When circumstances lead a dad of five to step down from his lucrative teaching career and become a taxi driver, fate ties him to a baby with a million-dollar inheritance abandoned in his backseat.
“Dad, do you have to do this? Can’t you return to teaching?” Billy’s eldest son, 15-year-old Travis, worried, rubbing his eyes as he handed a flask of tea to Billy, who was leaving for his night shift. But he could not guess what his dad was going through after retiring from his dream teaching career.
Travis had a huge responsibility for the next eight hours until Billy returned home from his night shift. The boy had to take care of his four younger brothers and ensure they slept well while their dad was out at work, picking up and dropping off strangers.
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48-year-old Billy was a taxi driver who had given up more than his dream career to raise his five sons who had lost their mother, and that fateful tragedy still haunted Billy…
The single dad took off for work in his taxi on a rainy night. The subsequent ride notification was in half an hour, and Billy was trapped in heavy traffic. It was the weekend, and people were traveling in and out of the city. He pulled over when a couple with a child in a car parked nearby drew his attention.
“How happy they look!” Billy sighed. “Even I was happy like this once upon a time. Samantha, I miss you, honey.”
Ten years ago, Billy’s life was different. He lived the life of his dreams with his wife Samantha and their four kids, Travis, Johnny, Matt, and Eric. The family awaited another little addition when Samantha was pregnant with her fifth baby.
“I should’ve made it to you on time… I wouldn’t have lost you had I not gone to supervise the exam that day,” Billy thought as rain splashed against the window.
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As it turned out, Samantha had gone into labor while Billy was in school, substituting for a teacher who was on sick leave. Samantha was home when she developed last-minute complications just days before her due date.
Luckily, neighbors found her unconscious and rushed her to the hospital. Billy raced from work to see his wife and their baby, only to be told that only one had made it. Samantha was gone, and Billy constantly blamed himself for the tragedy.
A couple of days after laying his dear wife to rest, Billy made a difficult decision. He retired from his dream job because he could not focus on his work.
“My dedication to teaching cost my wife’s life. I don’t hate my job, but I can’t continue working while caring for my sons. My youngest boy needs me. I can’t work peacefully leaving him with a nanny,” he told his colleagues before leaving the school. Billy never returned to teach after that.
Though his students tried convincing him to change his mind, Billy never gave in. But soon, his hasty decision to quit his job began taking its toll. Billy was torn between raising his five sons and being jobless when a friend referred him to a cab services company looking for a driver.
A sudden honk behind startled Billy and brought him back to his senses. The traffic cleared, and he started driving when a woman holding a baby waved at his taxi from a bus stand.
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Billy pulled over near her as he rolled down the car window.
“Hey, can you please drop me at the airport?” the woman asked Billy, rain splattering on her face.
Billy remembered he had to pick up a passenger who had booked a ride already. He had twenty minutes, and the airport was a ten-minute drive from where they were. He did not have the heart to leave the woman and her baby, so he asked her to get in.
“Thanks!” was all the woman said. She started to fidget with her phone while her baby slept beside her. Ten minutes later, she asked Billy to stop outside the airport.
“You drove so fast, driver. I feel sick… I wanna throw up,” she said.
“Huh, I’m sorry, mam. I had a pre-booked ride, so I was in a hurry.”
“Never mind! Can you please wait here with the baby? I need to throw up. I’ll be back after washing up, alright?”
“Sure, mam. I’ll wait here.”
Billy waited with the baby, but time was running out. He was restless and kept looking around for the woman. She was nowhere in sight. He turned around and saw the baby boy was asleep.
“Where is she? I’m late.”
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Billy waited for over twenty minutes, but the woman never returned. He got out of his car to check the backseat and found the bag the woman was carrying was missing.
Billy grew anxious and reported it to the cops.
“Do you have her booking details?”
“No, officer. I was on my way to pick up somebody else, and she asked me for a lift to the airport. I had twenty minutes, so I offered her a ride.”
The cops searched for the woman everywhere, including the airport, but she was nowhere to be found. Billy stayed with the baby the whole time as cops searched for the missing mother.
The night settled, and as morning rose, Billy was still with the baby. He left the child with the cops, who later handed him to child services until the mother was found.
Billy returned home to bring his sons to school, but for some reason, he was still bothered by the previous night’s incident.
Two days later, he visited the police station to find out if the baby’s mother was found and learned that she had disappeared, abandoning the child.
“We could not track down the child’s identity. It looks like she abandoned him. We sent the child to a foster home for now,” the cops informed Billy.
Concerned for the child, Billy checked on him at the foster home, and several days later, when no relatives appeared to get him, Billy made another life-changing decision. He adopted the baby boy, unaware of how his life would evolve after.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pixabay
“Sons, meet Shaun, your youngest brother. He is going to live with us. I want you to love him the way you love each other, alright??”
Billy and his sons nurtured baby Shaun, who brightened their lives despite their hard days. Three months passed, and Billy almost forgot how Shaun had come into his life.
One day, an officer called him to the police station regarding Shaun’s grandparents. The piece of news tormented Billy. Though he was happy that his adopted son’s family was finally found, it pained him to know he would have to give him up to them.
With hesitation, Billy hurried to the station and saw an elderly couple waiting for him.
“Dear, this is our grandson… this is our grandson!!” Shaun’s grandmother, Mrs. Felkins, teared up when she saw Billy holding the baby.
Mr. Felkins walked up to Billy and grinned.
“So, you’re the taxi driver who adopted our grandson?”
“Yes, sir. I adopted him because I thought Shaun had nobody. His mother was never found, and he needed somebody to love and comfort him.”
“Meet me at the lawyer’s office tomorrow, mister!” Mr. Felkins told Billy and left with his wife. “And bring the baby.”
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Billy anxiously met the couple at the lawyer’s office the next day, only to learn that he was called to sign guardianship of Shaun’s $1M inheritance.
“After our daughter, Amanda, broke up with her boyfriend, she was hell-bent on her fashion career against our wishes,” began Mr. Felkins.
“When we discovered she was pregnant and didn’t want the child, we advised her not to terminate her pregnancy. We told her it was against our beliefs as Christians and feared our reputation in the church would be ruined. She decided to abort her baby against our wishes, but it was too late.”
“She told us about her new job overseas, but we were against it. We wanted her to stay and raise her child. When she refused, we disinherited her and bequeathed our estate to our grandson. She was furious with us and took him away while he was sleeping. We kept looking for our grandson everywhere, and a friend in the department told us about the baby and you. Thank you, Mr. Hughes, for stepping up for our grandson!” Mrs. Felkins added.
“And what happened to your daughter, Mr. Felkins?” Billy was curious.
“Well, she called us once and told us not to look for her. We traced the number and found she was in Japan. We are not sure about the future, but we are happy that our grandson is now in the hands of a loving father and brothers!”
Billy sighed and, after signing the papers, took baby Shaun home. He was now the legal guardian of the boy’s $1M inheritance.
Though only time will tell if Amanda will realize her mistake and return to her son, Billy found yet another reason to be happy. He continued to raise Shaun, devoting his love and care.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pixabay
What can we learn from this story?
- Love and responsibility begin by taking care of the closest ones at home. Billy worked hard day and night to care for his sons, who had lost their mother. Despite his struggles, he never gave up and did his best to raise them, surrounded by his love and care.
- Do not let greed overpower you and alter your priorities. In her desire to establish her career in the fashion industry, Amanda abandoned her baby in the taxi before fleeing to another country.
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When a widowed teacher struggles to feed his three kids, a teenage student runs to his rescue by gathering the whole school outside his house for a tear-jerking surprise. Click here to read the full story.
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