The Intended Mother Refused to Take the Baby I Carried for Her – The Reason Nearly Destroyed Three Families

Ouadie Rhabbouron

Mia and Caleb had started calling Justin baby brother three days in, and I’d stopped trying to correct them.

I heard through mutual friends that Rachel had gone back to work.

I didn’t reach out. I didn’t know how, and I had enough to manage between two kids, Justin, and the job I’d returned to on reduced hours.

One afternoon, I ran to the supermarket for formula, Justin strapped to my chest in the carrier. I turned down the baby aisle and found Rachel standing there.

She was staring at a row of formula tins as if they had asked her a question she didn’t know how to answer.

Mia and Caleb had started calling Justin baby brother.

I didn’t announce myself. I didn’t say her name. I just walked past, adjusting Justin in the carrier, and he made that small, burrowing noise he always made when he was content.

A woman browsing nearby glanced over and smiled. “He’s absolutely beautiful.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Rachel slowly looked up.

She saw Justin’s face first. Then the way he’d tucked himself against me, fingers curled into the fabric of my shirt, entirely at ease in a way newborns only are when they fully trust the person holding them.

Rachel’s eyes filled before she could stop them. But she turned her cart and walked to the other end of the aisle without a word.

Rachel’s eyes filled before she could stop them.

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