Life’s path often takes turns that you don’t expect, weaving a complicated web of happiness and hardship. Every step for single parents can be hard and require sacrifices, but the love they have for their kids shines through. But what happens when a stranger steps into the parenting world and offers to adopt a child that someone loves?

Kate takes care of her son by herself and works hard to do so.

Kate, a 38-year-old woman, is the hero of our story (note: heroes’ names have been changed). She found herself in a rather tough situation. “I’m a single mom to my 8-year-old son Benny,” she began her letter. It’s been just the two of us since his father left when he was two years old. It’s hard, especially since I don’t talk to my parents either. To make sure he has everything he needs, I work two hard jobs. It’s all worth it when Benny is happy.

“Recently, John, my ex-husband, came back into our lives out of the blue.” When he suddenly came back, I was scared right away. He hadn’t cared about his son’s life for six years, not even about how he was doing, his health, or whether we had enough money to live on. He never called, wrote, or sent anyone to help. That guy leaving us without a trace made me so mad I can’t even put it into words. But Benny was thrilled to see his dad, as any child would be. Like all his friends, he was thrilled to finally have a dad.

“John told us he knew he did wrong and wanted to get back in touch with our son to make up for it.” I agreed to let Benny come over on the weekends because I care about him. One of these times, he brought Linda, his new rich girlfriend. She seemed nice, and she and Benny became fast friends.
Since I couldn’t afford camps, Linda offered to watch Benny while I worked nights and during school breaks. Having someone he could trust watch over him was a huge relief, and Benny seemed to enjoy being with her. I tried to get rid of my unease about the situation, but it wouldn’t go away.

The child spent more and more time with her ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend.
“But as time went on, I began to feel uncomfortable around you.” For instance, she would give Benny expensive gifts for no reason, the kind of gifts I would have to save for months in order to buy. It made me feel bad that she bought him things like the newest gadgets or designer clothes. I tried to pay her back for part of the cost, but she wouldn’t take any money. I knew I couldn’t pay the full amount. She said she was happy to help and felt good about getting to know kids before she had her own.

I saw that Linda was taking care of Benny like she was her own child, which was nice. She did forget that he already had a mother sometimes, though. She began making plans for a weekend trip with Benny was one of those times.
John and Linda were very excited to tell him about their upcoming trip to Disneyland. They painted a very clear picture of the fun they were going to have. Afterward, they asked if they could do something. There was no way I could say no to my son because he was already so excited about the trip. It would have broken his heart to say no.

When Linda and John finally told everyone the truth about what they were planning, things came to a head.

“What happened after that made me talk to them about setting limits in our relationship.” We could come over on the weekends to my house again now that I had enough money to hire a nanny. However, they said they would be more careful in the future.

“After a while, they asked me to dinner to talk about something.” During dinner, they shocked me with a plan for Benny to move in with them for good. “I asked, ‘Are you serious?’ because I thought they were lying.”

The mom was determined not to give up her son.

“Linda and John began to explain the legal process and how I could hire them as caregivers. I realized that they had planned and researched everything ahead of time. They said they could take better care of Benny and give him more life opportunities than I could.
Also, they told Linda that she couldn’t have kids and said how much they wanted to be Benny’s parents. They begged me with tears in their eyes to give them a chance to be parents.

“I told them I would never give up my son. I stormed out of their house because I was so upset. As soon as I thought about it, I blocked them on all platforms and told my son he couldn’t talk to them.

At the end of her letter, the woman says, “I really hope you can help me.” I’m scared that my ex-husband will try to take Benny away from me. He thinks he can just walk back into our lives with his rich girlfriend and take my son away like he’s a toy so they can play house. I have no idea what’s going on.

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