“Mom, look at her. Look at these babies. They need us.”
“Why?” I demanded. “Why is this our problem?”
“Because nobody else is!” he shouted back, and then lowered his voice. “Because if we don’t step up, they’re going into the system. Foster care. Separated, maybe. Is that what you want?”
I didn’t have an answer.
Sylvia reached out a trembling hand toward me. “Please. I know I have no right to ask. But they’re Josh’s brother and sister. They’re family.”
I looked at those tiny babies, at my son, who was barely more than a child himself, and at this dying woman.
“I need to make a call,” I said finally.
I called Derek from the hospital parking lot. He answered on the fourth ring, sounding annoyed.
“What?”
“It’s Jennifer. We need to talk about Sylvia and the twins.”
There was a long pause. “How do you know about that?”
“Josh was at the hospital. He saw you leave. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Don’t start. I didn’t ask for this. She told me she was on birth control. This whole thing is a disaster.”
“They’re your children!”
“They’re a mistake,” he said coldly. “Look, I’ll sign whatever papers you need. If you want to take them, fine. But don’t expect me to be involved.”
I hung up before I said something I’d regret.
An hour later, Derek showed up at the hospital with his lawyer. He signed temporary guardianship papers without even asking to see the babies. He looked at me once, shrugged, and said, “They’re not my burden anymore.”
Then he walked away.
Josh watched him go. “I’m never going to be like him,” he said quietly. “Never.”
We brought the twins home that night. I’d signed papers I barely understood, agreeing to temporary guardianship while Sylvia remained hospitalized.
Josh set up his room for the babies. He’d found a second-hand crib at a thrift store using his own savings.
“You should be doing homework,” I said weakly. “Or hanging out with friends.”
“This is more important,” he replied.
The first week was hell. The twins — Josh had already started calling them Lila and Mason — cried constantly. Diaper changes, feedings every two hours, sleepless nights. He insisted on doing most of it himself.
“They’re my responsibility,” Josh kept saying.
“You’re not an adult!” I’d shout back, watching him stumble through the apartment at three in the morning, a baby in each arm.
But he never complained. Not once.
I’d find him in his room at odd hours, bottles warming, talking softly to the twins about nothing and everything. He’d tell them stories about our family before Derek left.
He missed school on some days when the exhaustion was too much. His grades started slipping. His friends stopped calling.
And Derek? He never answered another call.
Three weeks in, everything changed.
I came home from my evening shift at the diner to find Josh pacing the apartment, Lila screaming in his arms.
