Peter did not expect to discover something about his wife and her family when he helped a woman lift her baby’s stroller on the street. The chance encounter led to a shocking discovery that changed their lives.
Peter Smith was in Washington D.C. for a conference when he left the hotel to wander the streets. He had a couple of hours to spare, and he wanted to use it to clear his mind and enjoy the sights.
It’s been six months since he and his wife Angelica lost their daughter Abigail. They have been trying to cope with the loss of their only child, but it’s been difficult, especially since she was not supposed to die.
Medical malpractice took the life of eight-year-old Abigail while she was being operated on for appendicitis. The fact that she wasn’t supposed to die continues to haunt Peter and Angelica, and they made sure to sue both the doctor and the hospital they were in.
As it was such a rare case, reporters covered the court proceedings, especially after the hospital tried to cover up the accident. While she was being interviewed, Angelica made it clear that no amount of settlement could bring back their daughter, and all they wanted was for the surgeon and the hospital to be sanctioned.
“We don’t wish this on anybody else. They were supposed to heal my daughter, not kill her,” she said on national TV. In the end, justice was served. However, the couple continued to grieve.
Now, Angelica and Peter did all they could to cope. Peter buried himself with work, and Angelica took in more work than she used to, as a hairdresser at a local salon.
Peter’s trip to D.C. was sudden and unplanned. His co-worker suddenly couldn’t make the flight, so his manager asked him to step in. It was a blessing in disguise for him, as he wanted to get away from it all even for just a couple of days.
Staying inside his hotel room left him alone with his thoughts, so his walk was exactly what he needed. Not far from the hotel, he saw a woman struggling to balance pushing her child’s stroller and the grocery bags she was holding.
He decided to approach the woman and offer his help, which she gladly accepted. “I would love that, thank you,” she said, moving to the side so he could lift the stroller up a short flight of stairs.
He lifted the stroller facing the child, and he couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful young girl staring at him with her piercing blue eyes. The stairs suddenly felt like an eternity.
“Thanks so much, I appreciate your help. I’m Emma,” the woman said, extending a hand.
“I’m Peter. No worries, I was glad to help,” he responded.
“Do you have kids? It seems like you want one,” Emma said as she lifted the baby out of the stroller.
“Well, I used to have a daughter,” he said so quietly that if Emma wasn’t paying attention, she would have missed it entirely.
“Oh… oh God, I’m so sorry,” she said, suddenly guilty about what she said.
“Yeah, she was eight. Medical malpractice,” he said, the same way he’d said it countless times before.
“Would you like to carry her? Her name is Stacy,” she asked.
Peter smiled and nodded. “That would be nice,” he said.
After spending a few minutes with the toddler, he suddenly noticed a familiar necklace hanging around her neck. It was a handmade braided chain attached to a gemstone pendant.
Shocked, he suddenly had to hand the baby back to her mother. “Are you alright?” Emma asked.
Peter nodded and politely bid them goodbye before continuing on with his walk. He had a lot more to think about now after what had just happened.
The next day, Peter was on a flight back home to New York. The first thing he did was look for his wife and let her know of the encounter with Emma and Stacy.
“Honey, so yesterday, I helped a woman out with her stroller. The child had a handmade necklace around her neck, the same one we buried with Abigail,” he said so quickly he had to catch his breath.
“What? How is that possible? My mom made that for me before I was adopted by my foster family. It even had my initials on it, so it can’t be something bought online,” Angelica said, puzzled.
“I’m telling you, honey. It was the exact necklace. Could it be that you have siblings?” Peter asked.
The encounter had Angelica thinking, and she wondered if there was a way they could get in touch with the woman. Luckily, Peter had handed out his business card to Emma, and she texted him to say thanks for helping her out.
They decided to call her, and she revealed that she actually had the necklace around her neck when she was placed in an orphanage. Angelica decided to let her know that she had the exact same necklace, and they actually buried it with their daughter when she died.
Angelica, Emma, and Peter all decided this was more than just a coincidence, so they decided to meet up to hire a private investigator. After a couple of days, the investigator discovered where the necklaces were made.
It was Angelica and Emma who decided to go to the store, and the old man at the shop recalled making the necklaces for a woman a while back.
“I actually made three of these, all with different initials. She told me it was for her children,” he recalled.
“Three?” the girls both blurted out simultaneously.
The man realized then and there that he was talking to the woman’s children. “You both look like her,” he said quietly.
“The woman was here in tears when she bought these. She said she didn’t have any money to raise you after her husband left her and she was terminally ill, so she had to take you to different orphanages. She said maybe one day the necklaces would bring you together,” the man explained.
Angelica and Emma were visibly shaken, and the man noticed this. “I don’t usually do this, but I’m going to make an exception. I’m going to check my sales records and give you her name.”
The two women looked at each other as they realized they had one more sibling to look for. They got in touch with the private investigator once again, and with their mother’s name written down on a piece of paper, they asked him to get to work.
Meanwhile, Angelica and Emma started to spend time together, and they really enjoyed each other’s company. After a while, they eventually found their brother in nearby New Jersey, getting to him on time.
Their brother Ethan was homeless and had lost the will to live. While he was adopted by a good family from New York, his parents died in an accident and his siblings kicked him out of the house so he wouldn’t get a share of their inheritance.
Since then, he had been living on the streets and has not been able to bounce back. When he met Angelica and Emma, he was relieved to know he was not alone, and that he had a family to come home to.
Meanwhile, Peter was in the car watching over little Stacy. He couldn’t help but cry as the siblings embraced one another. “I’m not crying,” he whispered to Stacy. “You are,” he said, sniffing as he got some tissue from the glove compartment.
