Kids Left Sick Mother To Die In An Old House And Were Shocked To Get This Inheritance…

A Life on the Ranch

For the past five years, Amanda Barnes has lived alone in an old house in northern Texas. She entered the workforce at an early age and, because of her determination and perseverance, had long held a position of authority in the city’s businesses. Virtually everyone in town knew Mrs. Barnes by sight and always paid their respects when they met her.

Sooner or later, however, age tends to take its toll, and the woman was forced to quit her job and tend to her household at an old ranch. She and her husband Lloyd lived together for nearly 40 years, raising two handsome sons. Spencer and Walt were born one after another and left their family’s nest as soon as they turned 18.

The young men were beckoned by the city lights and entertainment, and of course, life on the ranch couldn’t give them that opportunity. In time, Walt and Spencer settled down and even had families and children. Unfortunately, Lloyd and Amanda Barnes would see their grandchildren a couple of times at most, and even then only in pictures.

A Mother’s Loneliness

Ashamed of their provincial origins, the sons rarely visited their parents, and if they did, they did so only on some serious occasion like, for example, selling the cattle after the death of their father or leasing land for pasture. With her husband gone, Mrs. Barnes’s life came to a monotonous, hopeless rut.

Despite her rapidly deteriorating health, the old woman labored to keep the house and homestead in good condition. In the evenings, sitting in front of the television, Mrs. Barnes looked through old photographs and remembered the times when her family had been united.

Wiping away bitter tears, the elderly woman could not understand where she and her husband had gone wrong in raising their sons and why they had grown up to be so selfish. Mrs. Barnes’s only comfort came from visits from Viola Ross, who worked as a nurse at the local hospital.

A Caring Friend

The young woman treated the lonely old woman as if she were her own mother and visited her every day, bringing her groceries and medicines. They had known each other for a long time, from the time when Walt was a young man and tried to woo Viola but could not win her hand because of his bad temper.

Mrs. Barnes at the time worried about this, for she had grown quite fond of Viola. Now Viola had a loving husband and daughter, Rebecca, and she preferred not to speak of her failed relationship with Walt.

Sitting in her kitchen now, Mrs. Barnes glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, its hands crawling like sleepy flies. The old lady had been expecting Viola, and she grew anxious when the nurse didn’t arrive on time. At last, the front door creaked and familiar footsteps were heard.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Barnes. How are you feeling today? Any headaches? Heart not bothering you?”

Viola asked with concern in her voice.

“Hello my dear. My head has been hurting since the morning, but thanks to your visit, I feel much better already.”

Viola Ross, out of habit, took the groceries she had bought out of her bag and put them in the refrigerator. Then she took her blood pressure, shook her head disappointedly, and gave her an injection.

“You’ll feel better now, Mrs. Barnes. Lie down on the sofa and try to sleep. I’ll close the door myself.”

Viola said goodbye and patted the old woman on the shoulder.

Amanda Barnes closed her eyes and sank into the sweet dream in which she saw her sons and her grandchildren nearby.

The Leaking Roof

And so the old lady continued to live with these occasional visits from Viola and the phone call from her sons every once in a while. As time passed, Mrs. Barnes’s health deteriorated by the day. The old woman found it difficult to keep the house in order, which in recent years had become run down and began crumbling before her eyes.

Her sons still visited their mother very rarely, and if they did it, it was only for a few minutes. When autumn came, it began to rain, and the rain could sometimes last two weeks. That would have been all right, but Mrs. Barnes, as bad fortune would have it, had a leak in several places at once on her roof.

The old lady had to live in humidity, placing all the containers she could under the leaks. This angered Viola most of all, who knew that the poor old woman had two healthy sons who could fix the roof if they wanted to. The angry nurse first called Walt and then Spencer, but to her disappointment, neither of them had any free time to help their old mother.

One of the sons had a daughter who was supposedly getting married and the other one had a work emergency. Viola then asked her husband Jack to help Mrs. Barnes repair the roof. So, using their own resources, the good couple replaced the old shingles and fixed the nasty leak.

“My heroes, how grateful I am. I was starting to come down with the cough from the dampness,”

said Mrs. Barnes softly and wiped away a tear.

Although the old woman did not say it aloud, deep in her heart she was hurt that her sons had not come to help their own mother.

Leaving Home

A few years passed, and Viola could not help but notice Mrs. Barnes’s deteriorating health. Calling Walt, the woman said:

“Listen, you and your brother need to take your mother to town. It’s hard for her in this backwater. The ranch too needs a lot of work.”

“I’m going through a rough patch right now. Maybe this could wait until later? Or perhaps Spencer could help? He’s got a bigger house than I do,”

Walt answered, making up problems that didn’t exist as he went along.

Viola understood everything and hung up the phone, and then after consulting with her husband, she decided to move Mrs. Barnes to her place. All the more so because Rebecca has now grown up and was in high school, so she could help the old woman if she needed it.

At first, Mrs. Barnes had resisted desperately and did not want to leave her home. But then, realizing that no one wanted her but Viola and her family, she reluctantly agreed. When she moved to this unfamiliar home, the old woman had no idea that the time she would spend within its walls would be the last period of her difficult life.