We traced the sound to the changing cubicles. Inside one of them were two newborn girls lying on the sand. One was wrapped in a white towel, and the other was covered in pink. For a moment, grief held me still. Then instinct took over.
I dropped to my knees, covered both babies with my jacket, and told Chris to call for help.
“They’re breathing,” I whispered. “They’re cold, but they’re alive.”
Police officers, paramedics, and social workers arrived quickly. A social worker named Andrea told me the babies would be placed somewhere safe while authorities searched for their relatives. I should have walked away. Instead, I followed them to the hospital.
The nurses had temporarily named them Emily and Grace. I kept those names. At first, I told myself I was only concerned because they had nobody. Eventually, I admitted the truth: I wanted to become their father.
Andrea warned me that finding them did not give me special rights. I would have to complete background checks, parenting classes, home visits, and an adoption process that could take months. Then she asked the question I had been avoiding.
“Do you want these children because they need a father, or because you need a reason to keep living?”
“Both may be true,” I answered. “But only one can come first.”
“And which one is that?”
“They need safety. I can give them that.”
I promised I would never expect two babies to heal me.
“I don’t want them to save me,” I said. “I want to become a home for them.”
Andrea told me to prove it, so I did. I cleaned the house, completed every class, bought diapers, and prepared the nursery. I kept the walls yellow. I could not erase Sarah and Ivy. I could only make room for Emily and Grace beside them.
Months later, the twins came home as my foster daughters. The adoption followed once the court completed the case. I became their father one mistake at a time.
PART 2
Continue reading on the next page →
To see the full cooking instructions, go to the next page or click the Open button (>) and don't forget to SHARE it with your friends on Facebook.
