Six months later, Robert proposed at dinner with all ten children listening from the hallway. “Will you marry us?” he asked. I said yes through tears. My mother thought I was making a terrible mistake, but I didn’t listen. Those children already felt like mine.

Two weeks before the wedding, I tried on my dress while Amanda zipped it and Sophie clapped. Robert appeared in the doorway and said softly, “You look beautiful.” When I told him he wasn’t supposed to see the dress, he answered, “I know. I just wanted to remember.”

PART 2

One week before the wedding, Robert disappeared. His truck was gone, his phone was off, and no one had seen him. Then I found a note on the kitchen table that said, “I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore.” No explanation. No goodbye.

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My mother told me to leave and let the system take the children. Relatives and friends said the same thing. They told me I was too young to throw my life away. But when I looked at those ten frightened faces around the kitchen table, I knew I could not abandon them.

At the county office, a social worker warned me that ten children were too much for one person. Still, I signed the guardianship papers. The adoptions took years, but in my heart, they became mine that day.

The first years nearly broke me. I worked at a fabric warehouse during the day and sewed uniforms at night. The children helped however they could. Amanda cooked, Derrick fixed things, Sue handled laundry, and the twins fought over chores.

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