, “If Matthew hadn’t been so careless, we wouldn’t be out here in the middle of nowhere and broke, but that’s life.”
She kept her head up and accepted the burden she was carrying because she knew the breakup was necessary and best for the kids. Ten years of marriage had been very intense.
When Janet first met Matthew, she was 23. He was a highly ethical and prosperous businessman. If necessary, he stayed late at work or used part of the weekend to catch up on spreadsheets and payments. Even so, he would always sit next to her in the evening, crack open a beer or whiskey, and unwind after a day of stress at the office.
It gave her security; it seemed Matthew managed to balance his life. Their dating lasted two years, and she was also able to establish herself professionally. They weren’t rich or millionaires, but they had an enviable income among their circle of friends and family. When everything appeared stable, they decided to marry.
After the party, Matthew honored a promise he had made to the company’s employees: they would each receive a liter of whiskey as a memento. It was the groom’s favorite drink and a sign of his business’s success. This wastefulness started to attract powerful people, but they had habits that would hurt Matthew.
He was already gambling and placing small bets in casinos before their first child, Rick, was born. When he lost, he was frustrated, but he always claimed the amount was insignificant. When he won, which wasn’t often, he would boast to family and coworkers that he could predict the outcome.
By the time his youngest child, Milla, was born, he was already a high roller. Janet became concerned because he was risking substantial sums of money. Sometimes she quarreled with him about this, but he insisted the finances were fine because he knew what he was doing and was a responsible man.
Janet was afraid, but she didn’t question Matthew’s reason. After all, nothing was ever missing for the couple or their children. Plus, he woke up early every day and worked hard. “Betting is my hobby, entertainment for me to relax, my dear,” he would say. “I may lose a few bucks, but when I get it right, it’ll be good for everyone!”
If he had known that such a habit would destroy his family, he might have listened to his wife. Janet’s mother, Phyllis, knew about Matthew’s bets and thought it couldn’t end well. She couldn’t fully express her concerns because, of course, the money was her son-in-law’s, but she feared disaster would impact her daughter and grandchildren.
“What will you do if he loses everything one day, my daughter? Are you going to support him with our family money?” she once asked.
“He won’t lose everything. The gambling money isn’t what keeps us going,” Janet replied.
Phyllis said she prayed Janet was right.
During one of his gambling binges, Matthew bet a lot of money and won a jackpot. He took the whole family to Disney with the prize to show them that he had everything under control. Janet, Rick, Nate, and Milla enjoyed four enchanted days.
Janet thought that if her husband gave them a surprise like that, their finances must be secure. The problem was that after winning the jackpot, Matthew felt even more confident and began to bet increasingly. To his gambler’s logic, it made sense: the more money he put at risk, the larger the reward.
But Matthew never won again. On the contrary, he lost several times in a row, always thinking he would win the next time. His losses grew so bad that he had to borrow heavily from his business, forcing him to fire eight high-level employees at once and announce an emergency “restructuring” to avoid publicly admitting that his gambling addiction had caused him to bet money he didn’t have.
Mathew had to sell his entire share of the business to his partner to pay the bills at home. He was no longer an owner and was now on the street.
This was a huge blow to his self-worth and his family’s well-being. Janet was in pain. What would they eat? How would they live? How would they pay for their three kids to continue attending school?
But the worst was yet to come. A loan shark started calling the family’s house to collect on the loans Matthew had taken. When Janet went to the grocery store to buy food for the month, she found their credit cards had been blocked. The bank manager told her that her husband had spent their money and taken out loans, and the debt was so large that a bailiff would soon be at their door.
In other words, the amount owed was close to the value of their house, which the bank would sell to pay off the debt. Janet felt stunned, as if the world had stopped around her. She couldn’t understand how her husband could be so careless and self-centered while secretly racking up debts.
When she found him later, she went from exhaustion to fury. “Do you realize how bad what you’ve done is? Your hobby cost our family a lot of money. We’ll be kicked out with three kids to feed, and it’s all because of a stupid game!”
She was so upset that she argued with her husband while on medication to calm down. Matthew insisted he was simply experiencing bad luck, but that was about to change.
Janet couldn’t believe her ears. “What? Are you thinking about playing again? It’s over! If you don’t promise me that right away, I’ll take the kids and leave.”
Matthew bowed his head in recognition that Janet was serious. He remained silent for a while before promising to change, but he begged his wife to stand by him and not leave.
She wanted to sell their house before it was auctioned to get a better price, enabling her to pay the debt to the bank and part of what Matthew owed the loan shark, who called daily.
“Where are we going to live now?” Janet wondered as she looked around and thought about the kids.
She took a deep breath and explained to her mother what had happened. She was mortified and wanted to disappear. She never imagined it would get this bad.
She asked to access family money to pay the loan shark. Phyllis looked at her daughter coldly and asked, “Are you sure about this, my daughter? If I give you that money, I’ll have nothing left for your future or my grandchildren’s, apart from our old house in the countryside with that mailbox you loved.”
Janet had always wanted to be the first to open the mailbox and rush back home with the mail as a child. Her mother sometimes put candy in the box as a surprise. But now wasn’t the time to reflect on the past; Janet needed to think about her family’s future, so she confirmed her intention to use family funds to help her husband.
After all, he was part of her family, too. Phyllis was upset but considered her three grandchildren before giving up all her life’s savings. Without her, Matthew would have been in trouble with the loan shark, and his grandchildren would have been homeless.
Phyllis’s final act of kindness before passing away was the transfer. She fell ill unexpectedly forty days later and had to be rushed to the hospital. Janet was devastated by her death. After the funeral, she sobbed for hours, unable to be consoled even by her children.
A week later, Janet received a letter from her mother via the family attorney, who explained that it contained the remainder of her mother’s belongings. Janet wasn’t sure what this meant. She opened the envelope to find a handwritten note on plain paper.
Her mother wished her the best and told her she could always seek refuge in the rural home where she had grown up. “May you
only receive letters of happiness,” she wrote. The key to the place was in the envelope.
Matthew had stopped gambling. He lost friends and most of his family now viewed him with contempt. He, Janet, and the three children had to leave their beautiful house to live in a tiny rental apartment. Without their previous income, the kids dropped out of private school, but no public school would accept them mid-year. So the kids stayed home all day, bored and picking fights.
From then on, Janet looked at her husband with more scrutiny. He needed to be better for his family and find a way to regain his dignity, but the truth was that Matthew was depressed, and this moved him to rediscover an old friend: whiskey.
He still got up early every day and looked for work or odd jobs. His ex-partner was a good man who understood that everyone makes mistakes. He told Matthew that if he could prove he’d changed for the better, he could work at the company again, not as a partner but as a senior employee.
Matthew knew the business better than anyone. This gave Janet hope, but the first thing Matthew did when he got home was look for a bottle. On days when nothing was happening, he’d get drunk and fall asleep on the couch, quickly getting lost.
When his ex-partner planned a birthday party for his son, who was the same age as Nate, Janet saw it as an opportunity for her husband to prove he was ready.
While the kids played in the garden, the adults enjoyed lively conversations. Mathew’s former employees were there, which embarrassed him a little. He drank more than he should have, and the more he drank, the more unpleasant he became to the other parents and his wife.
When it became clear he was past his limit, Janet tried to convince him to leave before ruining his last chance with his ex-partner.
“Honey, let’s go home. You need a shower and a good night’s sleep. Come on, I’ll help you.”
He told Janet to shut up and said he wouldn’t do what she wanted, drawing everyone’s attention. “You think just because you helped me once, you’re going to boss me around? Remember I supported you until yesterday, you ingrate!” he shouted.
She felt humiliated, not knowing where to look. The guests were uncomfortable, and Matthew’s ex-partner looked sad and disappointed.
That was the biggest embarrassment of Janet’s life. She was devastated.
Back in their small apartment, she tried to review her life and understand how it had gotten so bad. Sad and angry, she saw no way out but to separate from her husband. Mathew was sinking his life in the mud, and the three children didn’t deserve to sink with him.
When the divorce papers arrived, Mathew seemed to have been expecting them. He signed the paperwork unceremoniously as if he were the victim escaping from a problematic marriage.
All Janet could do was take her children and head to her family’s old house, where she would figure out how to lead the rest of her life. She was broke and didn’t even know if the electricity was still on. She had no plan B. Other than the house, she had nothing.
Her bank account was almost drained. What little she had would only last a few months. She would have to find a new job and hope for the best.
Janet walked in through the creaky front door, sending a chill through Rick.
“This house looks haunted,” the boy said.
The place was very dark, and Milla didn’t want to go in at all. Janet remembered how certain things worked and went to the wide window in the room. It was stuck, but as soon as she managed to open it, a strong beam of light bathed the room in a golden glow, flooding Janet with nostalgia.
The room was filled with the sound of breaking glass.
“I’m sorry, Mom, I didn’t mean to!” Milla exclaimed.
Janet and the boys went to see what had happened. A large framed glass painting had shattered on the floor.
“Look, there’s a small door in that wall,” said the youngest.
Janet nearly fell to her knees when she realized what it was. “It’s not a small door, silly. That’s a safe,” Rick said.
Janet tried everything to open it but realized a specific key was needed.
She glanced out the window at the old mailbox by the front door, reminding her of her last conversation with her mother, where she had mentioned it curiously.
“But is it possible?” she wondered.
Janet went to the front of the house and checked the mailbox, where she’d found sweets hidden by her mother on several occasions. Inside, she discovered another surprise waiting for her—a key as old as the house and heavier than it appeared.
She dashed back into the room and inserted the key into the lock. As she twisted it, she heard a sharp click, and the vault door opened.
Janet thought she would find old photos, letters, and maybe some family records. Instead, she found something that left her speechless. Inside a case were silver earrings, a large, heavy gold pendant, and several gold rings and necklaces.
When Janet opened the pendant, she discovered a picture of herself as a baby on one side and the words “For Janet, forever my most precious treasure” on the other. As she read it, she felt as if her mother was speaking to her.
Janet held the diamond-studded pendant close to her heart and began to cry, overcome by its significance. She started sobbing.
“What is it, Mom? Is everything all right?” Milla asked.
She turned and opened her arms to her children, inviting them in for a hug.
“It’s better than ever, my daughter. I just realized how grandma always loved us.”
The next day, Janet took all of Phyllis’s valuable jewelry to be appraised, arriving at a number in excess of four hundred thousand dollars. That meant she was safe and wouldn’t need her ex-husband again.
She looked out the window and saw Rick, Nate, and Milla playing among the wildflowers. The sun was setting, and now everyone had a reason to smile.
