‘He’s My New Son!’ Woman Comes Home from Son’s Funeral Holding Little Boy in Her Arms – Story of the Day

Lucas is concerned when his wife is delayed returning from her son’s funeral. She finally arrives home with a young boy in her arms and makes a strange announcement that turns his world upside down. When Lucas is unable to get his wife to see reason, he resorts to drastic measures to help her.

Lucas peered out the front windows for the umpteenth time in the last hour. Natalia was late. He pulled his phone from his pocket to call her but thought better of it. He didn't want to disturb her if she was still at the cemetery.

He regretted not going with Natalia to her son's funeral, but twenty-year-old Kevin had hated Lucas. So, he had stayed away from the funeral out of respect for his deceased stepson. He decided to give Natalia another fifteen minutes and went outside to sweep the porch.

Just as he was getting started, Natalia's car pulled into the driveway. Lucas rushed to meet her but froze in astonishment when she climbed out of the car with a toddler in her arms.

"Look, Kevvy, Uncle Lucas has come to meet us," Natalia said with a bright smile. She lifted the toddler's hand in hers and made him wave. "Say hi to Uncle Lucas, Kevvy!"

"Uh...I was just starting to worry about you," Lucas said as he approached his wife. "Whose child is this?"

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"Doesn't he ask such silly questions?" Natalia told the child before addressing Lucas:

A cold, tight feeling spread through Lucas's chest as he stared at Natalia. He wanted to believe this was some sick joke, but she was staring at the child in her arms with pure love and adoration...it was frightening him.

"Listen, Nat, I know it's hard...no parent should outlive their child, but that's not Kevin. Kevin is gone, he died in a car accident, and he isn't coming back, my love."

Natalia gave him a bemused smile and adjusted the boy in her arms. "That's not funny, Lucas. Open your eyes! Kevvy is right here, full of life and doing great, except, if I know my little man, he's starting to get hungry."

"I'm going to make you some chicken nuggets with mac and cheese, your favorite meal," Natalia told the child as she strode past Lucas. "Then we'll watch cartoons until bedtime."

Lucas battled his bewilderment as he watched Natalia enter their house. She was...something was very wrong with his wife, and he needed to find a way to fix it. He was also worried for the child...and his real guardians...

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Natalia doted over little 'Kevvy' during dinner while Lucas watched. It was like being in a real-life horror movie. He was waiting for some sign that Natalia realized this child wasn't Kevin, but it never came. When Kevvy started calling for his mama, Lucas seized the chance to try to snap her out of her...whatever this was.

"Maybe you should take him back to where you found him," Lucas said gently as Natalia tried to soothe the wailing boy. "I'm sure his people are worried about him."

"Would you quit it already?" Natalia snapped as she lifted the boy in her arms. "I know some parents think it's very funny to joke about their children belonging to someone else when they start crying and making a fuss, but I'm not one of those people. Now, fetch me the teething drops from the bathroom cabinet."

"There aren't any teething drops, Natalia." He rose and went to her side. "And I'm not joking, my love. This is not Kevin. He's someone else's little boy, and I'm certain they're going out of their minds thinking that all kinds of bad things must've happened to him. Please, Nat. We have to take him back to his real mom."

Natalia frowned at him and then looked down at the boy. Little Kevvy was red-faced, and tears streamed down his cheeks as he flailed his arms and screamed for his mama.

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"I knew you didn't like Kevin when we got married, but now you're taking it too far, Lucas." Natalia glared fiercely at him. "My God, what kind of person tries to play such mind games? You're sick, okay? And you better stop this nonsense right now, or I'm leaving you."

Natalie whirled away and stormed out of the room. Lucas sank into a chair at the table. He'd thought she'd come to her senses, that he could make her see the truth, but he'd been wrong.

He needed to help her, but trying to force her to confront the truth wasn't working. She needed psychiatric help, but he couldn't take the risk that she'd be institutionalized. Lucas couldn't bear the thought of his sweet, sensitive Natalia being locked up in a mental hospital.

But it was surely where she'd end up if he didn't figure this out.

Nonetheless, if he could figure out where she found that boy, then maybe he could find a way to solve this problem without causing a fuss.

Lucas sighed and went upstairs. He apologized to Natalia for what he said about Kevvy and offered to take care of him for the rest of the evening so she could sleep early.

Natalia seemed appeased by this and went off to bed. When she left the room, Lucas checked the child's clothes for a name or some other form of identity but found nothing.

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Early the following morning, Lucas heard an insistent rapping at the front door and went to check who it was. His breath caught in his throat when he saw two police officers standing on the front porch.

"Good morning, sir." One of the police officers stepped forward. "I'm Officer Jones and I need to speak to your wife, Natalia, about an urgent matter. Could you call her, please?"

"My wife?" Lucas's heart raced as he fought off a wave of panic. "She's not here right now, Officer. Maybe I can help you?"

"A two-year-old boy went missing during his grandmother's funeral at the Oakwood Cemetery yesterday. We suspect he was abducted," Officer Jones replied.

"Abducted?" Lucas's voice wavered, and he cleared his throat to try to sound less suspicious. "Are you sure? The kid might've just wandered off."

"The boy's cousin reported seeing a dark-haired woman carrying a child away from the group gathered around the grave. She provided us with some basic identifying information." Officer Jones casually peered into the house over Lucas's shoulder. "Are you certain your wife isn't home right now?"

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"She went to the store." Lucas shifted his weight to better block the officer's view of the inside of his house. Natalia was currently out back with Kevvy. If she walked in now, they both would be in huge trouble.

"The records show she was attending a funeral at the same cemetery at roughly the same time that the boy was abducted," Officer Jones continued. "We really need to speak to her. We're interviewing everybody who was there at the time in case somebody saw something that could help us. Did your wife mention seeing anything suspicious?"

"No, I don't believe she did." Lucas forced himself to smile. "But I'll ask her when she gets home."

"Ask her to give me a call." Officer Jones held out his business card. "We really do need to question her as soon as possible. A little boy's life is on the line here, sir."

"Of course." Lucas took the card and put it in his pocket. "I'll tell her the moment she gets home."

Lucas had spent some time searching online the previous night and had come to the conclusion that Natalia was suffering from a form of grief-induced psychosis. Although it was a rare condition, it was the only thing that made sense.

He'd spent most of the night trying to find ways to help her, but now the solution came to him in a flash of inspiration. He did a quick search on his phone, made a phone call, and then rushed upstairs to pack.

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He'd just finished carrying the last of his and Natalia's suitcases to the front door when his wife came in from the backyard with Kevvy.

The child was clinging to the fluffy, orange bear in his arms like it was life support and had hidden his face in its chest. Lucas's heart ached to see the boy looking so sad and stressed, but all he could do now was hope his plan worked.

"That's a great bear, Kevvy!" Lucas said with a big, fake smile. "I'm sure he's going to love the surprise holiday I've planned for all of us."

"What surprise holiday?" Natalia asked with a frown.

"I rented a cabin at a beautiful, rustic resort just outside the city. Our argument yesterday really got me thinking, Nat, and I decided that it would do all three of us a world of good to spend some time together as a family. Don't you agree?"

"That's a wonderful idea, don't you agree, Kevvy?"

Natalia beamed at the boy, but it wasn't the radiant smile Lucas knew so well. There was an obliviousness about it that sent chills down his spine. It felt like someone had scooped out everything he knew and loved about his wife and replaced her with this strange, disconnected doppelganger.

Lucas carried their suitcases out to the car, and they set off for the cabin he'd rented. Natalie chatted excitedly to Kevvy about how much fun they would have together, but the child remained quiet and withdrawn.

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When they reached the cabin, Natalia sat Kevvy on the sofa to watch cartoons while Lucas and her unpacked. But even the cartoon dog on the TV couldn't cheer the boy up. He curled up with his bear and didn't even glance at the screen.

"Someone's got a bad case of the grumps!" Natalia leaned over to tickle Kevvy's toes. "This just won't do, little man. I'm going to take you down to the lake, that ought to cheer you up."

Kevvy started screaming when Natalia lifted him into her arms. He didn't respond to her efforts to soothe him and was still bawling when Natalia left with him.

Although Lucas knew Natalia would never want to cause any child to suffer, she wasn't in her right mind, and it wasn't fair on the boy to let this play out any longer. Lucas had to return the boy to his parents.

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Lucas quickly went to his suitcase and removed the sleeping pills he'd brought with him. He crushed a few and set them on the counter in the tiny kitchenette. Lucas then prepared lunch for all of them and mixed the crushed sleeping pills into the ketchup on Natalia's hotdog.

"Please forgive me, my love," he muttered as he finished preparing the meal.

Lucas followed the sound of Kevvy sobbing and found him and Natalia standing on the rocky shoreline.

"Lunch is ready!" Lucas announced with a wide grin.

They walked back to the cabin together, and Lucas watched as Natalia ate every bite of her lunch. Afterward, they sat on the sofa watching TV while Kevvy curled up with his bear. It seemed to take forever before Natalia slumped over against the armrest.

Lucas slid one of the scatter cushions under her head and gently kissed Natalia on the forehead. He then turned to Kevvy and gently laid his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"It's time to go back to your real mama," Lucas said as he lifted Kevvy into his arms.

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"We interrupt our scheduled TV programming for an urgent broadcast."

Lucas had one foot out the door but looked back at the TV screen when he heard the announcement. A young couple standing outside a suburban house with a reporter appeared on the screen.

"Mama!" Kevvy reached out towards the screen.

"We just want our little boy back safe and sound!" The woman on the TV was saying.

A photo of little Kevvy appeared on the screen then, along with a phone number. Lucas quickly entered the number into his phone.

"100,000 dollars!" Lucas looked down at Kevvy, who'd gone quiet once more now that the woman, his mother, was no longer on the screen. "Your mama must be rich if she can hand out that much reward money..."

Lucas was now faced with a difficult decision. He'd been planning to take the kid to the cemetery and then call the cops with an anonymous tip to his whereabouts, but now...now the boy's parents were offering a juicy reward. That changed everything.

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"Mama," Kevvy whimpered as he clutched his bear.

"Settle down, champ," Lucas soothed the boy. "You're okay, and everything's going to be just fine. Uncle Lucas just needs to think a bit."

He carried Kevvy back to the sofa and sat down. The woman's number was now scrolling across the bottom of the screen along with the offer for the reward. Oh, the things he could do with that much cash...and she was just giving it away.

Lucas ignored the guilt gnawing at the back of his mind as he drove to the nearest gas station. He purchased a prepaid SIM card and called the number he'd seen on TV.

"I've got your son," Lucas said when the woman answered. "Leave the 100,000 dollar reward in a bag beneath the bench by the duck pond in Oak Street Park on Monday at 9:55 a.m. He will then be returned to you safely."

"I'll give you whatever you want so long as I get my son back safely!" the woman cried.

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Lucas felt terrible about his actions, but that 100,000 dollars would change his life! He could tell his jerk of a boss that he quit and then open his own restaurant, just like he'd always dreamed of. He could pay some exclusive psychiatrist to help Natalia discreetly.

Heck, with that kind of money, they could move to a different country and forget any of this ever happened. Besides, it wasn't like anything bad had happened to the kid since Natalia took him. Sure, he was a little traumatized, but he was young. He'd grow out of it.

There was just one more thing Lucas needed to do to ensure his plan would work. He went through the numbers on his phone until he found the one for a popular fast-food restaurant.

"Hi, I need you to deliver 25 burgers to the Oak Street Park on Monday," Lucas said, "but I have a special request for the delivery..."

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That Monday, Lucas drove into town, rented a bicycle and a delivery guy uniform, and went to the park. He arrived early and watched as Kevvy's real mom approached the bench with a full backpack. She set it down on the bench and quickly walked away.

It was time. Lucas pulled up his cycling mask to cover the lower half of his face, cycled toward the bench, and lifted the backpack. He peeked inside, and an adrenaline rush coursed through him at the sight of all the money inside it. He quickly stuffed the backpack into the delivery bag he'd rented with the uniform and cycled away.

While he rode away, he noticed several people watching him closely as they rose from the other benches scattered around the park. His heart started hammering in his chest as he realized they must be cops!

Lucas picked up the pace. He was now speeding down the neat paths that crisscrossed the park. As he approached the gates at the main entrance, he noticed several people running to block his exit.

He quickly turned down a different path. People started shouting behind him, but he didn't stop or look back. Sweat was pouring down his forehead and stinging his eyes, but the only thing that mattered now was escaping this park!

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A man jumped onto the path in front of Lucas. He swerved onto the grass to avoid him and kept going. Sirens sounded in the distance, but just then, Lucas saw the second part of his plan going into effect.

A guy on a bicycle wearing a uniform very similar to Lucas's rented one was cycling toward him. Lucas sped past him but soon ran into another delivery guy, and another, and another.

Lucas slipped out of the park without any trouble and cycled two blocks to the spot where he'd parked his car. He changed out of the delivery uniform and dumped it in an alley with the bicycle he'd rented.

He couldn't keep the smile from his face as he drove back out toward the cabin. He'd cleverly avoided the cops and escaped. Best of all, Lucas was now 100,000 dollars richer!

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Lucas considered his next move as he drove back to the cabin. He still needed to return the child. Once he'd done that, he'd have to move fast to prevent causing Natalia any further trauma.

By the time he parked outside the cabin, Lucas had decided that the simplest solution would be to travel to Canada and try to get help for Natalia there. Everything he'd read on the internet suggested her delusional state would blow over soon. Once she was better, they could go wherever they wanted and start a new life.

Lucas was smiling as he exited the car and walked along the narrow footpath to the cabin. He was so caught up in his dreams for the future that he didn't realize the consequences of his actions were closing in on him at that exact moment.

He assumed the rustle he heard from the bushes was a deer or raccoon until a man stepped out onto the path ahead and pointed a gun at him.

"FBI! Get down on your knees and put your hands in the air! You're under arrest for kidnapping!"

Lucas couldn't run, not with a gun trained on him, so he did what the agent said. He hung his head as another agent came up behind him and snapped handcuffs onto his wrists.

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"Where's the boy?" The first FBI agent demanded.

"He's in the cabin...please don't hurt my wife. She doesn't understand what's going on," he pleaded.

The agent yelled at her to stop. When she didn't, he barked orders into his radio and set off after her. Lucas craned his neck to watch the pursuit, but it didn't take long before Natalia and the FBI agent disappeared into the tall trees.

But the agent just ignored him. He frogmarched Lucas to a waiting car and forced him inside. He twisted and turned in his seat, hoping for a glimpse of Natalia as the law enforcement officer behind the wheel drove away with him.

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They left Lucas alone in a jail cell for hours before finally escorting him to an interrogation room. He was desperate for news of Natalia, but the police refused to tell him anything until he'd answered their questions.

So he told the police everything. There wasn't any point in withholding any information now that he'd been caught. He still didn't understand exactly how the police and FBI had found him, but at that moment, all he cared about was Natalia.

"Please, you have to understand that she wasn't in her right mind," he concluded. "The loss of her son...it broke something inside her. She honestly believed that kid was her son, that he'd returned to her somehow. It's not her fault."

The officer nodded stiffly. "She'll be transported to a psychiatric facility for a full evaluation, if she comes out of her coma."

"Coma?" Lucas leaned forward. "Why's she in a coma? What happened?"

"Your wife was injured while attempting to evade custody." The officer stared at him across the table. "She fell through a badly maintained bridge and was swept away with the river."

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"She fought hard to keep the boy's head above water and readily handed him over when the agent entered the river to attempt a rescue,” the officer continued.

Lucas sighed and put his head in his hands. Natalia was fighting for her life, and all because of him! God, what had he done? His decision to blackmail Kevvy’s parents haunted him now and reminded him that one vital question remained unanswered.

"Officer, how did you find me? I thought that trick with the fast food delivery guys would be enough to evade capture but it seems like y'all were waiting for me at the cabin...how is that possible?"

"The takeaway delivery certainly was a clever trick, one that would've worked a couple of years back, but not these days." The officer rose and moved toward the door. "We caught you because of one small thing...a GPS tracker we hid in the bag with the ransom money."

Lucas hung his head and stared down at the handcuffs around his wrists. One tiny error was all it had taken to ruin everything, but that error wasn't the fact that he'd failed to realize the bag might be tracked. His error was giving in to his greed and trying to profit from little Kevvy's distress.

If only he'd followed his instinct to return the child when he'd first intended to.

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