Len, are you out of your mind? We just had our own baby!” — Alexey slammed the cupboard door in irritation. “What adoption are you talking about?”
Elena stood by the window, looking at the grey February day. The maternity hospital was on the outskirts of their small town, and the view from the room opened onto dreary five-story buildings and bare tree branches.
“You haven’t seen him, Lesh. He’s so small… Only three months old, and already nobody wants him,” she wrapped her arms around herself, as if trying to warm up.
This happened a week ago. Elena was already getting ready to be discharged with little Dasha when she heard a baby crying from the neighboring room. The cry was different — it was desperate, hopeless. As if the child already knew no one would hear him.
“The mother abandoned him right at the hospital,” the elderly nurse, Nadezhda Petrovna, said quietly, noticing Elena’s interest. “Vanya. He’s healthy, just unwanted.”
Since that day, something inside Elena had broken. She couldn’t peacefully watch her sleeping Dasha, imagining that in the neighboring room, there was another baby, the same age, but without a mother. Without gentle words, without tender touches, without love.
“Les, let’s at least find out about the paperwork? Just find out,” Elena turned to her husband. “Maybe it’s a sign? That we can help…”
“A sign?” Alexey sneered darkly. “A sign that you’re not yourself after giving birth. We’ve got a mortgage, Len. A one-bedroom apartment. I’m the only one working. What do you mean, another baby?”
“We’ll manage,” Elena said stubbornly. “I’ll go back to school in six months. I have the highest category…”
“Right,” Alexey interrupted. “And in the meantime, you’ll sit with two babies. At the same time. Can you imagine what that’s like?”
Footsteps were heard in the hallway, and Victoria, Elena’s school friend who came to visit, peered into the room.
“Oh, a family council?” she glanced over the tense faces of the couple. “What’s going on?”
“Lena’s lost her mind,” Alexey muttered. “She wants to take in another child. Right now.”
“Another one?” Victoria didn’t understand, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“There’s a boy… an abandoned one,” Elena felt her voice tremble. “Vanya. He’s three months old.”
Victoria whistled. “What a twist! What do the doctors say?”
“Nothing yet,” Elena glanced at her husband. “We haven’t asked yet. Lesh is against it.”
“Of course he is!” Alexey exploded. “Because at least one person in this family needs to think sensibly! We have our own newborn daughter. We haven’t even figured things out with her yet, and now you want another one?”
His voice was not only angry but also filled with fear. Fear of the huge responsibility, the unknown, and possible problems.
“Lesh, sit down,” Victoria said gently. “Let’s talk calmly.”
He sat down on a chair and ran a hand across his face. “What’s there to talk about? It’s madness.”
“Why madness?” Victoria shrugged. “People get through worse. My colleague has three adopted kids, and they’re doing fine — living, happy.”
“Your colleague’s husband is a businessman, if I’m not mistaken,” Alexey said bitterly. “And I’m just an engineer. And we don’t have a three-bedroom apartment, but a one-room Khrushchyovka.”
“Apartment issues are solvable,” Victoria said thoughtfully. “You could use the maternity capital…”
“Vika, are you out of your mind too?” Alexey stood up. “What maternity capital? What adopted kids? We just had our own daughter! We need to give all our energy to her, not spread ourselves thin!”
At that moment, Dasha started crying. Elena rushed to the crib and gently picked up her daughter. The baby immediately calmed down, burying her nose into her mother’s shoulder.
“See!” Alexey pointed at them. “This is your main concern, Len. And you’re thinking about someone else’s kids…”
“They’re not someone else’s,” Elena said quietly, rocking her daughter. “They’re nobody’s. That’s the difference.”
A heavy silence fell in the room. Only the soft snuffling of little Dasha and muffled voices in the corridor could be heard.
“Lesh,” Victoria finally spoke. “What if we just go see the boy? You haven’t even seen him.”
“Why?” Alexey asked wearily. “So it’ll be even harder to turn down this crazy idea?”
“Because your wife already saw him,” Victoria answered calmly. “And you need to understand what she feels. Otherwise, this conversation will haunt you forever.”
Alexey was silent for a long time, looking out the window. Then he slowly nodded. “Alright. Let’s see him. But this doesn’t mean anything, got it, Len? It’s not a promise.”
“Of course,” Elena quickly agreed. “We’ll just take a look.”
They left Dasha with Victoria and went to the neighboring department. The elderly nurse, Nadezhda Petrovna, saw them and smiled knowingly. “To see Vanya? One moment.”
She disappeared behind the door and soon returned with a bundle. A tiny, helpless lump with barely visible dark hair on the top of his head.
“Here he is, our abandoned one,” the nurse said gently. “Do you want to hold him?”
Elena looked at her husband. He stood frozen, staring at the baby with wide eyes.
“I’ll take him,” Elena said decisively, reaching out her hands.
Vanya turned out to be surprisingly heavy. He smacked his lips sleepily and opened his eyes — dark brown, almost black.
“Hello,” Elena whispered.
She didn’t notice the tear rolling down her cheek.
“Len…” Alexey said hoarsely. “Let me hold him…”
He awkwardly took the baby, holding his head uncertainly. Vanya looked at him seriously and attentively.
“He looks like my younger brother,” Alexey suddenly said. “The same look… Serious for his age.”
“You have a brother?” Elena asked, surprised. In five years of marriage, she had never heard about Alexey’s brother.
Alexey was silent, gently rocking the baby. “I did. He died when he was a child. He was only four…”
Something in his voice cracked. Elena carefully placed her hand on his shoulder. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“I didn’t want to bring it up…” he hesitated. “Mom, after his death… Well, she kind of lost her mind. She kept saying it was her fault, that she didn’t look after him. And then… then I came along. A late, unwanted child. She never really could love me.”
Now everything was clear — his eternal introversion, the strained relationship with his mother, and the fear of having a second child…
“Excuse me,” Nadezhda Petrovna coughed delicately. “But I need to feed him.”
Reluctantly, Alexey handed the baby over. “Can we come back again?” he asked uncertainly.
“Of course,” the nurse smiled. “Come back. He needs to get used to people.”
They returned to the room in silence. Victoria looked at them with curiosity. “Well?”
“I don’t know,” Alexey rubbed his temple. “It’s complicated.”
“To me, it seems simple,” Victoria said. “You can see — the boy is healthy, beautiful. And he clearly liked you.”
“It’s not about that,” Alexey shook his head. “It’s about responsibility. Readiness. And possibilities, finally.”
“And when you have an unplanned child — is everything already calculated in advance?” Victoria huffed. “Life is unpredictable. What matters is the desire and love. Everything else will fall into place.”
There was some truth in her words. Elena looked at her sleeping daughter and then at her husband. “Lesh, let’s at least find out about the paperwork? Nothing bad will happen if we just ask.”
Alexey was silent for a long time. Then he sighed heavily. “Alright. Let’s find out. But remember — that doesn’t mean…”
“Of course, of course,” Elena quickly agreed. “We’ll just ask.”
The following weeks turned into an endless series of discussions, consultations, and paperwork. While Elena was recovering after childbirth and adjusting to motherhood, Alexey, to her surprise, took on most of the paperwork.
“You know,” he said one evening, rocking Dasha, who was crying, “I’ve been thinking… Maybe we really should take the risk?”
Elena froze, bottle of formula in hand. “Are you serious?”
“More than serious,” he smiled bitterly. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately. About my childhood, my brother… Do you know what I feared most? That I wouldn’t manage. That I’d be a bad father. That I’d make the same mistakes as my mom.”
“Lesh…”
“No, let me finish,” he shook his head. “When I first held Dasha, I realized — all those fears were nonsense. Because love… either it’s there, or it’s not. You can’t calculate or plan it. And when I saw Vanya…” he faltered. “Anyway, I realized I couldn’t just walk away from him. Forget him. Cross him out.”
Elena carefully approached her husband, hugged him from behind. “I love you so much.”
“And I love you,” he turned to her. “But just know — it’s going to be really hard. Sometimes, unbearably hard.”
“We’ll manage,” she said confidently. “We’ll manage together.”
They really did manage. Despite all the difficulties, sleepless nights, financial problems, and the sideways glances from some relatives. Vanya turned out to be an unexpectedly calm baby. It was as if he knew how important it was not to add any more trouble for his new parents.
“You were lucky with his character,” Nadezhda Petrovna said when she visited them at home. “Not every abandoned child is like this. You can see he’s a kindred spirit.”
The hardest part was with Alexey’s mother. Marina Nikolayevna, when she found out about her son’s decision, threw a real fit:
“Are you out of your minds?” she screamed, waving her arms. “An outsider’s child in the house! What if his inheritance is bad? What if he has diseases? What about your own daughter?”
“Mom,” Alexey said quietly. “Do you remember Sasha?”
Marina Nikolayevna stopped mid-sentence. Her face twisted in pain. “What does Sasha have to do with this?”
“That any child can die. And any can survive. It’s not about genes, mom. It’s about love.”
After that conversation, something in their relationship broke. But Alexey seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “You know,” he said to Elena, “I spent my whole life trying to meet her expectations. To be the right one. The convenient one. And now… now I just want to be happy. And make you happy.”
Time flew by unnoticed. The children grew, delighting their parents with every new achievement. Dasha turned out to be a lively, spirited girl, a real daddy’s girl. And Vanya… Vanya grew into an amazingly sensitive and understanding boy. It was as if that early pain of loneliness had given him special wisdom.
“Mum,” he asked one evening when he was already five. “Is it true that you found me in the hospital?”
Elena froze. They had never hidden the truth about the adoption from the children, but they didn’t emphasize it either.
“It’s true, sweetheart,” she answered carefully. “Why do you ask?”
“Dasha was bragging in the yard that she lived in your belly,” Vanya said seriously. “And I’m thinking — maybe I’m the happiest? Because you chose me. Out of love.”
Elena felt a lump rise in her throat. She hugged her son tightly, burying her nose in his dark hair, still as thick and unruly as it had been when he was a baby. “Of course, out of love, my dear. From the very first sight.”
Ten years passed. Their little one-room apartment turned into a cozy three-room flat on the outskirts of the city — they had to take out a new mortgage, but they managed. Elena returned to school, not just as a teacher — but as the vice principal for educational work. Alexey got a promotion at the factory. The children were growing.
Of course, not everything was smooth. There were quarrels, resentments, and moments of despair. But they managed — together, supporting each other, finding strength in love and their commitment to their choice.
And then something happened that turned their lives upside down once again.
“Can you imagine,” Victoria said one day when she stopped by for tea, “we have a girl at school, an orphan. Fourteen years old, smart, an excellent student… They’re closing down her orphanage, and no one will take her — she’s too old.”
“What’s going to happen to her?” Elena asked, alarmed.
“They’re transferring her to another orphanage,” Victoria sighed. “It’s a shame. She’s in my math class, and she has such talent…”
Elena exchanged glances with her husband. And by his eyes, she knew — he was thinking about the same thing she was.
“Vika,” Elena started carefully. “Can we meet her?”
That’s how Nastya came into their family. A slender girl with serious gray eyes and braids the color of ripe wheat. It took her a long time to get used to the idea that she might have a family. A real, loving one, ready to accept her as she was.
“You know,” she said one evening at dinner, “I never believed in miracles. But now… now I believe.”
Alexey pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head. “And you should believe, daughter. Because true love is always a miracle.”
Their story wasn’t easy. But it was real — with all its difficulties, doubts, victories, and defeats. A story about how one chance glance can change not only your life but the lives of others. About how love isn’t measured by genes or blood relation. About how sometimes you just need to trust your heart and take a step toward the unknown.