While still grieving over the death of his family, a man takes in a girl with Down syndrome and makes her his own. After nine years, he gets a call from someone he doesn’t know. It’s from the girl he adopted, and she tells him she’s a millionaire.
It was a lovely, sunny day, and birds were singing happily in the sky. Outside, there didn’t seem to be any harm. But Brian, who is 33 years old, had the worst day of his life.
Lyra, Brian’s loving wife, and Amy, his only daughter, died in a car crash that morning. As he hurried to the police office to get their IDs, he felt sick as he saw their pale faces hidden behind thin white covers. Why would God be so mean? He couldn’t take his family away from him, right?
Brian felt like someone had drained his body of blood as they were buried. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the fresh piles of dirt where his wife and daughter were lying. At one point, he wished he were there instead of them.
Brian felt like his life had no point after losing Lyra and Amy. “Brian, you can’t be stuck like that.” You still have a lot of life to live. “The living should live on,” his mom told him one day.
It was “Mr. Hoffman,” the lawyer said. “Believe me. You’d like to do this in my office. You’d like to meet this person.
Brian had lost his wife and daughter five years before, but he still remembered seeing their pale faces like it was yesterday. How could he move on? He loved so many people, but they were no longer with him. How could he forget that? It was hard for him.
Brian got home from work one day and went about his boring routine. He did what he always did at his desk: looked over reports and did his office work. He didn’t think about how sad he was because he had work to do.
When he opened his Facebook page in a new tab, a post about a little girl with Down syndrome showed out of nowhere. If not for the note on the post, Brian would have missed it: “…rejected by 15 families and yearning for a loving home.” Andrea is a pretty girl who has special needs and wants to have a family.
Brian let out a sigh and looked at the post for a while. A family was important to both of them. Each had been hurt by life in different ways, and maybe this was God’s way of finally taking away his pain.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the Facebook post all night. He wished she would adopt the girl. But he knew it would be hard because he was a single dad and this girl really needed a loving home. He knew he could give her that.
He told himself, “Okay then.” “I’ll do my best.”
The next day, Brian called the number listed in the Facebook post and told them he was excited to adopt Andrea. He was given the phone number of the social worker who is in charge of Andrea’s case by the woman on the other end.
After a few days, Brian saw little Andrea for the first time, and it made his eyes well up. She was a pretty six-year-old girl in a blue flower dress who looked at him with wide eyes.
She was sad that her single mother left her because she was disabled. As she walked in, Brian thought to himself, “How sad.”
Brian said, “Hi, Andrea.” in a soft voice. “My name is Brian.” I’m going to be your parent. “Would you like me to be your dad?”
Andrea smiled and nodded at him, but she didn’t say anything. Brian knew right then that he would do anything to give her a loving home. He did that, too.
Brian became Andrea’s adoptive father after a long process of paperwork, background checks, and parenting classes. His life took on a new meaning. They were so thrilled and happy with each other. He was thrilled to have a daughter again; he certainly could not have asked for more.
They enjoyed her birthdays with her, and Andrea was loved by Brian’s parents as well. Being different from other kids didn’t stop him from being the best dad to her. He made sure she never missed anything.
Brian had no idea that Andrea had turned 15 years old. It’s hard to believe it’s been nine years since he brought his little girl home. He was so pleased with how his life had changed.
Things started to get hard after a few months. Brain lost his job and had to look for a new one because of problems at work. Without a job, he lived off of his savings. This turned out to be harder than he thought.
He finally ran out of money for the most basic things. He was having a hard time making ends meet because he had to move into a smaller house. But one day, help showed up out of the blue.
Brian got a call from a man who said he was the lawyer for Andrea’s mother.
“Okay, so?” “Now what are you going to do with my kid?” Brian said in a rage. “Oh, you think I’d be willing to talk to that woman now? She left my daughter right after she was born?”
It was “Mr. Hoffman,” the lawyer said. “Believe me. You’d like to do this in my office. Since you are Andrea’s formal guardian, you will get her mother’s million-dollar will for her. You should also meet someone else. Everything will be sent to you after the call. He hung up after saying, “I hope to see you this Friday.”
Brian was shocked, which makes sense. If Andrea’s mother didn’t want anything to do with her child, why did she leave her such a big inheritance?
Bryan went to the lawyer’s office that Friday and met an old man who turned out to be Andrea’s grandpa. He said he didn’t find out about his granddaughter until his daughter was dying and taking her last breath.
“Andrea,” she said in a low voice as she took his hand. She goes by the name Andrea.
“I’ve missed so many years with my granddaughter,” he told Brian with sadness. “I’d like to help her.” There is no law against you taking her in, but I just want to be with my granddaughter. My daughter felt bad that she had left her child in her last days… She knew she had made a mistake, which is why she gave her her property.
Brain was very pleased to learn that Andrea had a family. He really didn’t want to split up a niece from her grandfather.
Soon, Brian would take Andrea to her grandfather’s house often so that they could spend time together. He paid off his bills, moved into a bigger house, and saved a lot of money for Andrea’s future studies with the money from the inheritance.
He felt better in his heart every time he went to see Andrea’s mother’s grave…. He thought she was happy that her daughter had a good life and a loving home.