“My mommy said we should come to the man in the picture,” she said.
Ethan froze.
He stared at the photo, his heart pounding. Those girls hadn’t wandered there by accident.
And he had no idea what he had just stepped into.
By Monday, when Sarah from child services arrived, Ethan was no longer the same man who had opened that door.
Lily clung to his leg, crying for the first time. Emma stood still, her quiet gaze fixed on him.
“Will you come get us, Ethan?” she asked softly.
He knelt down, holding their small faces in his hands.
“I won’t leave you alone,” he promised.
And he didn’t.
That same day, he followed them to the shelter. He spoke with the director, the social worker, a family attorney—anyone who could explain the process of foster care and adoption. He quickly realized the paperwork wouldn’t be the hardest part.
The real resistance came from his own family.
His sister, Rachel, was the first to object.
“Two kids with no records, no family, nothing? That’s suspicious, Ethan. This feels like a setup.”
Then came Margaret—Claire’s mother.