When a baby was crying on her neighbor’s front porch, a woman took him in. Years later, she told him the truth about being adopted, and he decided to find his birth parents. Then a surprising truth came out.
I was walking home from work when I heard a baby crying, which made me frown. I looked toward my neighbor Ellie’s house and saw a stroller on her front porch. I walked up to the stroller with wide eyes and saw a baby inside with a tear-stained face and flailing arms. As I tried to get the baby to stop crying, I knocked on Ellie’s door several times out of worry.
“Hi, Judy. What –?” Ellie opened the door, and when she saw the baby, her eyes also grew big.
“What’s going on, Ellie? What’s up with the baby on your porch?” I asked, appalled.
“I have no idea.” She gave a head shake.
“Didn’t you hear him scream like a savage?”
“No, I was in my room watching TV. “The only thing I heard was my doorbell,” Ellie said. Should we call the police? What do you suggest?”
“Jack?” When I turned back to her, her eyes had suddenly gotten bigger, which made me frown.
“Well, I guess,” I said with a shrug. I’d never been in this situation before, and it seemed like something from a movie, so I had to call the police.
The police took the baby to the shelter and said they would look into what happened to try to find the parents.
My husband Justin and I decided to go to the shelter a few days later. When we found out that the parents hadn’t been found yet, we talked about it and decided it would be a good idea to adopt the baby. We were lucky that they let us foster, and we got the baby boy. His name was Tom.
Our lives were hard, and being new parents wasn’t easy, but we got through it. Tom was only eight when Justin died, which hit him pretty hard. They had been really close. But Tom and I got through it together with the help of therapy and getting closer.
I was so proud of my son and glad to hear him that night on Ellie’s porch.
After Tom turned 13, which was a lot of fun, I fixed up the house. But it was hard to deal with a group of young, loud teenagers. They ate a lot and were very active. I had to keep the moms entertained, too, so I was tired, but my son was happy, and that was all that mattered. That was true until I went into my room and saw him shuffling papers.
“Mom, what is this?” Tom asked, and he looked at me like I was a cartoon with the biggest eyes ever. “Was I born here?”
I didn’t want him to find out this way, but it was done. So I sat down with him on the floor and told him everything, from hearing him cry at Ellie’s house to Justin and me going to the shelter and setting up everything.
“I want you to know that nothing has changed. You are my son, and your father was Justin. We loved you more than anything else. Do you believe me?” I asked, worried.
Tom cried a little and told me that he missed his dad. After that, though, he seemed fine, until a few days later when he cautiously came up to me.
“Mom, can I say something to you?” He looked down and asked.
“Of course. “Take a seat and tell me.” I smiled at him and we sat down at the kitchen table.
He said it quickly, “I want to find my birth parents.” He told me that he loved both me and his dad. But he wanted to learn more about them, if possible have a relationship with them, and hopefully bond with them.
Even though I was worried about it, I couldn’t say no to him. “It’s possible we won’t find them because we don’t know very much about them. Thirteen years ago, the police couldn’t find them, but I’ll do my best. But they could also refuse to meet you. Do you think you’ll be able to handle it?” I asked him with care.
After a few minutes of thinking, Tom finally agreed. “I believe so. If not, we can figure it out with Dr. Bernstein,” he said with a small smile.
“Ok. Son, I’m proud of you. I told him, “Let’s get the laptop and see what we can do,” and we went to his room.
We started looking for information about reunification, and I even called the shelter to see if they could help. Some groups were set up to help birth parents find the kids they had given up for adoption, but the adults had to sign up for it.
Even so, we tried everything. I wrote a post about what happened the night I found Tom and how he wanted to see his parents and put it on Facebook and Twitter. I also asked our neighbors to share the post, since the thing that happened had happened in our neighborhood.
But for a long time, our search turned up nothing.
One day, I went to Ellie’s house to talk about how bad everything was. “It makes Tom so sad. I don’t think we’ll ever find any clues.” I sighed as my friend and I drank tea.
“Why does he want to find the people who gave him life?” she asked, worry in her eyes.
“I think Justin’s death is to blame. I think he wants a father figure back in his life. I wanted to help him, but I don’t know what else to do. I don’t know what to do next.” I shook my head and looked at the window in her kitchen.
“Poor Jack,” she said out of the blue as she took a sip of her tea.
“Jack?” When I turned back to her, her eyes had suddenly gotten bigger, which made me frown.
“Uh, well… Ehh, I –”
“Ellie, don’t you know something?” As I said those words, my voice got louder. I always thought it, even though Ellie never said anything about it. But Justin and I thought it was strange that Ellie heard the doorbell and not the baby crying on her doorstep. We couldn’t prove anything, of course. Still, it was strange.
“Ellie!” I yelled at her when she wouldn’t talk, which made her jump.
“Fine! Please, just let me explain. I just… I was confused about what to do. I was scared, and I didn’t want anyone to get in trouble,” she said as tears came to her eyes and her voice shook.
“Please. What’s happening?”
Ellie said, “I know whose child Tom is, and his name is Jack.” “Give me a minute.”
She stood and walked toward her bedroom. When she got back, she gave me a letter and a necklace.
“Alana got pregnant, but she had just broken up with her boyfriend, Alex, who was a nice guy. She left him for someone else, and when she couldn’t hide her pregnancy any longer, that other guy also dumped her. She didn’t want Alex to find out about the baby, though. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea. Ellie said, “I told her many times that Alex would make a good dad, but she didn’t want that.
“Go on.”
“She told me she was going to put the baby up for adoption, but then the baby showed up at my door. In the letter, she asked me to take care of him and said she would come back when she got her life together. Ellie finished by opening the letter and giving it to me to read.
“Why didn’t you tell the police about this?” I was surprised.
“I didn’t want to get pregnant! I never did. I’m not cut out to be a mom. I felt so bad, so I just closed the door after taking the letter and the pendant. You didn’t arrive until a few minutes later.”
I wanted to yell at her for being so dumb, but we were all in a mess that night, so I didn’t. I was so mad at her that we didn’t talk for a few minutes. We just sat there in awkward silence until I broke the silence.
“Has your friend ever brought him back?” I wondered.
Ellie said, with sad and worried eyes, “No, and I have no idea if she’s still alive.”
“But what about the dad? Don’t you know him? Is he close by? Do you know where he is? I was really looking at her.
“I do. Find my old phone for me. I’ve put it there.” Ellie took a deep breath and went back to her room.
She gave me her information, and it took a lot of strength, but I finally called the number.
Let’s just say the man on the phone didn’t know his ex-girlfriend was pregnant. After talking on the phone for 30 minutes, he said he would meet my son.
When I told Tom about it, he seemed cautiously hopeful. But I could tell he was happy.
The next day, Alex came to our house and we talked for a long time. He seemed like a great guy, so Ellie’s friend’s actions were even crazier. But that happened long ago. We couldn’t just make plans for the future.
Alex and Tom were talking in the living room, so I went into the kitchen to listen. Football, baseball, and video games brought them together. When Alex had to leave, he asked me right away if he could stop by Tom’s house once in a while. I told him Tom would decide.
Over time, they became very close, and I let him go to Alex’s house. Finally, he and I started sharing parenting, and even though Tom never forgot about Justin, he loved having a father again. We tried to find Alana so she could meet her biological child, but she was like a ghost.
Alex and I also got along well, which really surprised me. It took us a few years to figure out how we felt about each other. We took things slowly, but by the time Tom turned 18 and was ready for college, we were married. My boyfriend walked me down the aisle, and I loved that I wouldn’t be alone when he went to college.
Even though there were secrets and unexpected turns, I wouldn’t change a thing about my path to becoming a mother. I had a great family and a happy son.