While my husband and I were denied adoption because of poverty, a wealthy couple adopted him. But a year later, an unexpected turn of events brought him back to us…
My husband, Keith, was fixing his old radio when I approached him with a set of pregnancy tests.
“Negative again, Keith. I don’t want to try anymore,” I said. “I’m giving up”.
“Could you pass me the screwdriver?” he asked. “I think I fixed most of it”.
I don’t know why, but a sudden rage gripped me. I threw the test set onto the floor and yelled at him. ” Looks like I’m the only one who cares, Keith! You don’t care, do you?”
He changed something on the radio, and it started playing an old song. “Let me know when you’re ready to talk,” he said eventually. ” I went to an orphanage today”.
“What?” I said. “Are you suggesting we adopt a child?”
“Aren’t you done with fertility treatment, Lara?” he said, wiping the dust off the radio.
“But Keith…”
“It affects your health and our relationship, darling. What do we want in life? A happy family, right? A child needs love. If you’re ready for that, we can visit the shelter tomorrow. We can have the family we’ve always dreamed of. Let’s not worry anymore, okay?”.
Keith was right, wasn’t he? I wanted to be a mother, and he wanted to be a father. It didn’t matter to us that the child wasn’t our blood. We could give him love and a safe home. That’s all the child needed, I thought. But I was wrong.
After several visits and meetings with social workers, we decided to take the boy home. It was a six-year-old little boy with big blue innocent eyes, dreaming of love. Patrick. It was his name. And we fell in love with him at first sight.
We did not think for a moment that he was not our child. We were looking forward to his arrival in our house. I even decided that in his room will be blue wallpaper and many posters with superheroes. He told me that Captain America is his favorite.
But during one of our meetings with the social worker who handled his case, we were denied adoption.
“We’ve looked into your background and found that you don’t meet the financial requirements,” she explained.
Honestly, we expected this. Keith and I had a small repair shop, but we weren’t financially stable. Our worst fears have come true.
“Ma’am,” I said. “Although we agree we’re short on money, we assure you we can give Patrick a loving home. He loves us too”.
“Listen, ma’am,” she said to me. ” We work under the laws of the state. We don’t rely on promises. It is our duty to provide the child with a suitable home, and you do not fit”.
Keith and I left the social worker’s office with heavy hearts, and another couple walked in. Their gorgeous outfits said they didn’t belong to the middle class like us. “They’re rich. They can have the baby they want!” I thought I was in tears.
All of a sudden, I heard Patrick’s name and I stopped. Keith and I were standing outside the office, and even though we knew we had done something wrong, we overheard them talking. Turns out they were there for Patrick, too.
Imagine how painful it was for us when we found out that a rich couple had been allowed to adopt Partick by checking all the bases and we were denied.
“Keith…” I said quietly. “Patrick won’t come to our house. He’ll never call me Mom”.
“Let’s go home, Lara. We’ll talk about it later,” he said sadly.
I don’t know how Keith comforted his heart, but I couldn’t, so I did something crazy. I met Patrick at his school. I paid him a visit without telling anyone, and I brought him some chocolates and a scarf that I made for him. He was happy to see me too.
But two days after that, Keith and I had a terrible fight about it.
“Are you out of your mind, Lara? They’ve threatened to involve the police if you don’t stop!”.
Patrick’s foster parents found out about my meeting with Patrick and sent us a letter warning me to stay away from him. How could I? Patrick was dissatisfied with them. I could see it. I felt the sadness in the boy’s eyes.
“He’s not happy with them, Kit…” I said quietly. “I can’t see him so sad”.
“Jesus!” Kit was furious. ” You’re destroying everything around him and us, Lara! He’s a child, for God’s sake! Not your property!”
“I never called the boy my property, darling! He’s a little boy we loved! The boy we thought would be our son! He’s… he’s sad, and it breaks my heart…”
Before I could say anything else, I burst into tears and Keith hugged me. We stayed in this position until I stopped crying.
“Lara, we’ll figure this out together, okay? Maybe you think Patrick’s unhappy in his new home because you’re just overprotective of him. If you love him enough, let him go. It’s better for us too”.
Keith said that I needed to distance myself from Patrick so that he could get used to his new life. I found it hard to forget him, but I did it. I did it for Patrick.
Meanwhile, Keith and I have decided that we’re gonna work together to improve our financial situation and adopt another baby. Now we had to start over.
After a year our hard work paid off. Kit got a job as an office manager, and we converted our small repair shop into a cafe. We had to sell our family jewels and borrow money from friends to open a cafe, but it worked out, and we were in a good financial position.
The only problem was, when we went to the shelter and I looked at the kids, I couldn’t think of anyone but Patrick. His smile and eyes always told me that we should be together. I couldn’t believe I was wrong about that.
“I don’t know, Keith,” I said. “I miss Patrick today. Every kid here reminds me of him”.
“Let’s meet the other kids, Lara. I know it’s hard for you, but can we at least try?” ‘He said, and I nodded and took his hand as we walked to the other rooms.
When I was crossing the first room, I stopped and Keith turned to me. “What happened?” he asked.
“Patrick!” I said in tears. “It’s him!”
I ran to the boy and said, “Hi. Hi, Patrick. Do you remember me?”
He looked up and smiled. “Lara?”
I nodded.
“Have you come to take me home at last? My former mom and dad were bad,” he said sadly. ” They didn’t love me, so I came back here”.
“Do you want to come with us, son?” I said with tears in my eyes. “dad Keith is here too…”
Patrick smiled and hugged me. “Then can I call you Mom? Please?”
“Mommy!” That word made me feel full. I felt so happy. I was hugged by my little boy, and I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to take him home this time.
Six months later, his laughter filled our empty house, and we had to prepare a room with orange colors instead of blue. It turned out that Patrick’s favorite color is orange! However, he was happy to leave posters with superheroes.
I still can’t believe he’s my son now. I was right when I felt he was unhappy. Mother’s heart and instincts are never wrong.
