Josie was a cheerful little baby. She always spent most of the day in a little bouncy chair I bought for her at the local toy store.

It was just the two of us and I must admit that I felt a little sorry for her. I grew up as an only child and had always envied my friends who grew up with siblings. I wanted nothing more than for her to have a real family and siblings, too, but our current situation was so far from the normal family I had always dreamed about…

For a long time, the scheduled phone calls from my friends were the only outside contact I had. Caring for Josie was nice, but after a few weeks, I got cabin fever. So when a local woman invited me to a dinner party (I later found out that she was the mother of the boy I met at the store), I gladly agreed.