For a year Kyle Greenbacker had been working on an oil pipeline in Alaska. He had been away from home for so long, so he was looking forward to meeting his beautiful wife. Kyle and Lisa met when they were in high school. Not once in his life did Kyle repent of tying the knot of marriage at the age of 19.
To someone, his life principles might seem outdated, but Kyle was proud of the fact that he had only experienced intimacy with one woman – his wife. One Lisa was enough for him; no other woman interested him. He couldn’t even think that Lisa would have the slightest doubt about him.
After spending a year in Alaska, Kyle flew home happy. He barely waited for the plane to land, then quickly picked up his luggage and walked out into the waiting room. He scanned the crowd with a keen eye, searching for Lisa’s familiar face. But she wasn’t there. So Kyle had to make his way home alone.
He surmised that Lisa might have been caught up at work. He texted her that he had flown in and would be home soon, but Lisa didn’t respond. Kyle hailed a cab and an hour later was standing on his doorstep.
He perked up when he saw that the living room light was on. But Lisa wasn’t in the house. When he entered the kitchen, he was literally dumbfounded. There was a cradle right on the table, with a baby’s hand peeking out of it. Kyle cautiously stepped forward. A baby! There’s a little baby in his kitchen! A pair of baby eyes stared at Kyle in amazement. Kyle’s own eyes were no less astonished. Then he noticed a folded piece of paper, picked it up, and unfolded it.
It turned out that there were two pieces of paper. One of them had an unfamiliar handwriting on it. The contents of the note were as follows: “You’ve had a good time, now take care of your baby.”
On another sheet of paper, Kyle saw Lisa’s beautiful handwriting that read, “Kyle, this baby was left right on our doorstep yesterday. There was a note with it. I’ve always had my doubts about your faithfulness, now I know what you’ve been up to on that business trip. But I’m not even mad at you, because I’m not without sin. I didn’t waste any time while you were at work, either. But me taking care of someone else’s kid, Kyle?! That’s too much. I’ve already filed a divorce. I hope we never see each other again.”
“P.S. Don’t worry, the baby’s fine. I left as soon as you showed up at the house. Live and be happy, Kyle! Personally, I will.”
“No way! This is some kind of joke!”, with those thoughts, he collapsed in his chair and grabbed his head. There was no way he could be a father to this child, because he had always been faithful to Lisa. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of humming.
The baby was actively moving his hands. As soon as Kyle brought his hand closer, the baby grasped his finger tenaciously.
“Gee,” Kyle said. “It’s just you and me now, and I have no idea what to do.
At that moment, the baby whimpered and rumbled, his face tense and bright red. Kyle became confused and screamed loudly: “What’s wrong with you?!” The answer came at once. A specific smell hit his nose.
It looks like the baby needs a diaper change. Kyle wondered if there was even a diaper in the house. Not far from the table, he saw an unfamiliar bag with many pockets on simple clasps. As it turned out, there were many different items inside the bag, including diapers.He quickly typed “how to change a diaper” into the search engine and within seconds he was watching the corresponding video on YouTube.
He had to get into action. In reality, however, it wasn’t as easy as it looked in the video. The doll in the video, which could barely be distinguished from a real baby, didn’t wiggle her legs and her heels didn’t dip straight into the foul-smelling contents of the diaper. During the hygiene procedures, Kyle realized that he was looking at a girl, and he didn’t know anything about girls.
“Well, you won’t be getting any dating advice from me,” Kyle said with a serious look. “But you’ll learn how to ride a bike with me.” It was at this point that Kyle made the decision to keep the baby.
Holding a dirty diaper in his hand, he turned to the baby, “Obviously, you need me and I need you. What do you say to that, baby?” He sent a new request for the secret to making formula milk, and then he cradled the girl in his arms and began to feed her.
“We need to give you a name. What if…Celeste? What do you think? How about Lily…?”
It wasn’t long ago that Kyle was living a quiet, measured life and couldn’t even imagine that things could change so drastically. He’d had no trouble learning the joys of fatherhood. Of course, it wasn’t always easy with Lily, but in general life began to get better.
Kyle formalized paternity, and a short time later submitted the girl’s papers to kindergarten. Kyle considered Lily’s birthday as the turning point day when he first saw the baby girl. But when Lily turned two, Kyle’s happiness was threatened. There was a knock on the door.
It was a woman who bluntly declared: “I want my baby. Where is it?” Kyle looked her over. She was a tall, thin, blond woman. Her lush breasts would have been the perfect advertisement for a plastic surgeon.
“I’m sorry, did you say my baby?” clarified Kyle.
“Yes, my baby,” the woman replied sharply. “Two years ago I brought it to this house. I was a little high at the time and got the house mixed up. My boyfriend lives on the other block. That happens sometimes, you know that, don’t you?”
“I have no idea. I’ve never dropped my kid off with strangers,” Kyle replied dryly. “You’d better leave before I call the police.”
“Listen to me,” the blonde replied defiantly. “I didn’t realize right away that I was wrong, only when Bert didn’t respond to my calls for a whole week. And now I need my baby.”
“Oh yeah, you do, huh?”, Kyle was seized with anger. “And why do you need it?” The woman’s answer finally infuriated him…
“Bert signed with the Major Leagues. Without that kid, I don’t see a penny of his million-dollar salary.”
Kyle shoved the sass out of the house, but he knew in his heart that this meeting wouldn’t be the last. And so it was. Seven days later, he received a subpoena for a family court appearance. Miss Cherish Vegas decided to appeal his paternity over baby Lily.
After that, Kyle was hit with a wave of restraining orders, checks by social workers at all hours of the day and night, even his friends and coworkers were regularly questioned. It seemed that Miss Vegas would not give up on Burt’s millions so easily. With difficulty he waited until the day of the hearing. He was nervous when he handed Lily over to the social worker. But he had to go to the hearing room. When he entered, he immediately saw Cherish, and standing next to her was a man of imposing height, his eyes as blue as Lily’s. Obviously, it was the same Bert!
Cherish acted out the drama with tears and sighs, she chirped that she loved the baby girl and missed her very much. The grieving mother spun an account of her tumultuous college years, which were long gone and of which she deeply regretted. According to Cherish, she had no choice but to leave the child in Kyle’s custody.
The judge looked closely at the case documents and asked: “When you say ‘left in custody,’ you mean ‘left on the porch,’ right, Ms. Vegas?”
Cherish’s face flashed. Her voice broke into a scream: “But I am a mother! Can you deny it?”
The judge shifted her gaze to Burt. “Do I understand correctly, you are the father?”
Bert slowly stood up and replied, “I suppose so.”
The judge looked sternly at Bert and asked, “Are you able to provide proper care and concern for this child?”
Cherish blurted out: “Of course I am! I mean, he’s under contract for three million dollars to play ball.”
“Oh, that’s it!” the judge said loudly. “Now we know the truth. Miss Vegas, I want to know whose last name will your daughter bear?”
“Whose last name…?” repeated Cherish confusedly. “Of course her father’s last name, for he will be paying child support.”
At this point, Kyle couldn’t stand it and stood up. “Your Honor! May I speak?”
“Yes, Mr. Greenbacker,” the judge replied. “Speak, please.”
“Ma’am, the girl’s name is Lily, and she already has my father’s last name. From the first day I saw the little girl, I loved her with all my soul, and she loves me.”
Lily, who had been playing with the social worker’s necklace the whole time, saw Kyle stand up. “Daddy!” the little girl said loudly and reached for her father.
“So, ladies and gentlemen. I believe the decision of the court has been determined by the main party,” the judge pronounced. “By the power vested in me, I hereby deny Miss Vegas’ request for custody of the child Lily Greenbacker and affirm the right of custody and adoption of Mr. Greenbacker.”
It was a victory for Kyle. In the evening, together with Lily, they looked up at the sky, perched in the garden. “Daddy, look, the stars!”, Lily exclaimed loudly. But to Kyle, the most important star in life was his little girl.
