Tommy had been 7 when his father had a heart attack and two years later his mother died from cancer. When his mother knew she was dying she had drawn up a legal custody agreement with a couple she and Tommy's father had been good friends with for many years, who had agreed to raise Tommy after her death.
Tommy lived a completely ordinary life through his teenaged years and beyond, working for his foster father, a carpenter and contractor. He always missed the house he had lived in as a child, with the swing set, climbing trees, and the garden he had played in as a child in what seemed like a different life so many years before.
He fell in love with Beatrice's daughter when they were both in their early 20s and like any couple soon to marry they set up a small apartment with all of the things they had to start out married life together. But what they had in that little apartment would prove to be not quite all they would start out married life with.
They were married by the priest in their church, and when they got to the reception and had had all the opening prayers, toasts, and everything else that goes on at a reception before the food is served, Tommy's foster mother produced a large manila envelope and gave it to Tommy and his new wife, asking them to open it. She and her husband were quietly crying. Tommy didn't know what to think, but as people get teary-eyed at weddings, that aspect of what was happening didn't seem out of place.
When they opened the envelope Tommy found out that there was a part of his custody agreement about which he had never been told. Inside the envelope were the deed to the house Tommy had lived in with his parents before their deaths, and a bankbook containing thousands of dollars, representing the profits his foster parents had made leasing the house out for over 15 years. Before her death, Tommy's mother had provided that his foster parents would maintain the house and give it to Tommy and his wife after they were married. I'll bet there wasn't a dry eye in the reception hall that day.
It must have been difficult for Tommy's foster parents to keep quiet about the house as they helped them set up their apartment, knowing they would not need it.