Dr. Spellman had to see his sister die when she went into labor prematurely. She refuses to let her baby’s father ruin her children’s lives, but she looks helpless when she comes for them five years later.
“Breathe. Breathe, Leah, everything will be fine.” Thomas stared at Leah as she trotted next to the stretcher she was lying on. She had gone into labor early, and the hospital staff was quickly taking her to the operating room to give birth to her triplets by cesarean section. His face squirmed in a grimace as he tried to control his breathing.
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“Much better.” Thomas smiled at him. He needed all his willpower to hide the fear he felt in his heart, but Leah needed him to be strong.
When they reached the operating room, one of the nurses turned to prevent Thomas from entering.
“You know you can’t get in there, Dr. Spellman,” he told him. “Only the father…”
“He’s not going in,” Thomas said. “I’m going in to support my sister, not as a doctor.”
“It’s still not a good idea.” The nurse shook her head. “This is a high-risk situation and you may be tempted to intervene.”
“I’m a pediatrician, not an obstetrician,” Thomas replied, “and I won’t do anything that endangers my sister’s health. Please, there is no one else by your side. Leah needs me.”
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
The nurse stepped aside. Thomas dressed in the robe while the nurses prepared Leah for the operation and soon he was by her side.
“I don’t like this,” Leah whispered. “It’s too early… what if something happens to one of my babies?”
“Don’t even think about it.” Thomas took Leah’s hand between his. “We’ve reviewed health risks hundreds of times, Leah. We are prepared for everything.”
“You’re right. I don’t know how to thank you for supporting me in all this. You’re the best big brother anyone could ask for.”
“I told you I would take care of you and my nephews.” Thomas squeezed Leah’s hand. “So don’t worry about anything.”
The operation progressed well. Thomas held Leah’s hand as he glanced over the protective cover that surrounded her belly. His heart shrank when he saw the first of his nephews leave.
Thomas watched anxiously as the nurse took her nephew to clean and wrap him. So great was his concern for his premature nephews that he did not realize that Leah was suffering until the anesthesiologist announced a sudden drop in blood pressure.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
All the time he contracted in a single instant; the interval between Thomas’ heartbeats, the silence of a contained breath when he saw how pale Leah was. He told her something, but he could never remember her words afterwards, just how she struggled to concentrate on him.
“Stay with me!” He took Leah’s face in his hands and turned her head to look at him.
Leah’s lips moved, but Thomas didn’t hear what he was saying. A nurse dragged him away. The last thing he saw were his sister’s eyes rolling. The obstetrician called the stop car while Thomas was driven into the hallway.
Thomas waited and waited, and waited. He knew it was bad news as soon as he saw the doctor’s face.
“I’m sorry, Thomas. We did everything we could to save her, but we couldn’t stop the bleeding in time.” Dr. Nichols said. “Their three children are safe in the NICU.”
Thomas nodded. I was numb from the shock. How could Leah have left? At one point everything was fine… what the hell had happened? He looked at his hands and remembered the warmth of Leah’s face. He suppressed a sob when he realized that he would never know what she had told him. His sister’s last words had been lost forever.
Thomas was still shocked by the news of Leah’s death when the last person in the world he wanted to see appeared in front of him.
“Where is it?” Joe asked, with his eyes narrowed.
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Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
“Now you care where he is?” Thomas put his hands on Joe’s shoulders and pushed him. “You didn’t seem to care when he had to spend a night on the street because you were revelrying, and where were you when he fainted four hours ago?”
“It’s none of your business, Thomas.” Joe sneered. “Now stop acting like an overprotective brother and tell me where Leah is.”
“He’s in the morgue, bad bug.” Thomas furiously wiped the tears that spilled down his cheeks.
“He died during the cesarean section.”
Thomas turned around to leave. He didn’t even reach the end of the corridor when Joe grabbed his arm.
“What about the babies?” Joe asked. “Where are my children?”
Thomas shook Joe and pounced on him. “You can forget about those kids. There’s no way I’ll let them live with a scum like you. In fact, I will do my best so that they never know who his father is.”
“You can’t do that!” Joe grabbed the front of Thomas’ shirt with his fists. “I have rights.”
Thomas laughed. “The only right you seem to care about is your right to buy alcohol and get drunk. Get out of here or I’ll have the security team kick you out.”
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
There were no guarantees that the court would grant Thomas custody of his nephews, but he and his lawyer were confident of winning the lawsuit Joe had filed. Today was his first day in court.
The judge cleared her throat. “Allow me to clarify this. Mr. Dawson, weren’t you married to Leah, the children’s mother, or supported her financially while she was pregnant?”
Joe put his hands together. “I’m a cook in a fast food establishment, your honor, and I couldn’t afford to keep it as long as I would have liked. That’s also the reason why we don’t get married…”.
“Excuse me, your honor,” Thomas’ lawyer stood up, “but my client has text messages and voice notes from her sister in which she clearly states that Mr. Dawson is an inveterate drinker and that she refused to marry him unless he entered a rehabilitation program.”
“That’s not true!” Joe shouted.
“Don’t talk off-duty in my room, Mr. Dawson.” The judge glared at Joe. Then he asked to see the messages and the transcripts of the voice notes. As he read, he frowned.
“These messages indicate that you are emotionally and financially unstable, Mr. Dawson, and lead a lifestyle incompatible with fatherhood. Do you have any evidence to show me that can refute these stories of bad behavior in a state of drunkenness and bad decision-making?”
Joe looked at his lawyer, but the man just made a grimace. Joe stared at Thomas, and it looked like he was going to scream or argue, but in the end he just lowered his head. “No, ma’am.”
“Then I grant full custody to Doctor Spellman.” The judge tapped her hammer.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Thomas stopped on the last steps of the court and watched as the sun appeared behind a cloud. The aroma of rain floated in the air and the world looked fresh and new.
Thomas turned around just as Joe ran towards him. He had tears in his eyes and looked at Thomas with hatred.
“I won’t let you do this to me,” Joe growled. “Being rich doesn’t mean you can take my children away from me. I will fight for them!”
“That’s your problem.” Thomas pointed at Joe.
“Instead of fighting for children as if they were possessions you are entitled to, you should be fighting for their good; to give them the stable, loving home that all children deserve.”
Joe kept looking at him stunned when Thomas turned around and ran down the steps. The sadness that had lived in his heart since Leah’s death was finally moving, giving way to the bright future that awaited Thomas and his nephews. However, Thomas soon learned that his judicial victory had a high price.
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Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Thomas hurried back home. When he entered the door, he began to call his wife, Susannah, but the full suitcases nearby left him frozen.
“I’m sorry, Thomas.” Susannah left the living room. “I love you very much and I know you do something good by welcoming Leah’s children, but it’s not a compatible choice with me.”
“No.” Susannah shook her head. “I don’t think I want to have children at all, and now they will be three at the same time, and all of them premature babies who need extra care.” A tear rolled down Susannah’s cheek. “I can’t do it and I don’t want to do it. God bless Leah’s soul, but I can’t bear the burden of her bad decisions.”
Thomas didn’t know what to say to that. I wanted to prevent him from leaving, promise him that everything would be fixed and that they would be fine. Instead, he watched in astonished silence as she took out the suitcases and hung the keys on the door hook.
He was still standing there long after Susannah had left, but finally realized that he was now alone.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Thomas took out a bottle of liquor that he and Susannah kept in the closet for the visitors, but then he paused. He took the phone out of his pocket and stared at the photo of his triplet nephews that he had put as a lock screen.
Susannah was right. It would be difficult to take care of three babies, but what else could Thomas do? I definitely couldn’t leave them in the care of that reproach, Joe. That man spent more time on the bottle than all the babies in the neonatal room together.
Thomas looked again at the bottle of liquor that was on the kitchen counter. If he succumbed to his despair, if he even tried once to drown those sorrows in alcohol, then he would be as bad as Joe.
“No.” Thomas put the bottle back in the closet and closed the door. “I won’t become what I hate. I have three beautiful children to live for, and I will not let them down.”
Thomas sat down to dinner alone, and then entered the children’s room. I had bought and assembled three cribs and filled the drawers with baby clothes. The narrow corner closet was full of diapers and anything else a baby might need. Thomas turned on the night light and smiled when he saw the drawing of stars he projected on the walls.
“Soon, my nephews and I will start a new life together,” he murmured.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Thomas was prepared. He had taken a week off at work, had planned a basic schedule and had hired a very experienced nanny named Rosa. However, he hadn’t realized how chaotic everything was going to be when he brought home Andrew, Jayden and Noah.
Rosa knew a trick that allowed her to feed two of the children at the same time while Thomas fed the third. They changed the three babies, put them to sleep and barely had a few minutes to talk about the care of the triplets when the crying began.
“What’s wrong with you, buddy?” Thomas lifted Noah from the crib and cradled the baby in his arms. Little Noah kicked his legs and had almost freed himself from his enveloping blanket.
“You should have wrapped yourself better, huh?” Thomas lifted the baby up to his shoulder to have a free hand. Noah spat milk all over Thomas’s back.
By then, Andy and Jayden were also awake. Rosa entered, lifted Andy in her arms, and put Jayden’s crib in motion with her foot. He lifted a hand towel and handed it to him. “And remember next time that you should never lift a baby without first putting a cloth over your shoulder.”
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
The day passed between meals, diaper changes and cleaning the milk, poop and pee that Rosa assured her were inevitable. He assured him that he would manage well when he left, but everything fell apart at the second shot.
It was only eight in the afternoon, but Thomas was tired. She had been busy with triplets all day and had never realized how stressful it was to be constantly alert to a baby’s cries. She couldn’t do Rosa’s trick of feeding two children at the same time, so she had to do it one at a time while the other two squealed at the top of their lungs.
Once all the children burped and settled down to sleep, Thomas got into bed. He still missed having Susannah by his side at night, and his nerves were on edge; every part of him hoped to hear a baby’s moans at any time. When everything remained silent, his fears only increased.
Thomas lifted his head from the pillow and played with the volume of the baby monitor. Why was it so quiet? His neck hurt from the tension and he felt a tightness in his chest. Premature babies were at greater risk of SIDS… maybe you should check it out.
Thomas tiptoed into the baby’s dark room. He leaned over Jayden’s crib until he heard the boy breathing, then went to Andy and Noah’s cribs. Once convinced that the children were fine, he turned around to leave.
He stumbled on the trash can and the used diapers scattered on the floor. Thomas hit his head against the corner of the changing table when he bent down to pick them up and cursed.
Andy woke up first, but his screams soon woke up his brothers. Thomas pushed the trash can away to reassure the children and go back to sleep, but by then they needed to be fed again. Then they had to be made to burt again, and change them again, and by the time Thomas returned to his bed, his morning alarm was already ringing.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Thomas ran to greet Rosa when she arrived. His pajamas were stained with milk and he hadn’t had time to change, shower or even brush his teeth.
“Thank God you’re here!” Thomas passed Andy to Rosa and ran back to the children’s room.
Thomas lifted Noah from the crib, put him in the changing table and took off his bodysuit and diaper. A jet of pee hit him on the side when he took a new diaper.
“You have to be careful with young children,” Rosa said wisely when entering the room.
“Why am I so bad at this?” Thomas snorted. “I’m a pediatrician; I’ve worked with children and babies all my career…”; he clenched his jaw to hold back his tears.
“Dr. Spellman, you’re making a mistake.” Rosa gently pushed him away and took care of changing Noah. “You think you know everything because you’re a doctor, a smart man, huh? But taking care of babies is something that is learned by doing; it’s never as simple as books and blogs paint it.”
Rosa changed Noah in record time and returned him to Thomas. “Let him lie down now and you bring me to the next one. Then go to bed, Dr. Spellman. Sleep and detoxify, so you will feel better.”
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
With Rosa’s help, Thomas gradually picked up the rhythm of taking care of his nephews. He continued to fulfill his role as a tutor with a little paranoia as the boys grew up, but Rosa was as patient with him as he was with the children.
“You took his temperature five minutes ago.” She scared Thomas and his thermometer so she could finish dressing Noah for the day. “He just has a cold, Dr. Spellman, he’s fine.”
“But, what if…?” Thomas approached.
“No.” Rosa raised her finger.
“The fess you have the whole textbook of brain diseases doesn’t mean you have to worry about all of them. You’re worse than those mothers who check the symptoms on the Internet and assume that their babies have some rare disease.”
Thomas sighed. He nodded to Rosa’s wisdom and experience and went to work. Worrying about Noah’s illness had already caused him a headache. He took painkillers and endured the morning appointments, but at lunchtime he felt terrible.
Thomas stumbled into the hospital cafeteria. The ceiling lights were reflected on the stainless steel surfaces of the service area like annoying bright stars. He approached the counter and… what was it for that he was there?
Thomas didn’t even have time to realize that something was wrong before falling to the ground.
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Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Thomas woke up sideways on the floor of the cafeteria. A doctor he recognized snoot down nearby.
“Can you hear me, Thomas?”
“What… I don’t understand.” Thomas began to get up. The doctor immediately approached and helped him sit down.
“You’ve had a seizure, Thomas, but you’re fine now”-
“A seizure?” Thomas began to shake his head, but the movement worsened his headache. “There must be a mistake.”
“I’m a neurologist, Thomas, and I can assure you that you just had a seizure.” The doctor frowned. “You should get a checkup as soon as possible. Come with me so we can do it now, okay? This is very serious.”
“Well, I guess.” Thomas stared at the doctor. A seizure? I didn’t understand it. He stood up and watched the nearby nurses and doctors. Everyone was watching him.
Thomas accompanied the neurologist to his office to examine him. While the doctor was checking his responses to various stimuli, Thomas realized that something was very wrong.
“I’m going to book you a CT scan,” the neurologist said. “Depending on what we find, we may also need to do an MRI.”
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Thomas came home and saw a known man leaning on a car parked in front of his house. All of Thomas’ protective instincts skyrocketed. His hands were shaking as he helped Jayden, Noah and Andy carry their backpacks to the front door.
“Come in and see what Rosa has prepared for you to eat,” Thomas told the boys. “I’ll go in right away.”
Once the front door was closed and locked, Thomas stalted the man on the sidewalk.
“I’ve come for my children,” Joe said when Thomas approached.
“Your children? Ha! I have raised and maintained them for five years. You’re nothing to them.”
“You’re wrong. I have spent every day of the last five years working hard to be financially stable. I’ve been sober for four years and have a good job.”
Joe patted the hood of his car. “I told you I wouldn’t give up and now it’s time for my children to go home to their father.”
“Above my corpse.” Thomas pointed his finger at Joe. “You are very wrong if you think that a new car and an AA button will convince a judge to give you custody. Don’t waste time; get back into your hole and leave us alone.”
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
But Joe didn’t pay attention, and a few months later, Thomas was in court, fighting again for custody of the triplets. Everything was going well, and Thomas was confident of staying with the children until Joe’s lawyer revealed his secret.
“We’ve recently learned that Dr. Spellman is following a very specific prescription drug regimen,” Joe’s lawyer said. “According to the medical specialist I consulted…”.
“I protest!” Thomas’s lawyer stood up.
“I will allow it since the health of the tutor directly affects this procedure.” The judge gestured to Joe’s lawyer to continue.
“As I was saying, my medical advisor says that this particular combination of drugs is used to treat brain tumors.” The lawyer turned to go directly to Thomas. “Can you confirm that you are receiving treatment for an inoperable brain tumor, Dr. Spellman?”
Thomas lowered his head. “Yes, I am.”
“For how long, Dr. Spellman?” The judge asked.
“My neurologist confirmed it after I had an attack at work a few months ago. I’m taking medication to reduce the tumor and avoid seizures.”
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Joe stared at Thomas as he described his health status to the judge. It was supposed to be his moment of triumph over the man who stole his children, but instead, he just felt bad.
While Thomas described his seizures and the side effects of his medication and how they affected his routine with the children, Joe realized how much this asshole must have loved the triplets to sacrifice his health for them.
“I hope you can understand that it is not an easy decision to make, Dr. Spellman, but the best interests of children must be a priority.”
The judge frowned. “He has a very serious health problem and a long battle ahead of him. I grant custody of the children to their biological father. You have two weeks to prepare them.”
Joe was delighted to finally be a father, but seeing Thomas cry tarnished his happiness.
Joe remembered what he felt when he lost his first custody case against Thomas. It had been the wake-up call he needed to channel his life. Every time he had lost hope or had been tempted by the bottle after that day, Thomas’ words on the courtray stairs helped him remember why he was working.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Two weeks later, Joe stopped in front of Thomas’ house. Thomas waited at the entrance with the children. They clung to Thomas like hugs.
“Hey, guys, are you ready to go out?” Joe smiled as he bent down in front of the boys. “Go packing your bags.”
Immediately, the three children began to cry as if the world were ending and hid behind Thomas.
“Don’t give us us!” One of the boys shouted.
“We’re not leaving, we’re not leaving,” another boy shouted.
“Come on, guys.” Thomas bent down and hugged the triplets. “We had a deal, remember? Joe is going to take very good care of you and I will visit you every weekend.” Thomas smiled sadly as he kissed each child on the forehead.
Joe’s heart broke when he saw Thomas push the triplets towards him. He had never imagined that the day he took his children home would leave him feeling like a villain.
“Instead of fighting for the children as if they were possessions, I should fight for their best interests,” he thought and approached Thomas and the children to hug them. Afterwards, Joe helped Thomas take the children’s suitcases back home.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
What can we learn from this story?
The best interest of the child must always come first. Too often, adults are consumed by resentment and self-interest during custody disputes and forget that the most important thing is that children live in a safe and loving home.
Have faith that every bad situation will be resolved for good. Sometimes it is difficult to be positive in bad times, but we must try to remember that bad times never last forever and that in the end everything is solved.
