Woman Brings Toys to Foster Care, Meets Boy Who Is Carbon Copy of Her Late Husband – Story of the Day

When a woman brings a box of toys to a group home, she meets a boy who is the carbon copy of her late husband. She decides to adopt the boy, only to find out that the boy was more than just her husband's lookalike.

Nicole and Mark married each other just months after meeting for the first time. They were head-over-heels in love with one another and were sure that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives as husband and wife.

Mark proposed to Nicole and decided to tie the knot in a simple civil ceremony with only their parents and siblings in the audience. In the months following their wedding, they tried really hard to have children, but they just couldn't conceive.

After trying for over three years, they decided to visit the doctor to find out why they couldn't conceive a child naturally and to find out their options. Instead of an alternative to conceiving naturally, they received the heartbreaking news that Mark had a malignant tumor in his lungs that made it to other parts of his body. By then, it was too late to remove it.

Nicole and Mark spent the next couple of months making the most out of their time together. They traveled, spent all holidays together, and visited group homes to spend time with kids.

"In another life, this is how I would have loved for us to spend the rest of our lives, Mark," Nicole cried one day as she cradled a young baby in her arms. "Us, with our kids..." she started to daydream before her eyes filled with tears. By then, she could no longer stop sobbing.

"Why did it have to be you?" Nicole cried. "Why us?" she asked, again and again.

By then, Mark's health had started to deteriorate, and he could no longer go anywhere without his oxygen tank. In just a span of a few short weeks, he was bedridden and he eventually died in his sleep. "No more pain, my love," Nicole cried. "I love you."

Months passed after Mark's death, and Nicole could not cope with the loss. She tried her best to take her mind off of things by visiting the same group home she and Mark used to visit.

One day, a couple of days before Christmas, Nicole visited the group home with new toys and books for the children. She loved spending time with them, as it reminded her of better days with Mark.

While looking around, she suddenly spotted a new boy about the age of four in the midst of all the children playing. "It can't be," she whispered to herself. The boy looked exactly like Mark did when he was younger, with hazelnut brown eyes, porcelain skin with freckles, and chocolate brown hair. It was like looking straight at a younger Mark.

"Who is he?" she decided to ask one of the group home administrators. " I haven't seen him here before."

"That is Tony," the administrator revealed. His mom died about a year ago, and unfortunately, his foster family did not choose to adopt him and could no longer afford to keep him with them, so he's back here," he explained.

"What about his father? Do you know who he is?" she decided to ask.

The administrator shook his head. "He didn't have a dad on his birth certificate. It was just his mom," he revealed.

It was then that Nicole decided to approach Tony to get to know him a little bit. "Hi there," she smiled at him. "I'm Nicole. I brought some toys and books for all the kids. Do you want some of them?"

Tony flashed a big smile, showing one dimple on the right side of his cheek, the same dimple that Mark had. "Toys! Yes, I want a toy and some books," the young boy said. "Thank you! You are so kind!"

After staring into each other's eyes with big smiles on their faces, Nicole could feel herself growing attached to Tony. He not only reminded him of Mark, but she had always wanted a child, and now, it seemed like she finally found a son in Tony.

"When I saw his eyes, I knew it couldn't just be a coincidence," she revealed.

That night, Nicole spent all her time with Tony. The boy wouldn't leave Nicole's side, and the two of them played and read books together. After talking to the group home's administrator, Nicole decided to go through all the needed processes to take Tony home.

Months later, when it was finally completed, Nicole invited all of her family members to dinner, including Mark's family, to meet the boy.

When her mother-in-law Mara entered the house, Nicole noticed how the older woman's face changed when she saw Tony. "Doesn't he look exactly like Mark?" Nicole asked, thinking that she was just surprised to see how much the boy resembled her son in childhood.

The dinner went smoothly, and Tony couldn't be happier to be surrounded by so many family members. "I've never had a big family like this," he admitted.

That night, Tony went to sleep with a big smile on his face. "I love you, mom. Thank you for being my family," the young boy said before going to sleep.

The next morning, Nicole's mother-in-law unexpectedly showed up on their doorstep again. "I have something to tell you," she said quietly.

Nicole asked her to come in and prepared a cup of coffee for her. "What is it, mom?" she asked.

"A few weeks before your wedding, his ex-girlfriend Tara appeared on our doorstep. At the time, Mark no longer wanted to see her, and didn't want to have anything to do with her because he loved you – he really did, Nicole," she started to explain.

"But when she arrived in our home, she had a big belly that one could spot from meters away. She was eight months pregnant at the time," Mara explained.

At this point, Nicole could feel her stomach twisting. "And that child... it was Mark's?" she asked her mother-in-law.

Mara shamefully nodded her head. "We didn't want to believe her, because it'd been about seven months since she and Mark had broken up. After all, he was already with you and I didn't want to destroy what you and Mark had. I hadn't seen my son so happy with anyone else but you," Mara said, trying to reach out for Nicole's hand.

Nicole couldn't believe what her mother-in-law was saying, but she couldn't deny her gut feeling that Tony was Mark's son. "When I saw his eyes, I knew it couldn't just be a coincidence," she revealed.

That night, Nicole decided to look for one of Mark's old hairbrushes to get some strands of hair, so she could get a DNA test for him and Tony. Despite what she found out, she never treated Tony differently, and the two of them still spent most of their time together.

Weeks later, Nicole received DNA test results that confirmed that Tony was Mark's son. At first, Nicole was overwhelmed with emotions and couldn't stop crying.

Should we have helped her ex-girlfriend when she was still alive? she thought to herself. What if he had decided to leave me to go back to his ex-girlfriend so that they could raise their child together?

Her thoughts were racing with so many different thoughts until Tony walked up to her and hugged her. "You look sad, mom," he told her. "Please don't be sad. I love you," he said, tightening his grip on Nicole.

It was then that Nicole smiled. She was happy that even though Mark never got to meet his son, she was now able to care for him on his behalf. "I love you, sweetheart," she replied. "More than you'll ever know."

What can we learn from this story?

• Children should not be blamed for their parents' mistakes. Even though Nicole found out that Tony was her late husband's son with another woman, she never took it out on the kid, knowing he was never at fault for anything. Instead, she used this as just another reason to love her son more, knowing that he was related to her beloved husband.
• It's never too late for new beginnings. Nicole was heartbroken after losing her husband Mark. It was only when she found Tony that she was able to begin again and experience happiness like she did before her husband got sick.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a little boy who asked his parents to adopt an abandoned girl, only for his mom to find out that she is actually her biological daughter.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.