Patrick walked out of the house for just a minute after putting the triplets to bed. He was devastated to find them taken away when he returned. What unfolded again was a series of unexpected events.

Patrick had found a minute to get up and think about how unfair life was.

“Patrick, all our dreams are going to come true! Just wait and watch,” Layla said as a child.

“I will be rich, you will be rich. I will have a beautiful husband and a beautiful wife. We will have big houses, like palaces, right next to each other. And together, the four of us will travel the world with our cute little children…”

Decades later, their lives have never gone beyond the little corner of the world where they grew up, dreamed, failed and dreamed again.

As Patrick sat in the old rocking chair in the bedroom, the three babies on his chest slept soundly. The warmth of their breath and the rhythms of their heartbeats made Patrick’s eyes heavy with sleep.

Just as the 34-year-old was about to fall asleep, a loud crackling in the windows woke him up. It started to rain again.

Some clothes had been hung up to dry. ‘Ah, why bother? Let them get wet and dry again there.

There were so many questions he was afraid to ask: “How am I going to take care of these children? How many days can I afford not to work? And how much more can I expect from my wife Sarah? They are not his children after all…’

Patrick patted the babies gently, thinking of Layla, their mother, who had just died two weeks ago.

Friendship is thicker than blood.

“That was something, your mother,” he whispered to the babies. “She was the most caring and fearless woman I have ever known. Someday when you grow up I will tell you about her and how she was the sister I never had …”

At this time, he noticed that the rain had become heavier. “I better get those kids’ diapers inside,” thought Patrick. “We don’t have many.”

Patrick carefully placed the triplets in the crib, made sure the pillows were in place, and waited a few seconds to make sure they hadn’t woken up.

The sight of the three babies sleeping peacefully filled him with purpose. “I’m watching you and I know things will work out. Don’t worry, I’ll be right back.

Patrick rushed into the narrow backyard and started pulling clothes from the clothesline. It had barely been a minute since Patrick noticed the silhouette of a man running towards a car parked right in front of the house.

The man seemed in a hurry, fumbling to hold something in one hand and open the car door with the other.

“Something is wrong,” Patrick sensed and followed his instincts to rush inside the house. He went straight to the bedroom and bent over the cradle; at this moment, his heart sank.

The clothes he had picked up fell to the floor as Patrick gasped in shock.

“Where are the babies?” »

He looked frantically across the room and then realized something even more disturbing.

‘The man in the car! He must have taken the babies! I have to stop it! Patrick ran down the street screaming.

” Hey you ! Stopped ! Stop there! »

Patrick stumbled as he tried to chase away the speeding car.

In a strange moment of clarity, he mentally noted the license plate.

He kept running, screaming and hoping until the car was completely out of sight.

Soaked and dripping, Patrick collapsed on the deserted road and cried.

Patrick had spent the rest of the afternoon at the police station, pacing around waiting to hear from the cops.

“It’s great you noticed the license plate, sir,” the cops had assured him. “Don’t worry, whoever is behind this, we’ll get them.”

It certainly helped that Patrick’s wife, Sarah, was with him at the police station, calming him down with her presence and her words.

It had been more than three hours since a police officer finally approached the worried couple and broke the news.

” Sir ! We have it ! Children are safe.

Patrick and Sarah sighed in relief and hugged as if a war had been won.

It turned out that Layla’s ex-husband had run away with the triplets. Patrick felt a surge of anger when he heard the man’s name. He was the one who had made life miserable for Layla, torturing her emotionally throughout their marriage.

He left her the day he found out Layla was pregnant.

“Look at me and look at you,” he would say, making her feel ashamed of her weight.

“You look like a fat cow! And if you haven’t lost weight in the last few years, that won’t change any time soon. I can’t bear to look at you!”

The day he found out Layla was pregnant, the man packed up and left her, leaving her helpless and without a plan.

It was Patrick who had convinced Layla to return to live in her mother’s neighboring house.

” Forget him. Your mother, Sarah, and I are here for you. Come back and be my neighbor again, like in the good old days.

The ex-husband did not show up when his children were born or when Layla died in pain a few weeks later.

Since then, it was always Sarah, Patrick and Layla’s bereaved mother, Aunt Hailey, who cared for the babies.

It wasn’t easy, especially because Aunt Hailey was constantly sick and Sarah and Patrick were barely making ends meet.

But the couple, who never had the chance to have children, turned their lives upside down to take care of Layla’s children.

That devotion remained unwavering, even when Aunt Hailey suddenly had a stroke a week ago.

Patrick decided to take unpaid leave and stay home with the kids, while Sarah doubled down on work and spent the nights in the hospital, never leaving Aunt Hailey.

So when the cops finally brought the triplets back into their arms, Patrick and Sarah regained their strength.

“Should we tell Aunt Hailey?” Sarah asked her husband as they left the police station.

“No, that will only worry him more. Besides, the children are doing well. Maybe we should take them to see her. She would be delighted! Patrick suggested.

That night, Aunt Hailey saw her grandchildren again, even though she couldn’t hug them through the oxygen mask.

She wept at the memory of Layla and wept again as she watched the babies’ new, devoted caretakers.

In this sense of pain and relief, Aunt Hailey stopped struggling to breathe. That night, surrounded by the people she loved the most, Layla’s mother passed away in her sleep.

It was another dull and cloudy day when Aunt Hailey was laid to rest next to her daughter. The road ahead was uncertain for Patrick, Sarah and the children. But the duo was not going to give up.

Two weeks later, Patrick and Sarah received a phone call confirming that their adoption application had been accepted.

“I can’t believe this, Patrick! We have three beautiful children of our own!” Sarah, still steady as a rock, burst into tears that day.

Many questions in Patrick’s minutes were still unanswered.

“My lovely children,” Patrick said, addressing the triplets sleeping on his chest. “I still don’t know how I’m going to make ends meet. I still don’t know what it means to be a good parent. But here’s a promise, my dear children, I’ll spend my life learning for you, loving you. As Layla would.”

Patrick started training to become a real estate agent. Sarah happily took on the weight of supporting the family as her husband found his place.

And when they least expected a miracle, a visitor one day showed up at their house.

It was Layla’s attorney. She always knew that Patrick and Sarah were the only ones who could raise her children in case of trouble.

And so Layla had written everything down, including her own house and savings, in the name of Patrick, the brother she never had.

What can we learn from this story?

• Friendship is thicker than blood. True friendship can be more rewarding than any other relationship. Patrick remained a true friend of Layla and took care of her children even after her death. Layla, too, transferred all of her assets to her childhood friend, who has been there for her throughout.
• Never lose hope. You never know when and how your hard work will pay off. Despite their difficulties, Patrick and Sarah gave everything to take care of the triplets and Aunt Hailey. Their dedication was eventually rewarded by Layla posthumously when she left her home and savings to them.

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If you liked this story, you might like the story of a man who was suddenly given the responsibility of caring for triplets after their grandmother passed away.

This piece is inspired by stories from the daily lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or places is purely coincidental. All images are for illustrative 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 [email protected].