Ten years after vanishing, Sara’s ex-fiancé, Daniel, reappears on her doorstep with a lawyer, demanding custody of the son he’d abandoned. Secrets unravel as Sara fights to protect the life she built with Adam, and the true reason behind Daniel’s sudden return threatens everything.
Yesterday, while Adam got ready for school upstairs, I savored my last sip of coffee when the doorbell rang. I assumed it was a neighbor or the mailman.
But when I opened the door, my heart lurched.
Daniel.
I hadn’t thought about him in years, except in fleeting moments when Adam asked about his father. But this was not how I imagined seeing him again.
He stood there, ten years older but unchanged. Next to him was a man in an expensive suit, clutching a folder.
“Why are you here?” I croaked.
Daniel cut to the chase. “I’m here to take back my son.”
My heart stopped. After a decade of silence, he thought he could waltz back and take Adam away?
“You’re not taking him,” I whispered. “You have no right.”
Daniel’s lawyer stepped forward, handing me the folder. “Ma’am, you’ve been served.”
My hands shook as I read the legal jargon: custody, contest, court. My life with Adam, built over ten years, was about to unravel.
Ten years ago
Daniel had swept into my life, bringing his three-year-old son, Adam, from his previous marriage. He was charming but broken, and I thought I could fix him. Adam was the best part, and I became his stepmom, feeling like I belonged.
Then one morning, I woke up to an empty bed. I thought he might’ve gone for a run, but hours passed with no sign of him. Panic set in when I found the note: “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”
I was left to explain to Adam that his daddy was gone. He didn’t cry but said, “Daddy said he’d come back one day.” Weeks turned into months, and Adam stopped asking.
After Daniel left, I faced a nightmare. Child Protective Services got involved, and as a stepmom, I had no legal rights. They didn’t care that I was the only mother Adam knew. I fought tirelessly, enduring sleepless nights and endless court dates, and in the end, I won. I adopted Adam legally and vowed no one would take him from me again.
The present day
Staring at the legal papers, rage and fear washed over me.
“Mom?” Adam’s hesitant voice broke through my thoughts. I realized he had overheard everything.
“It’s nothing,” I lied, forcing a smile. But it wasn’t fine.
I hired a lawyer, determined to protect Adam. As the case unfolded, we discovered Daniel’s true motive: Adam’s grandfather had recently passed down a large inheritance, and Daniel wanted custody to get his hands on Adam’s money.
The court hearing came quickly. My lawyer, Judith, prepped me for the questions, but nothing prepared me for seeing Daniel again. His lawyer argued that Daniel, as Adam’s biological father, had the right to custody, painting him as a man ready to step up.
But Judith laid out the truth: Daniel hadn’t been a part of Adam’s life for ten years. Then she revealed the inheritance, stating Daniel was motivated by greed, not love.
The judge turned to Adam. “You’re thirteen now; I want to hear from you.”
Adam stood, surprising everyone. “Sara has been my mom for ten years. I don’t know the man sitting there. I want to stay with the only person who has ever cared for me.”
The courtroom fell silent.
The judge nodded, her expression softening. “Your decision is clear.” With that, the gavel came down. Adam would stay with me.
Daniel left the courtroom, a defeated shadow of the man I once loved.
Outside, Adam turned to me, smiling. “I’m glad it’s over, Mom.”
“Me too,” I whispered, pulling him into a tight embrace.
As we walked down the courthouse steps, Adam asked, “What do we do with the inheritance now?”
I smiled softly. “That money is yours, Adam. I’ll never take a cent of it. It’s for your future.”
He looked up, his eyes full of warmth. “My future is with you, Mom.”
This work is inspired by real events but has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or character portrayals and are not liable for any misinterpretation.
‘Families don’t have to match’ – Black couple share their journey to adopting three white children
Sadie and Jarvis Sampson tried everything for years to get pregnant, and eventually they accepted that they would only ever be aunt and uncle. Then, one day, they received a text that completely turned their world upside down.
Since getting married in January 2018, the pair has been trying to get pregnant, so when that didn’t work out naturally, they tried everything else.
The Houston mother told Love What Matters, “Ovulation tests, prenatal vitamins, cycle tracking apps, fertility monitors.”
“We didn’t even try our luck at following the unsolicited counsel of strangers, friends, and family. We tried, prayed, and waited for fourteen months. Month after Month. pregnancy test negative following negative test. It appeared like we would require help getting pregnant. We even went so far as to discuss it with medical professionals.
The couple seemed to get little assistance from the doctors. Sadie was advised by everyone that she would get pregnant if she reduced weight. Since she had no other options, she underwent gastric surgery and shed 28 pounds.
“She informed me that since she was unable to give me the fertility medication, she would refer me to a fertility specialist if I wasn’t pregnant within six months,” Sadie recalled. I was ecstatic to hear that. We finally received a response other than “no”! We were ecstatic to hear “not right now.”
Unfortunately, though, the couple felt as though they had begun over after Sadie lost the weight and they were unable to conceive.
Connecting the Dots – Adoption Puzzle Fundraising EventAs everyone is aware, we received a call regarding our little two weeks ago.
Published on Friday, August 30, 2019 by Sadie Sampson
Sadie said, “I had always felt like I was meant to be a mother.” “I was still not pregnant even though my surgeon had spent a long time to warn me about how fertile I would be following surgery. Thus, we gave up. We came to the realization that our only destiny was to be our nieces’ aunts and uncles and our goddaughters’ godparents.
The couple had just come to the painful conclusion that they would not be able to conceive when Sadie’s friend texted her to ask if they would be willing to foster a child that a couple she knew was thinking about for themselves.
At first, the couple was apprehensive since they had been instructed by a caseworker to look after the child while the mother sought therapy. The couple was concerned that they would grow overly devoted to the child. But soon after, the narrative was altered.
The caseworker stated, “The birth mother decided she would prefer you guys adopt the child instead.”
“Holy crap!!” was the first thing Sadie uttered out loud when she learned she was expecting a child.
“Overnight, we went from not having any kids to possibly fostering one to, ‘You guys are parents!’” Still in shock, I listened to the caseworker as she spoke. After hanging up, I dialed my spouse! “Baby!” They desire that we adopt the child! They want us to have kids,” I cried out. Hold on! Really? He exclaimed, “I assumed they just wanted us to foster him.” “Nope!” “They want us to be his parents,” I remarked.
Over the weekend, the couple not only processed the surprising news but also braced themselves in case the mother had second thoughts.
On Monday, the mother not only expressed her desire for them to adopt the child, but also stated that she was prepared to sign the adoption papers independently.
At 33 weeks, their son had been born—seven weeks ahead of schedule. His weight was 4 lbs. 5 oz. Sadie writes, “He fit in one of my husband’s hands.”
Sadie said, “He was so small, swaddled in a white blanket with stripes of pink and blue.” He was early, therefore he couldn’t eat on his own, thus an NG tube was coming out of his nose. But my goodness, was he adorable!
The couple was urged to create a registry after they announced their announcement on social media. In just three days, 55 of the 72 goods they had advertised had been purchased.
Following the adoption of Ezra Lee, which was completed in October 2020, the couple had the cutest family portraits shot, sporting t-shirts that said, “Families don’t have to match.”
Through embryo donation, Sadie and Jarvis became parents to twin twins, Destinee and Journey, in 2021. The black couple, adhering to their family credo, “Families don’t have to match,” gave birth to three white children: two girls and one boy.
There is just one reaction for anyone who judges this lovely family: love is the strongest foundation there is.
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