A widower works three jobs to take his daughter home from a shelter, only to learn the crushing truth that she is not his biological child.
“I promise, sweetheart. Give me a couple of months, and we will be reunited. Wait for Daddy, all right?” Harry says tearfully to his daughter, Mia.
“Don’t leave me here, Daddy, please! Where’s Mommy? Leave me with Mommy instead,” she cries.
“Your mom…” Harry hesitates. “Your mom has gone on a long business trip. I don’t know when she will be back.”
To spare his daughter the hurt, he keeps the truth hidden: his wife had passed away a month ago after battling cancer. He hugs his daughter tight and promises he will visit again the following day.
“You promise me?” she asks him.
“I promise,” Harry nods, holding out his pinky for a pinky swear.
That night, Harry goes to work at a warehouse where he serves as the night shift porter. He finishes six hours of work and has only two hours to rest in the locker room before heading to his next job: a grocery store where he works as a cashier. While working there, he comes across an old friend of his late wife, Samantha.
“Hey, Ava,” he greets her. “How have you been?”
Ava looks at him with guilt on her face, which puzzles Harry.
“Hi, Harry,” she replies. “How are you? Where’s Mia?” she asks.
Harry reveals that he has had to leave Mia at a foster home while he works three jobs. “Don’t worry,” he assures Ava. “I’m only going to work these jobs for a couple of months. Once I have enough money to pay off the house in full, I’m going to take her back, and we will never be apart again.”
Ava asks Harry if he wants to go out to lunch. “I have something to tell you. I should have told you a long time ago, but I was afraid of what Samantha would do to me,” she tells him after inviting him to lunch.
“Of course,” Harry says. “Come on, let’s go to my favorite cafe,” he adds, taking his apron off to utilize his hour-long lunch break.
While they are eating, Harry reveals that he has devoted himself to earning enough money to raise Mia alone. “Our savings were depleted trying to save Samantha,” he admits. “We are only a couple of months away from paying off our house in full, but now I’ll be able to do that even quicker if I work non-stop.”
“You should take care of yourself, you know. Working three jobs isn’t healthy at all,” Ava says.
Harry shrugs. “I would do anything for my daughter, even if it means not seeing her for a while because of it.”
“Sorry this had to come from me,” Ava suddenly says, “but the truth is, seven years ago, Samantha met a man at a bar.”
At this point, Harry’s breath gets shaky. He is sure he isn’t ready to hear what Ava is about to say next.
“Samantha told me that Mia was the man’s child and not yours. She didn’t want to tell you because she saw how happy you were when you found out she was pregnant,” Ava reveals.
After the horrific news, Harry is too shaken to go back to work. He heads straight home, where he cries for hours.
“What did I do to deserve this?” he yells at no one in particular.
He has no relatives; his wife had cheated on him, and the daughter he loved so dearly was not actually his. Upon realizing this, he decides it is probably better for Mia to be adopted by a wealthy family rather than go back and live with him. For two years, Harry refuses to visit the shelter. During this time, he is promoted to store manager where he once worked as a cashier. He is finally able to pay off his home and even purchases a small, inexpensive car.
While Harry is managing the store one day, he receives a call from the shelter about Mia. The man on the other line explains that Mia needs surgery and an urgent liver transplant.
“If you would like to be a donor, it’s best to get to the hospital as soon as you can,” he shares.
Although there is a sharp pain in Harry’s chest hearing that Mia is suffering, he knows he won’t be able to help. Still, he heads to the hospital where he reveals he isn’t her biological father.
“We can still test you, sir,” the nurse shares. “If you turn out to be a match, you can still donate to her if you want to.”
Harry realizes he couldn’t live with himself if he let Mia die. He allows his blood to be taken, and it shows he could be a donor. “I’ll do it,” he says fearlessly.
No matter how hard he tried to forget Mia, he still loves her as his daughter. He had raised her, after all. The same day, the operation takes place and is successful. Harry and Mia are placed in the same room where they both recover. It is Harry who wakes up first, and the nurse goes to check on him immediately.
“Congratulations, sir. You and your daughter are both well. She’s very strong,” the nurse says.
“She’s not my daughter,” Harry says sadly. “I thought she was, but it turns out she wasn’t. I don’t even know who her father is, even though I was sure all my life it was me.”
The nurse has a sympathetic look on her face but decides to speak up. “Parents aren’t always those who give birth to us, but those who raise us. It doesn’t matter whether or not your blood runs through Mia’s veins. The bottom line is, she’s your daughter,” she says.
Harry realizes the nurse is right. Mia has always known him as her father, and that will never change. Likewise, she is his only daughter, and nothing is going to change that. After they both recover from their surgeries, Harry goes to the shelter and processes Mia’s papers.
“I’d like to take my daughter home,” he tells the manager.
Upon hearing this, Mia cannot help but cry, and she embraces her father with all her might. “I love you so much, Dad. I missed you.”
