Return of the Abandoned

The sky had only just begun to lighten when someone started pounding on my front door, the sound jolting me awake with a sheet of cold sweat.

In my previous life, this was the exact moment when the clinic doctor came crashing into my world. Dr. Leonard Price had slammed on our door loud enough to wake every neighbor.

Right there, in front of all of them, he had shoved a baby into my arms and scolded me, accusing me of giving birth and refusing to take responsibility.

I learned the baby, Caleb Sawyer, belonged to my younger sister. My parents begged me to keep him. Since I had no plans to marry, I had agreed.

Later, I hated myself endlessly for making that choice.

Now, hearing the knocks again, a chill ran through me. I shot upright, hurried to the door, and pulled it open.

A familiar face stood there.

"Lynn Sawyer, you gave birth to a child and abandoned him. You know child abandonment is a crime."

The neighbors were already waking up one by one, stretching their necks to catch a glimpse of the commotion.

I stared at him. Then, in the next breath, I yanked off my slipper and swung it straight across his face.

"You shameless old man! You dare show up at my door and frame me? I don't even have a boyfriend, and you claim I had a baby? Have you ever seen a woman who just gave birth and can still fight like this? Do I look like I just had a baby?"

My blows came so fast he was left speechless. Across the hall, my neighbor, Mrs. Marjorie Hale, finally reacted.

"That's right! Lynn goes to work every single day. I've never seen her with a pregnant belly! Did he get the wrong person? I recognize him. Isn't he the doctor from that shady clinic on Meadow Street?"

Hands on my hips, I shouted, "You filthy crook! Running a sleazy clinic and trying to scam me? Call the cops! Call them!"

The moment he heard the word "police", Dr. Price panicked. "I-I won't argue with you!"

I grabbed a fistful of his hair. "You don't want to argue, but there's no way I'm letting you walk away!"

Then I pulled out my phone and called, "Hello, 911? Someone is trafficking a baby!"

"Stop talking nonsense!"

"You can explain everything when the police arrive. If you don't, I'll smash your clinic myself!"

Heaven had given me another chance. Every humiliation, every injustice from my last life—I was unleashing them all now.

By the time the police arrived, Dr. Price was standing there with bruises on his face, holding a newborn baby. I stood in my pajamas, clutching a slipper, seething.

Neighbors crowded around us. When the officers heard what happened and saw the infant with its umbilical cord still attached, they were stunned.

"What is going on here? Tell the truth."

"This is the address and name the patient left," Dr. Price stammered, pulling a medical record from his pocket.

The officer checked it. The address was mine, and the name matched mine.

I crossed my arms. "I don't know anything about this. Someone must have used my name to give birth and is now trying to dump the baby on me."

The moment the words left my mouth, my parents appeared in the doorway.

"Lynn, since you don't want to get married anyway, why don't you take him in?" said my mother, Elaine Sawyer.

My father, Richard Sawyer, nodded urgently. "It would be better if you just raised him."

"Mom, Dad, what are you talking about? How could I casually adopt a child with no known background? We don't even know who his parents are. What if they're addicts? Bad genes get passed down. I'm not raising a future ingrate."

My parents froze, struck speechless. Dr. Price's expression soured. He shoved the baby into my arms.

"This is your family's child. I'm done. Tell Sophie Sawyer to raise her own son. If I'd known your family was this unreasonable, I wouldn't have come!"

Immediately, the crowd erupted in shock.

Everyone now knew that my younger sister, Sophie, was the mother of the baby boy.