A man is accused of being the father of an abandoned baby on his doorstep and it costs him his marriage and changes his entire life.
Kyle Greenbecker had spent a year working on an oil pipeline in Alaska, but he was finally coming home to his beautiful wife. He and Lisa had met in high school, and Kyle had never regretted marrying her at nineteen.
He may have been old-fashioned, but Kyle was proud that Lisa was the only woman he’d ever been intimate with. He didn’t need or want anyone else. It never occurred to him that Lisa doubted him—and rightly so.
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When his plane landed, Kyle collected his luggage and walked out with the other passengers, scanning the crowd for Lisa’s beloved face, but she wasn’t there to pick him up.
Probably, Kyle thought, she had been delayed at work by some emergency. He sent her a quick text telling her he was on his way home, but got no reply. He hopped in an Uber and within an hour was walking to her front door.
The living room lights were on, but Lisa wasn’t there. He walked into the kitchen and stood in the doorway, stunned. A bassinet sat on the kitchen table, and Kyle could see a small arm waving aimlessly.
He took a step closer. There was a baby in the bassinet on his kitchen table! The little boy was staring at Kyle with that look of wonder that babies have, and Kyle stared back, just as amazed.
Then she saw a folded piece of paper on the table next to the bassinet. She picked it up and unfolded it. Inside was another piece of paper with a message written on it in a handwriting she didn’t recognize: “You’ve had your fun, now take responsibility for your daughter.”
Meanwhile, the note addressed to him in Lisa’s elegant handwriting read:
Kyle, I found this little girl on our doorstep yesterday with that note attached. I always suspected you were cheating on me during your business trips, but I didn’t hold it against you; after all, I had plenty of affairs while you were away. But being saddled with someone else’s child is just too much. I’ve filed for divorce and I sincerely hope I never see you again.
PS And about the baby, don’t worry, I only left when I saw you coming up the path. Enjoy your life, Kyle, I certainly plan to enjoy mine .
Kyle sat down and dropped his head into his hands. He couldn’t believe this was happening to him. This girl wasn’t his, he had never cheated on Lisa, never! A soft coo made him lift his head.
The baby was waving her little hand in the air, so Kyle reached out his hand and, to his surprise, the little boy grabbed onto his index finger with incredible strength.
“Well, baby,” Kyle said, “I guess it’s just the two of us, and I don’t know what to do with you!”
The baby cooed and gurgled again, then screwed up her face in an alarming way and turned bright red. “Oh my God!” Kyle cried. “What’s going on?” A certain smell gave him away quickly.
Yes, it was diaper time. But was there even a diaper? On the floor next to the table was a large backpack with several snap pockets he had never seen before. Inside, Kyle found a bewildering array of items and the diapers.
She quickly Googled diaper changing and watched intently as a woman on YouTube demonstrated using a doll how to change a diaper.
Kyle began to follow her instructions, but things weren’t going so well. The woman’s doll wouldn’t move its legs or dig its heels into the stinking, unmentionable contents of the dirty diaper. After cleaning the baby, Kyle realized that it was a girl, and he didn’t know anything about girls!
“I’m not going to give you dating advice,” she told the baby solemnly. “But I can teach you how to ride a bike.”
Kyle realized at that moment that he intended to keep that baby.
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He picked up the newly diapered baby and said, “You need me, and I guess I need you, too. How about that, baby?”
Kyle consulted the YouTube baby guru again to prepare the formula and nestled the baby in the crook of his arm to feed.
“You need a name, you know that? How about… Celeste? Do you like her? Or Lily…”
If anyone had told Kyle that he would adapt to parenthood so easily and without problems, he would never have believed it. Lily had her moments and her tantrums, but somehow things worked out.
Kyle registered Lily as his daughter and enrolled her in daycare. To him, her birthday was the day he found her. But it was on Lily’s second birthday that Kyle’s world came crashing down.
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A woman knocked on his door. “I’m here for my baby,” she said. Kyle just stared at her. She was tall, blonde and slim, with enormous breasts that were obviously the product of a plastic surgeon’s art.
“Your what?” Kyle asked.
A real father is one who loves and appreciates his son.
“My baby,” she blurted out. “I left her here two years ago. I’m sorry, but I was a little high and my boyfriend lives next door and I got confused. You know how it is.”
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“I’m sorry, I don’t know how that works because I’ve never abandoned a child on anyone’s doorstep,” Kyle said coldly. “If I were you, I’d leave before I called the police.”
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“Now look here,” the woman said sharply. “I figured I’d made a mistake a week later when Burt didn’t answer my calls, but now I need that little girl!”
“Do you need it?” Kyle asked angrily. “What do you need it for?”
“Burt just got a contract in the Major Leagues,” the woman said. “And that baby is going to make sure some of those millions land in my bank account!”
Kyle kicked the woman out, but he had a feeling he hadn’t seen the last of her. And he was right. A week later he was summoned to family court. A certain Cherish Vegas was contesting his adoption of little Lily.
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Suddenly, Kyle was being bombarded with court orders, Social Services visits at odd hours of the day or night, and his friends and coworkers were being questioned. Cherish was desperate to get her hands on those millions!
The day of the hearing finally arrived. Kyle nervously handed Lily over to the social worker for the duration of the hearing and walked in. Cherish was there, of course, and a tall man with Lily’s blue eyes was on her side of the courtroom. It could only be the famous Burt!
Cherish cried and whined and told the judge how much she loved and missed her baby, and how her wild college days (now gone and deeply regretted) had led her to place her in Kyle’s care.
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The judge looked at the papers in front of her. “By your care, you mean on your porch, right, Miss Vegas?” the judge asked.
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Cherish blushed. “I’m still his mother! No one can deny it!” she cried.
The judge looked at Burt. “You, sir, are the father?”
Burt staggered to his feet and said, “I guess I must be…”
The judge stared at him. “Are you prepared and able to assume parental responsibilities for this child?”
Cherish shouted, “Yeah, right, Judge, he just signed a three million dollar contract to play ball…”
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“Oh!” the judge cried. “The truth is out at last! Tell me, Miss Vegas, what name did you give your daughter?”
“Name?” Cherish asked, confused. “Well, he’ll have his father’s last name, since he’ll be paying for his support!”
Kyle stood up. “Your Honor,” he said. “May I address the court?”
“Yes, Mr. Greenbecker,” the judge said. “Please do so.”
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“Your Honor, my daughter’s name is Lily, and she has her father’s last name: mine. From the moment that little girl came into my life, I have loved her, and she loves me.”
At that moment, Lily, who had been playing with the social worker’s necklace, noticed Kyle standing up. “Daddy!” she cried and held out her arms.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, it appears to me that the case has been decided by the principal,” the judge said. “I hereby vacate all claims for custody of the child Lily Greenbecker and confirm the custody and adoption of Kyle Greenbecker.
That night, Kyle celebrated his victory at the trial, and he and Lily spent the evening chasing fireflies in the garden. “Stars!” Lily cried. But for Kyle, the brightest star of all was his little girl.
