At Her Best Friend’s Funeral, Woman Receives Note from Her and Adopts Kids She Never Knew About – Story of the Day

A childless woman receives a letter at her best friend's funeral and becomes the adoptive mom to her orphaned twins.

"Oh, Molly," I cried, standing over her grave, watching the clods of earth fall like dark rain on her coffin. "Why didn't you tell me?" I had been informed of my best friend's death via a terse e-mail sent by a lawyer.

Molly had been battling cancer for the last six years, he told me, now she was gone. Why hadn´t she reached out to me? We had been as close as sisters before Molly started pulling away after my marriage.

She could have called me, I thought. She should have called me. What I didn't know then was that Molly had been living with many secrets, for many years...

I walked away from Molly's grave with a heavy heart and a feeling that I'd failed my friend. Yes, Molly had pulled away, but I'd let her. I'd been so absorbed in my new life, my new husband.

Life will sometimes bring us what we most desire in unexpected ways.

I should have worked harder at keeping that bond that had been so precious to me. Now all I could think of was Molly alone, facing death, knowing the end was near. Alone, without me.

A hand touched my shoulder. "Mrs. Harding?" a man's voice asked. "Alice Harding?"

"Yes," I said and turned around, wiping my tears. "I'm Alice Harding."

"Mrs. Harding, I'm Ms. Margaret Jardin's lawyer," the man said. "She left this for you. My contact is in the envelope. As you can imagine, there is some urgency about your decision..."

I frowned. "My decision?" I asked him, but he just handed me a big brown envelope and walked away. I went home to my hotel room and opened Molly's envelope.

Along with several official-looking documents, there was a letter addressed to me in Molly's elegant hand. I opened it and started reading.

"My dearest Alice, you don't know how many times I've thought about reaching out to you over the last ten years. I've missed you more than you can imagine.

"Now that I know my life is counted in weeks, I'm writing to you, hoping you will be there for me. I've made some mistakes, Alice, and I hope you'll forgive me, put them aside, and be there for my children.

"Yes, I have children. A beautiful little girl and a little boy -- twins. Brian and Bethany are nine. They are my heart and the idea of them being left with strangers horrifies me.

"What I have to ask you is no easy thing. Please, Alice, take my children and love them for me. The private adoption papers are in the envelope and properly signed and notarized.

"You just have to sign and give them back to Mr. Costas. But before you do, you need to know who Brian and Bethany's dad is. It's Gregory, Alice..."

I gasped and the letter fluttered from my fingers to lie discarded on the floor. Gregory? MY Gregory? No! I chided myself. Gregory was no longer mine and hadn't been for a year now.

For over eight years, Gregory and I had struggled to conceive, then the doctor delivered the final blow: I would never conceive. The only other option was adoption, but Gregory refused.

"I want a child of my blood," he'd said angrily. "Not some stranger's!" The silence and the bitterness between us grew, and finally, I asked for a divorce.

"I want you to be happy," I told him. "I want you to be free to become a father, to build the family you deserve."

Gregory wept then. I'd never seen him cry before. "I wanted that family with you, Alice," he cried. "With YOU!" But even though he cried that night, he didn't fight the divorce.

He walked away from us. Sometimes, on the bad days, I imagine him with a fresh glowing girl with a swelling belly. Then I cry until the tears burn my skin like acid.

I had never been able to give Gregory a child, but Molly had? Molly and Gregory had cheated on me? I picked up the letter again and resumed reading.

"That summer you went to Europe, I met Gregory and I fell in love with him. It was the craziest, most wonderful summer of my life, and then you came back.

"Remember that night when we went to the football bonfire and I introduced you to Gregory? He fell in love with you that night, and it was like I was invisible.

"That night, we went back to his dorm and he made love to me for the last time. He told me he was ending it. He liked me, he'd thought it was the real thing, but then he saw you.

"He never meant to hurt or deceive me, Alice, I know that. Anyone seeing the two of you together knew you were something special. So I stepped back. I never told you we'd been lovers.

"Gregory didn't either. It was as if we'd come to a silent agreement. But two months later, you two married and I realized I was pregnant. I couldn't tell him, I couldn't do that to you.

"So I told you my mother was ill, that I had to drop out and go home. Sadly, my lie turned into truth. Two months after my babies were born, my mother passed away.

"Now it's my turn to leave, but I want my children to be with you. This is not a burden one woman can lay on another. You have to want it, you have to want them.

"Please, Alice, even if you choose not to adopt the children, look in on them once in a while, for the sake of our friendship."

I put down the letter and phoned the lawyer. An hour later, I was sitting with two heartbroken children. "You are Auntie Alice!" Bethany said.

"Yes," I smiled. "How do you know?"

"Mom's been telling us Auntie Alice stories since we were babies," Brian said. "Of course, we know you."

"Your mother asked me to take care of you," I explained. "But I live in another state. It's a pretty town, and I think you'll like it..."

I started telling the children about my hometown, and they seemed to come out of their fog of grief a little. The lawyer took charge of the paperwork, and I booked us three flights home.

Two weeks later, after the children had settled into their new home and school, I called Gregory. "Molly died," I said. "And I've adopted her children, twins. I think you have the right to know that Brian and Bethany are your children too."

A choking sound on the other end told me how Gregory was taking the news. "MY children...But...How?"

"They are nine years old, Greg," I said sharply. "Do the math!"

"Alice," Gregory said. "I never knew, and I never cheated on you."

"I know," I said softly. "I just thought you'd want to be part of your children's lives."

Gregory started visiting my house regularly and eventually, we told the children he was their father. A year later, he proposed to me again.

"All I ever wanted was for you to be the mother of my children," he said. "And now you are."

I said 'yes.'

What can we learn from this story?

• Life will sometimes bring us what we most desire in unexpected ways. Gregory loved Alice, but he longed for the children she could never give him until she adopted Molly's twins.
• A friend will be there for you no matter what. Despite their estrangement, Alice loved Molly and took care of her children as if they were her own.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a couple who already have a son and decide to adopt a little girl but are afraid of how their child will react.

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