A little boy stops in his tracks when he answers the doorbell and discovers a box on the doorstep with a crying baby inside – but who had mercilessly abandoned the child out there in the cold, let alone in a box?
When Kevin Anderson turned 6, he asked his parents to give him something that left them awestruck. “Mommy! Daddy!” he said. “Do you promise me that you will get me what I want for my birthday?”
“Sure, honey,” his mother, Caroline, said. “What exactly do you want?”
“Well, I think I know it,” his father, Andrew, guessed. “Isn’t it the latest Transformers collection? I know Kevin wants that!”
“No, Daddy!” Kevin giggled. “I want a little baby! Paul told me that when his sister was born, his parents said she was a gift from God. Can you please ask God to give me a little sister too? Even a little brother is okay.”
His parents exchanged a quick look, their faces flushed with embarrassment. Caroline and Andrew had decided to expand their family once they had a larger house, but when Kevin suggested having a younger sibling, they couldn’t help but smile shyly at the boy. “All right, Kevin,” his father said. “You know there is a way by which God can answer your wishes.”
“Really?”
“Yes, honey. All you need to do is write a letter to him. Maybe ask Santa for a little help? He’s quite close with God.”
To little Kevin, it sounded pretty convincing, and he was relieved that his father’s idea would work. So that year, at Christmas, Kevin wrote his first letter to Santa to help him convince God to send him a little sister or brother soon. Little did the boy know that God would answer his prayers far too soon…
Kevin wrote a letter to Santa to ask for a sibling | Photo: Pexels
One wintry evening, Kevin was about to leave the house to play with his friends when his doorbell rang. “Andrew, could you please check who’s there?” Caroline asked from the kitchen where she was baking cookies.
Andrew, who was busy looking for something in his closet, asked Kevin to check the door. “Kevin, can you please check the door, honey? Daddy will be there in a minute.”
“Okay, daddy,” the boy replied, running to the door, but when he answered it, he was baffled. There wasn’t anyone standing at their doorstep, but there was a huge brown box. He tried lifting it to bring it inside, but as he shook it a little, a loud crying sound came from within it.
Kevin took a step back from the box, terrified, but the crying continued. When he finally opened it, he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw a baby inside, wrapped in a thin rag.
He dashed to his parents with the baby in his arms. “Mommy! Daddy! God answered my prayer! Look, it’s a baby.”
Kevin found a baby inside a box | Photo: Pexels
Having just entered the living room, Andrew froze in place when he saw the child in Kevin’s arms. Caroline, too, wondered about the crying sound from the living room and gasped when she arrived and saw Kevin holding a baby.
“Where did you find the baby, honey?” she asked, worried.
“There was a box on our doorstep, mommy. I am so happy that God sent me a sibling! Yay!”
Andrew took the baby from Kevin and rushed to the door, where the box was lying. He looked around to see if the person who’d left the box and the baby was still there. But all he saw was thick snow that had enclosed the entire area.
“There’s no one there,” he said when he returned. “What should we do now?”
Caroline took the baby in her arms, and as she rocked the child to stop the crying, she sensed the little one was running a temperature. “Honey,” she told Andrew. “I think we should take the child to a hospital. We need to get the baby checked.”
With that, Andrew and Caroline decided to visit the hospital and asked their neighbor, Mrs. Clemmens, to look after Kevin while they were away.
Caroline noticed the baby was running a temperature | Photo: Pexels
The doctors said the baby had a fever because of being left in the cold, and they would keep her under observation for a while. “Your daughter will be here for a while, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. Before we admit her, please complete the formalities at the reception desk.”
Andrew and Caroline looked at each other. They couldn’t just write it in the form that they were the child’s parents. They needed to inform the cops about it, so they did. The CPS and police were informed, and it was decided that after the baby girl was discharged, she would be placed in the hospital’s orphanage while the cops searched for her parents.
Back at home, Andrew and Caroline had to lie to Kevin that the baby was sick and would be hospitalized for a long time. However, after nearly a month passed with no news of anyone showing up as the baby’s parents, she was officially admitted to the orphanage. And it was at that point that Andrew and Caroline considered adopting her.
They decided to embrace her and raise her as her own and thought that Kevin would love to have her as a younger sibling. So they filed for her adoption, and two months later, when it was finalized and the baby came home, Andrew and Caroline felt like their family was finally complete.
But everything changed one fateful afternoon when a woman appeared on Andrew and Caroline’s doorstep, claiming to be the baby’s biological mother…
Caroline and Andrew adopted the baby | Photo: Pexels
One year later…
“Hi there, lady, my name is Laura. And the baby you’re holding in your arms is my daughter. I shouldn’t have left her in that stupid box! Give her back,” the woman said rudely as Caroline answered the door. Her demeanor was stiff and stern, and her tone was anything but sweet. Caroline was taken aback by her sight, to say the least.
“What? What did you just say? Your daughter?!” A fit of sudden anger gripped Caroline. “She’s mine, and I’m not going to give her to you! We officially adopted her a year ago, and you have no legal right to her!”
Laura smirked. “We’ll see about that in court, lady! Here,” she said, handing Caroline a document. “I’ve filed for custody of my daughter, and I’ll get her back at any cost! After all, I am the biological mother,” she said before walking away.
That night, Caroline and Andrew were very worried. The first court hearing was a week later, and they had no idea what would happen. What if they lost? What if their daughter was taken away? They knew the chances of that happening were minimal, but they were scared.
Laura challenged Caroline for the baby’s custody | Photo: Pexels
Thankfully, after hearing from both parties, the judge ruled in Andrew and Caroline’s favor. Laura’s parental rights were terminated because she abandoned her child a year ago and never bothered to look after her, and if she wanted them restored, she would have to adhere to a specific timeframe as described by the law and provide additional proof that she could care for her child better than her adoptive parents.
Laura knew she couldn’t do that. She lived in a small house and had very little money. After her husband had died, she decided to abandon the baby on the Andersons’ doorstep and focus on her new boyfriend.
However, when she discovered that her late husband had left all of his money to their daughter rather than her, she left her boyfriend so that she wouldn’t have to share all of the money and decided to take her daughter back. But it was too late. She was merely a waitress at a pub, and her living conditions would never persuade the court that she was capable of caring for her child.
So, in the end, Andrew and Caroline won the case. And years later, they also bought a new house and welcomed another beautiful baby girl. Kevin was overjoyed when he found out he had another younger sister.
What can we learn from this story?
- Love is what makes a family and not necessarily biology. Andrew and Caroline adopted Laura’s child and raised her as their own.
- Greed will lead you nowhere. Laura first abandoned her baby to enjoy life with her new boyfriend, and later, to obtain all of her husband’s money, she left her boyfriend. In the end, she ended up with nothing.
If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a young widow who heard her late husband knock from inside his coffin at his funeral.
This account is inspired by our reader’s story and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone’s life.
We Adopted a Rescue Dog — The Next Night, My 8-Year-Old Son Was Gone
What began as a simple family outing to adopt a rescue dog quickly turned into a night of panic, hidden secrets, and difficult truths. That night made me question everything I believed about trust and family.
Last weekend, I thought I lost my son.
It all started with a dog. My son, Andy, had been begging for one for months. Every day, he’d ask, “Dad, can we please, please get a dog?” He was relentless, and I was getting close to giving in. But he also had to convince Kelly, my wife.
After a lot of talking, my wife finally agreed. She looked at me seriously and said, “Fine, but only if it’s small and well-behaved. We’re not getting some big, messy mutt.”
Kelly had grown up in a tidy home, where pets were seen as small, clean, and polite. A poodle or a Yorkie, maybe, but definitely not a scruffy dog. Our son, though, wanted a real friend.
The shelter was loud, full of barking and howling. Andy’s eyes lit up as we walked down the rows of kennels, skipping over the fluffy dogs we were supposed to be considering.
Then he stopped. In front of us was a kennel with the scruffiest dog I’d ever seen. She had tangled fur, big brown eyes, and a tail that looked crooked. She didn’t bark, just looked at us, tilting her head as if curious.
I squatted down next to Andy. “She’s not exactly what your mom wanted, buddy.”
“She needs us,” he said, looking at me with a stubborn glint. “Look at her. She’s… sad. We could make her happy.”
“All right,” I said, ruffling his hair. “Let’s bring her home.”
When we walked in, my wife’s face fell. “She’s a little scruffier than I imagined,” she said, glancing between the dog and me.
“Come on, Daisy’s great,” I said, grinning. “Besides, they’re already best friends.”
She forced a small smile, looking unconvinced. “I just hope she doesn’t ruin the carpets.”
That evening, as we got ready for bed, Daisy wouldn’t settle down. She paced around, whining softly.
“Can’t you do something about that?” Kelly sighed, looking irritated.
“She’s probably nervous being in a new place,” I said. “Maybe she just needs some attention.”
Kelly hesitated, then swung her legs over the bed. “Fine. I’ll give her a treat or something,” she muttered and left the room.
Minutes later, she returned, saying, “She just needed a treat.” She climbed into bed, and the whining stopped.
I woke up around 3 a.m. to a strange quiet. Something felt wrong. I got up to check on Andy. His bed was empty, the covers on the floor, and the window slightly open.
A cold panic crept over me.
I rushed down the hall, checking every room, calling his name louder each time. But he was nowhere.
I ran back to the bedroom and shook my wife awake. “He’s not in his room,” I said, my voice shaking. “The window’s open. Daisy’s gone too.”
She sat up, her eyes wide, but there was something else—guilt?
“Maybe she escaped, and he went after her?” I asked, desperate for an answer.
She bit her lip, hesitating. “I don’t… I don’t know,” she stammered.
I picked up my phone and called the police, praying he was somewhere nearby.
Just as I was about to step outside, there was a soft scratching at the door.
When I opened it, Daisy sat there, covered in mud, panting. I dropped to one knee, feeling a mix of relief and confusion.
“Daisy?” I whispered. “Where were you?”
It felt strange to ask a dog, but I was desperate. She just looked up at me with tired eyes.
Hours later, just as dawn broke, my phone buzzed. It was Mrs. Carver, an elderly neighbor who lived nearby.
“I saw a little boy near the woods behind my house,” she said. “He looked… lost.”
I thanked her, grabbed my keys, and headed to the car. Kelly and Daisy followed, looking tense. The woods weren’t far, but it felt like miles.
When we arrived, I ran into the woods, calling his name. And then, finally, I saw him.
He was curled up under a tree, shivering, his face dirty. I knelt beside him, pulling him close.
“Buddy,” I said, my voice breaking. “You scared us half to death.”
He looked up, his face lighting up when he saw Daisy behind me. She’d followed us, sniffing the ground.
“Daisy,” he whispered, hugging her. “I thought you ran away because of me.”
I picked him up, wrapping him in my arms. “Let’s go home, all right?”
He nodded, looking back at Daisy like she was the only thing keeping him safe.
When we got back to the house, relief washed over me. My son was safe, Daisy was with us, but something still felt off.
My wife was tense, her eyes avoiding mine. She seemed distant, almost nervous. After we’d settled Andy on the couch with a blanket, I turned to her.
“I swear I locked the door. How did Daisy get out?”
She looked down, her hands twisting. After a long pause, she took a deep breath. “I… I let her out.”
I stared, not understanding. “You… let her out?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I thought… maybe if she disappeared, he’d get over it. She wasn’t the dog I wanted. She’s… scruffy, and I didn’t think she fit here.”
I felt anger and hurt boiling inside. “So you just… let her go?”
“I didn’t know he’d… he’d go after her,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “I thought he’d be sad, then move on. I didn’t want this mess. I just wanted things to be normal.”
“Normal?” I repeated. “You put him in danger because you couldn’t handle a little mess?”
She sank into a chair, covering her face. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know he’d do something so brave or that Daisy would stay with him. I didn’t think.”
I shook my head, struggling to understand. I looked at Andy, snuggled up with Daisy on the couch, her head on his lap. They’d bonded through something none of us had expected.
“I don’t know how we move past this,” I said quietly. “But for now… Daisy stays. She’s part of this family, and you need to accept that.”
She nodded, wiping her eyes, realizing the weight of what had happened.
As I watched Andy stroke Daisy’s fur, a small, hopeful warmth rose in my chest. Family wasn’t about having things perfect. Sometimes, it was about the imperfect moments, the scruffy dogs, and the quiet forgiveness that held us all together.
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