Mum, my dear what can I do, how can I help you? Alice sobbed, cradling her mother on the grimy sofa.
Sweetheart, thank you for everything, Margaret whispered, her voice thin. Youve already done more than I could ever ask. Look at where we are now living on a rubbish heap. I’m sorry, love. My wages all go on my medication.
Aye, thats not all. Theres still a sliver left, Alice said, her eyes hardening with resolve. We havent lost everything yet.
Their home was nothing more than a ruin now, the shell of what had once been a proper flat. Two months ago theyd been living in a cosy council flat in Manchester, but theyd been forced to sell it. Margaret, an artist who used to work at the local textile mill, earned barely enough to scrape by, and the only thing that could save her was an expensive operation. Alice worked as a nursery practitioner and couldnt afford it. The sale was their last resort, and Alice kept urging her mother, convinced there was no other way out.
Better I die than be a burden, love, Margaret said, tears flashing. Youll be left out on the streets with nowhere to go.
No, Mum! As long as theres a chance we must fight for it. A flat is just bricks and mortar. Id never forgive myself if those four walls kept you from getting better, Alice replied, already signing the paperwork.
The operation succeeded, but Margaret would need long rehab and a wheelchair to get around. Money ran dry fast, so they cobbled together a tiny shed on the outskirts of town that Alice stumbled upon by chance. Shed been staying there while Margaret recovered in hospital.
Every evening after work Alice brought a bit of food. Each penny was earned the hard way, but she never let her mother go hungry. Winter was creeping in and their options were running out. Everything they could sell was gone, leaving only one thing of value: a painting Margaret had done in her youth, a pine forest where a young couple walked handinhand.
Alice stared at the canvas with tenderness. It was a memory of her mothers old dreams, and also their last lifeline.
The painting was a true masterpiece. Margaret had once been a gifted artist, but after a heartbreak shed put the brush down and this was the only work shed ever kept. One damp, grey spring evening Alice spotted a torn newspaper ad for a plush resort in the Cotswolds, promising a market for unique art. She thought, Maybe a billionaire will pay a decent sum for something truly original.
Mum, I know youll protest, but we have no other way. Ill try, and maybe itll work, she told Margaret, and set off that night.
Meanwhile, Simon Parker was heading back to his fivestar hotel in Surrey, his mood a mile low. Earlier that day his marriage to Sarah had collapsed after two years. Hed always wanted children, but at fortyplus the odds were slipping, and hed been fretting over who would inherit his hospitality empire. The divorce came after a botched business trip: a delayed flight, a missed connection, and a desperate attempt to surprise Sarah with an expensive bouquet. He arrived home hoping for a romantic reunion, but found the flat eerily quiet.
Opening the door, he saw Sarah not alone. She was in bed with another man, a bald stranger. The sight knocked the wind out of him. She screamed, tried to blame him for being too old for jokes, and fled the room. The marriage was over in a heartbeat.
Two weeks later, Simon drove past the Cotswolds resort, still a mess inside. He heard from a receptionist that a homeless woman had been let into a vacant suite. What a scandal! shed exclaimed. The story reached Simon just as he was brooding over his divorce, and his pride flared.
At the same time, Victoria, the nightshift manager of the resort, was taking the last bus home after a long day. She saw a desperate young woman sprinting toward the hotel entrance, clutching a wrapped canvas under her coat. It was Alice, hitching the bus that was already pulling away. Breathless, Alice begged, Ive got nothing left. This painting is all we have. No one will buy it for even a pittance.
Victoria listened, feeling the tug in her heart. She offered Alice the only vacant room she could spare, a modest suite at the very end of the corridor. It was freezing outside, and a night on the streets would have been deadly.
The next morning, Simon stormed into the lobby, roaring, Wheres that homeless woman? He dragged Alice out of the suite, shouted at Victoria, Youre sacked! Pack your things! The two women raced for the bus, the doors closing just as they slipped aboard. Alice wept, thinking of her mother and the painting left behind.
Simon, still fuming, decided to check the suite himself. On the wall hung the very canvas of the pine forest, the same scene that had once graced his own happiest memory a walk in the woods with his longlost love, Maria. It cant be, he muttered, dropping the picture and bolting for his car.
He chased the bus, screeching to a halt beside it. Inside, he found Alice and Victoria, bewildered. He apologized, explaining how the painting had hit a nerve. Alice said it depicted her parents. Overcome, Simon fell to his knees, pleading for forgiveness.
Im your father, he blurted, tears spilling. I never knew about you. The truth tangled further: his former lover, Maria, had disappeared years ago after a TV crew filmed a scene where he pretended to hug a girl. Shed left, pregnant and heartbroken, never hearing from him.
Now fate tangled them all together. Maria returned, seeking to mend the broken pieces. She, Simon, and Alice decided to start fresh in Simons old family home. Margaret, now out of her wheelchair, prepared for a wedding with Simon. Alice quit her nursery job and enrolled in a business course, determined to help run the familys new venture. Victoria, meanwhile, was promoted to manager of the resort, firing the gossipmongering staff and turning the hotels reputation around.
The painting finally found its rightful place above the fireplace in their living room, a symbol of the hardships theyd survived. Mornings now began with laughter, plans, and a warm cup of tea, each of them grateful for the unexpected twists that brought them together.
