This incredible story is that of Charlotte and John, a couple who have been married for over 50 years and who have lived happy, but sober lives. Sadly, John suffered from an incurable disease and spent the last days of his life in a hospital bed.

In his last breath, he told Charlotte that she needed to take a closer look at the painting he made for her a few months after their wedding.
She went to a conservatory and immediately after the latter removed the coat of varnish from the top of the painting, she found out that her husband had kept a huge secret for all these years.

This is Charlotte:
Charlotte was a widower and retired and had worked as a nurse all her life. She was married to her husband John and had three children. Their awe-inspiring story began a long time ago when Charlotte went out with her friends and had no idea this evening was going to change her life.
Charlotte wasn’t the type to go out often and she had no intention of going out on the night she had met her husband John. Her friends always insisted that she go out for a bit and meet new people, but it wasn’t really her cup of tea. Fortunately, this time, she had let herself be tempted by a little evening with friends, just to get out of the routine.

The two lovebirds:

When Charlotte and John met over 50 years ago at a local bar, it was love at first sight. Both were very shy, and it took John’s courage to take the first step.
Charlotte could clearly see that John was uncomfortable because it was not his habit to take the first step. Usually, his friends helped him approach a girl, but this one was too special for him to pass up a chance. A simple smile was enough for him to immediately fall in love with each other, they quickly became attached to each other and the two lovebirds quickly became inseparable.

A happy life, but sober:
Even though John was often away, he always took good care of his wife and their children. John was a devoted man to his wife and family and he always made sure they didn’t miss anything.
They had never had enough money, but that was not a problem since they had met and were made for each other. That hasn’t stopped the couple from living a fulfilling life. Together with their two adorable boys, the four of them have lived happy, but modest lives all these years. However, it turned out that John had not told Charlotte the truth about him.

Mistrustful:
Even though Charlotte was happy with him, she was sometimes suspicious of him. He was often away and when she asked him exactly what he had done, he always reacted a little with suspicion. He said it was for work and he didn’t want to talk to her about it.
John had always seemed to have secrets and he had kept them very well. This did not prevent Charlotte from loving him with all her heart and she did not doubt his love for her and her children. Charlotte knew he was hiding something, but could never find out what, and although she had tried to unravel its mysteries, she could never find anything. She tried so hard that she finally gave up and accepted that John would never tell her some part of his life.

A mistress:
…….to be continue

Waiting for part 2 ooo

if you continue i would read everything

I didn't get the gist. Pls what did she discovered.

HeroHero:
I didn't get the gist. Pls what did she discovered.

the husband hid 5million dollars behind the painting.

Op....Behave yourself o .

donbachi:
the husband hid 5million dollars behind the painting.

Wow! Really? What a surprise!!

It ain't adding up.

You posted they had three children and then ended that they had two boys.



This is the complete and unabridged story

https://www.foodictator.com/worldwide/husbands-secret-paint-varnish

Fiction.

A mistress:
Charlotte was not a jealous woman, but she had to make sure that her husband was always happy with her, and if he wasn’t anymore, then he must at least have the courage to come and talk to her in all honesty.
John would often disappear without saying anything and he would sometimes go out to dinner with a pretty woman, but he would also say that it was for his work. Charlotte sometimes doubted that he had fallen in love with her. One day, when she was tired of this hidden life of John, she even followed him to see if his hypothesis was true, but she couldn’t find anything conclusive.

Secret drawer:
Also, John had a drawer in his bedroom that Charlotte was never allowed to look into. She had tried looking for the key once when he was gone for a few days, but that too had failed.
In the end, she had given up on seeking confirmation and blamed herself for her suspicions. She told herself that she was too jealous and that she already had everything she dreamed of having with John, a house, children, a beautiful and happy family. She had realized that there was no point looking for anything, because everything seemed to indicate that she was not going to find anything, no matter how hard she tried.

No life without him:
Despite the fact that Charlotte often had doubts about his honesty, she loved him unconditionally. She just couldn’t live without him and would never leave him, even if he was unfaithful.
Everyone has faults and she had sworn in front of the hotel that she would stay with John until she died. If the couple were to go their separate ways, it certainly wouldn’t be her fault, as she would love him until death did part them. But sadly, it seemed more and more that her fear of losing him was going to become a reality. Despite the ups and downs, she proved to be the best of wives.

Health problems:
John never mistreated his wife, he loved her deeply, even though he had things to hide. However, he insisted on shedding that weight when he passed away. He did not take his secrets with him to his grave.
Sadly, John was diagnosed with a rare disease. He had had health problems for a long time but was still too stubborn to go to the doctor or the hospital. He refused to rely on medicine for a cure, he firmly believed that he would get better naturally. When at one point it really couldn’t go on like this anymore, he finally went to the doctor and heard the bad news.

Incurable disease:
After his first visit to the doctor, he was unable to diagnose what he had. The symptoms were unknown to doctors and he was perhaps right in believing that modern medicine could do nothing for him.
Little was known about his condition and until today, doctors had not been able to find a solution to this problem or the origin of his illness. One thing the doctor was sure, however, was that he didn’t have much longer to live and that there was nothing they could do for him. Doctors advised him to take advantage of the last few days, as they weren’t sure how much time he had left.

Call 911
….. to be continue

Call 911
However, a profound change had taken place in recent days. Just a few days ago, after the evening meal, John suddenly became very confused and Charlotte had to call for help immediately.
His health deteriorated rapidly and he had to be hospitalized in critical condition. The doctors quickly took him to the operating room to operate and stabilize him. His condition was not stable, but luckily help had arrived on time. Unfortunately, the same evening, right after his operation, the doctor told John that he only had a day or two to live.

Their dear daddy:
After hearing the bad news, Charlotte immediately called their two sons and they came to the hospital as soon as they could so they could say goodbye to their dear father whom they loved so much.
At that time, they too had absolutely no knowledge of the secret their father was hiding. All they wanted right now was to be able to enjoy the last moments their daddy had left to live. They were devastated not knowing what he was suffering from but were able to make it to their father’s bedside in time.

A wonderful life
After their boys said goodbye to their father, Charlotte was left alone with him until the end. And despite this bad news, the two had great conversations about their wonderful lives.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to have one last conversation with the people they love before they leave us. The boys took advantage of every minute they could get to remember the good life they shared as a family. They talked about the memories they had together over the years, but then John started talking about the wedding gift he gave his wife 50 years ago.

The most special:
Over the years, Charlotte had often received beautiful and original gifts from her husband. Gifts were never expected, but always very special. He didn’t necessarily remember special occasions, birthdays, etc., but he chose his moments well.
But there was one special gift that stood out and that she appreciated even more than the rest. Charlotte still had no idea that she was about to discover something extraordinary. All the gifts John had given her were very special, but she had no idea that this gift was hiding something else.

Passion for painting:
John had always been a creative person and his great passion was painting. He was very talented and after making many paintings and sketches, he decided to make a beautiful painting for his wife.
It was his wedding present for his lovely Charlotte, but no one ever thought the painting would be as special as what they discovered. John had hidden a huge secret in this painting and he kept this secret until his last breath. The surprise was greatly appreciated by his wife.

His last words:
John’s situation quickly deteriorated and unfortunately, his last hour had come. In his last breath, he told his wife Charlotte that the painting was not a normal painting and that she needed to take a better look at it.
Charlotte didn’t understand, but she didn’t have time to ask him for more details. At first, she didn’t really believe her husband’s words. She thought he must have been delusional during these last moments. However, her husband’s last words kept haunting her for the next few days. Finally, after a few days, she decided to take action.

No idea:
She had no idea what her husband meant and couldn’t quite grasp the meaning of his last words. She looked all around the picture but found nothing special. But there had to be something, her husband had said it for a reason.
After a few days of unsuccessful research, she had an idea. Fortunately, Charlotte had known an old friend who was a restaurateur for over 40 years and who specialized in antique paintings. If there was anyone who could help her more with the board, it would be him. There was only one problem, she didn’t know if the man was still alive, but she would find out soon.

A hidden message:
After some hardship, Charlotte finally reunited with her old friend, and luckily he was still alive. He responded favorably to Charlotte’s call and immediately started working on the painting.
After analyzing the web for a long time, he thought he had found what John had been hiding. He had started to remove a layer of paint by scratching it lightly so as not to damage the canvas. After several long hours of work, the restorer was able to remove the topcoat of paint. He called Charlotte to tell her that he had discovered something very special behind the varnish in the paint.

To hurry up:
Charlotte didn’t have much hope that the restaurateur could find something, but if anyone could, it was him. When she got the call from the restaurateur, she didn’t waste a single second and quickly made her way to her workshop.
She couldn’t wait to find out what the restorer had found about the painting. He had told her over the phone that there was a mysterious message behind the top layer of the painting. It was only a small part of a huge secret that Charlotte was about to uncover, John’s wonderful secret. The restaurateur couldn’t decode the message John had left on the board.

Coded language:

….. final part tomorrow

Coded language:
When Charlotte arrived at the studio and looked at the painting, she couldn’t believe her eyes. There was an address written on it with a code, and it was clearly her husband’s handwriting, so he must have written it himself.
Despite all his efforts, it would have been impossible for the restorer to unravel the secret of the painting, all his research had yielded nothing. But that was not all, next to the address there was another code written. It would have been a miracle if anyone other than Charlotte could figure out the code because the message was intended for Charlotte. She was the only one equipped to uncover this mystery.

The local bank:
She immediately recognized the address, as it belonged to the local bank where she and her husband still had an account. The number was slightly different from the account they had together, however.
But the code didn’t mean anything to her, she really didn’t know if it was another bank number or a safe deposit box number. She was very happy that there was some light at the end of the tunnel. But she would soon find out. Along with the painting conservator, she immediately went to the local bank and asked one of the bank employees if he could find more information about the code.

Not what she expected:
She was asking herself lots of questions on the way to the bank. What could her husband have left her after his death and why had he not said anything during all this time.
She arrived at the bank stressed out because she didn’t know what to expect. She went through customer service at first, but they couldn’t help her. They asked her to wait for the bank manager to arrive. The bank manager was quite busy with other customers and she had to wait a few hours before she could meet him and show him the code she had.

Closed for 50 years:
When she showed the man the address and code, his reaction was not at all what she had expected. The man who had received Charlotte was quite puzzled by her unusual request.
The bank clerk was surprised because he recognized the code right away, it was one of the oldest safes in the bank and no one had opened it for 50 years. Sometimes he wondered if someone would ever come and pick up its content, and that day had finally arrived. The banker was happy to get to know the owner of the safe, but the safe was not easily accessible.

Call security:
Immediately after the bank clerk found out which safe Charlotte had come for, he called security. Charlotte immediately thought something was wrong but was told it was for her own safety.
Charlotte was starting to worry because no one gave her more details on the reasons for her wait. She was trying to reassure herself that John would never have done anything illegal or anything to endanger her. She felt more and more like she had stepped into an exciting film. She was impatiently waiting to find out what the safe could hide.

The minutes looked like hours:
Finally, after an hour of waiting, the bank manager resurfaced and he was not alone. He was accompanied by a security guard and another bank employee.
With the employee and the security guard, Charlotte walked to the room where the specific safe was located. With each step she took, it seemed to her that her heart started to beat faster and faster. And although it wasn’t even a half-minute walk, it felt like hours for her. They walked towards a part of the bank that she had never seen before and the place seemed to be very little used.

A satin box and gloves:
Charlotte had always wondered what the real bank safe could look like. She had always been impressed with this room that the robbers all wanted to open in the movies.
As soon as she entered the room, her mouth opened in surprise. Everywhere she looked she saw small safes, and in the center of the room was a large marble table upon which rested a pair of satin gloves and a black box. It was almost as if this room was reserved for the rich. She was uncomfortable, but also very excited to be able to find out what was hiding in his.

What could it possibly be?
This whole room made Charlotte even more confused. As said before, her husband had never owned a lot of money and quite often they had even struggled to make ends meet.
So what the hell could he have put in the safe over 50 years ago. Fortunately, she was about to find out. She imagined herself full of scenarios, she said to herself that perhaps he had hidden some gold bars or even jewels that he had received as an inheritance from his parents or grandparents. However, that did not explain why he had kept it a secret for so long, 50 years is a very long time.

Close the door:
The room she was in was not easily accessible, she must have gone through several doors and each door had its own security system which seemed really complicated.
Before being allowed to open the safe, Charlotte also had to sign several documents and answer personal questions. Moments later, an additional security guard entered and closed the door. When the latter was closed, the bank clerk put on satin gloves and opened the black box on the table.

A small device:
When Charlotte peeked inside the box, she saw something she had never seen before and didn’t even know what it was for. She saw a small device with flashing lights like it was straight out of a science fiction movie. But she quickly saw what it was.

A special method:
The bank employee explained to him that the device was used to scan fingerprints. This was only common for a number of safes, so that included her husband John’s safe.
After putting their finger on it and the light turned green, they were finally able to open the safe.

It couldn’t be true:
It was like time was frozen and the box opened slowly. She felt like everyone could hear her heartbeat so hard.
When she opened the safe, she saw more money than she had ever seen. The box was completely full. All that money could never have belonged to her husband unless he had lied to her all these years. But it didn’t end there, as the money wasn’t the only thing in the safe. The safe hid another even more unexpected secret from John.

Hide a secret:
Next to the money was an envelope and it looked like it contained a letter intended for Charlotte. She felt more and more that her husband had kept a huge secret from her.
As she felt her heart pounding, she opened the envelope and immediately recognized the handwriting. The letter in the safe had been written by her husband John almost 50 years ago when they were married. It contained a very touching and impressive message and although she was already very surprised to find it there, it was nothing compared to the feeling she would have after reading it.

Tears in her eyes:
She was having a hard time controling her emotions when she read John’s letter to her. She never imagined that John could have kept this fortune from her for so long.
Charlotte asked the bank clerk and the security guards if they could leave her alone for a little while. Once she was alone in the room, she began to read the letter and quickly discovered that her hunch had been correct. She was sitting alone in the room with tears in her eyes. She thought back to all the times that they had struggled to make ends meet and that this money could have helped.

A substantial legacy:
In this moving letter, John wrote to Charlotte that he inherited a huge amount of money from his uncle when he was just a child. His uncle was a wealthy businessman and had taken care of John financially since John’s father passed away when he was only 4 years old.
His father died in a tragic accident and his mother did not have the financial means to support her children, so John was partly raised by his uncle. For this reason, he and his uncle developed a good relationship and he had inherited money from his uncle when the latter passed away. But John had never told Charlotte about it for a specific reason.

Love and respect:
He also explained the reason why he had never told Charlotte about the huge amount of money he had. It was quite a noble reason and Charlotte didn’t blame John for keeping this on for so long.
It was because he wanted people to love him and respect him for his personality and he wanted to make sure that people didn’t get around him for his money and end up betraying him. It would be too easy for him to spend it all and risk people taking advantage of him. By not using the money, he made sure that the people who had surrounded him throughout his life were sincere and selfless people.

His rich uncle:
Since his wealthy uncle had raised him like his son, he knew how the latter had been used by people looking for his money. He had witnessed the abuse of such people all his life.
He saw from a young age that they treated his uncle differently once they knew he had a lot of money, and he didn’t want to go through that too. But that was not all. In the last part of the moving letter, he wrote that all the inherited money was for Charlotte so that she could do whatever she wanted for the rest of her life without him. He was also very grateful for the love and respect Charlotte had shown him throughout her life.

A final tribute:
Charlotte was really moved and touched by John’s beautiful words and wanted to pay him a last tribute. She found it difficult to do and didn’t want to do it alone.
But she absolutely wanted to do something for her husband so she finally had an idea. She would still have loved to have the opportunity to enjoy this money with her husband before he left this world, but her husband had judged that this money would be more appropriate for Charlotte for the life he had shared with her, to have loved him unconditionally and to have stayed with him until his last breath.

A world tour:
With the money, Charlotte traveled around the world with her two children. She did this in memory of her dear husband John and it was a very moving and beautiful trip. Upon their return, Charlotte began to think about what she could do with the remaining part of the inheritance.
Since she had lived very modestly with John all her life, she didn’t know what to do with so much money. She was used to living on little and not spending money lightly. So it took a long time for her to finally find something to spend that money on.

A generous gift:
Since she didn’t really need the money and her children were already very successful, she decided to do something very generous. She donate
But that was not all, he still had a lot of money left. With what she had left, she also wanted to do something dedicated to John. And since he had always had a passion for painting and painting for their wedding had changed his life, she had an idea. But it wasn’t going to be easy.

The local museum:
To pay homage to John, she contacted a friend of hers who worked at a local museum. She arranged for John’s paintings to be hung there in exchange for a donation.
John’s dream had always been to exhibit his works in a museum and his wish was granted. It was the best gift she could have given John and it’s sad that she couldn’t have given it in her lifetime. John’s works were magnificent and he could very well have made a living from his passion if he had had the courage to exhibit them. Anyway, it is now on display in a museum.

No grudge:
Although she had been lied to all her life, Charlotte had no grudges against her husband. She knew he had done this for a good reason and she understood it too. She might not have done the same, but she respects his choice.
She was convinced that they would end up in Heaven and she could tell him that what he had done was okay. After a life of depriving herself and making sacrifices, Charlotte could finally afford to breathe a little and enjoy these last days. She was delighted to have discovered John’s secret and relieved to know that her husband had thought of her until his last breath.