Before I could talk myself out of it, I hit call.
“Child Services, this is Karen,” a woman said.
“Hi,” I said. “My name is Michael Ross. I saw the post about the four siblings.
Are they still… needing a home?”
She paused.
“Yes,” she said. “They are.”
She sounded surprised. “Of course.
We can meet this afternoon.”
On the drive over, I kept telling myself, You’re just asking questions.
Deep down, I knew that wasn’t true.
In her office, Karen laid a file on the table.
“They’re good kids,” she said. “They’ve been through a lot.” She opened the file. “Owen is nine.
Tessa is seven. Cole is five. Ruby is three.”
I repeated the names in my head.
“Their parents died in a car accident,” Karen continued.
“No extended family could take all four. They’re in temporary care now.”
“So what happens if no one takes all four?” I asked.
She exhaled. “Then they’ll be placed separately.
Most families can’t take that many children at once.”
“It’s what the system allows,” she said. “It’s not ideal.”
I stared at the file.
“I’ll take all four,” I said.
“All four?” Karen repeated.
“Yes. All four.
I know there’s a process. I’m not saying hand them over tomorrow. But if the only reason you’re splitting them up is that nobody wants four kids… I do.”
She looked right at me.
“Why?”
“Because they already lost their parents. They shouldn’t have to lose each other, too.”
That started months of checks and paperwork.
A therapist I had to see asked, “How are you handling your grief?”
“Badly,” I said. “But I’m still here.”
***
The first time I met the kids, it was in a visitation room with ugly chairs and fluorescent lights.
All four were on one couch, shoulders and knees touching.
I sat down across from them.
Ruby hid her face in Owen’s shirt. Cole stared at my shoes. Tessa folded her arms, chin up, pure suspicion.
Owen watched me like a little adult.
“Are you the man who’s taking us?” he asked.
“If you want me to be.”
“All of us?” Tessa asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “All of you. I’m not interested in just one.”
Her mouth twitched.
“What if you change your mind?”
“I won’t. You’ve had enough people do that already.”
Ruby peeked out. “Do you have snacks?”
I smiled.
“Yeah, I’ve always got snacks.”
Karen laughed softly behind me.
After that came the court.
A judge asked, “Mr. Ross, do you understand you are assuming full legal and financial responsibility for four minor children?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” I said. I was scared, but I meant it.
The day they moved in, my house stopped echoing.
Four sets of shoes by the door. Four backpacks dumped in a pile.
The first weeks were rough.
Ruby woke up crying for her mom almost every night. I’d sit on the floor next to her bed until she fell asleep.
Cole tested every rule.
“You’re not my real dad,” he shouted once.
“I know,” I said.
“But it’s still no.”
Tessa hovered in doorways, watching me, ready to step in if she thought she had to. Owen tried to parent everyone and collapsed under it.
I burned dinner. I stepped on Legos.
I hid in the bathroom just to breathe.
But it wasn’t all hard. Ruby fell asleep on my chest during movies. Cole brought me a crayon drawing of stick figures holding hands and said, “This is us.
That’s you.”
Tessa slid me a school form and asked, “Can you sign this?” She’d written my last name after hers.
One night, Owen paused in my doorway. “Goodnight, Dad,” he said, then froze.
I acted like it was normal.
“Goodnight, buddy,” I said.
Inside, I was shaking.
About a year after the adoption was finalized, life looked… normal, in a messy way. School, homework, appointments, soccer, arguments over screen time.
The house was loud and alive.
One morning, I dropped them off at school and daycare and came home to start work.
Half an hour later, the doorbell rang.
I wasn’t expecting anyone.
A woman in a dark suit stood on the porch, holding a leather briefcase. “Good morning. Are you Michael?
And you’re the adoptive father of Owen, Tessa, Cole, and Ruby?”
“Yes,” I said. “Are they okay?”
“They’re fine,” she said quickly. “I should’ve said that first.
My name is Susan. I was the attorney for their biological parents.”
I stepped aside. “Come in.”
We sat at the kitchen table.
I pushed cereal bowls and crayons to the side.
She opened her briefcase and pulled out a folder. “Before their deaths, their parents came to my office to make a will. They were healthy.
Just planning ahead.”
My chest felt tight.
“In that will, they made provisions for the children,” she said. “They also placed certain assets into a trust.”
“A small house,” she said. “And some savings.
Not huge, but meaningful. Legally, it all belongs to the children.”
“To them?”
“To them,” she confirmed. “You’re listed as guardian and trustee.
You can use it for their needs, but you don’t own it. When they’re adults, whatever is left is theirs.”
I let out a breath.
“Okay,” I said. “That’s good.”
“There’s one more important thing,” she said and flipped a page.
“Their parents were very clear that they did not want their children separated. They wrote that if they couldn’t raise them, they wanted them kept together, in the same home, with one guardian.”
“Okay.”
She looked up at me. “You did exactly what they asked for.
Without ever seeing this.”
My eyes burned. While the system was getting ready to split them up, their parents had literally written, Don’t separate our kids. They’d tried to protect them, even from that.
“Where’s the house?” I asked.
She gave me the address.
It was across town.
“Can I take them to see it?” I asked.
“I think their parents would’ve wanted that.”
That weekend, I loaded all four into the car.
“Is it the zoo?” Ruby asked.
“Is there ice cream?” Cole added.
“There might be ice cream after.
If everyone behaves.”
We pulled up in front of a small beige bungalow with a maple tree in the yard.
The car went quiet.
“I know this house,” Tessa whispered.
“This was our house,” Owen said.
“You remember it?” I asked.
They all nodded.
I unlocked the door with the key Susan had given me. Inside, it was empty, but they moved like they knew it by heart. Ruby ran to the back door.
“The swing is still there!” she yelled.
Cole pointed at a section of the wall.
“Mom marked our heights here. Look.”
You could see faint pencil lines under the paint.
Tessa stood in a small bedroom. “My bed was there.
I had purple curtains.”
Owen went into the kitchen, put his hand on the counter, and said, “Dad burned pancakes here every Saturday.”
After a while, Owen came back to me.
“Why are we here?” he asked.
I crouched down. “Because your mom and dad took care of you. They put this house and some money in your names.
It all belongs to you four. For your future.”
“Even though they’re gone?” Tessa asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Even though.
They planned for you. And they wrote that they wanted you together. Always together.”
“They didn’t want us split up?” Owen asked.
“Do we have to move here now?” he asked.
“I like our house. With you.”
I shook my head. “No.
We don’t have to do anything right now. This house isn’t going anywhere. When you’re older, we’ll decide what to do with it.
Together.”
Ruby climbed into my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck.
“Can we still get ice cream?” Cole asked.
I laughed. “Yeah, bud. We can definitely still get ice cream.”
That night, after they were asleep back in our crowded rental, I sat on the couch and thought about how strange life is.
I lost a wife and a son. I will miss them every day.
But now there are four toothbrushes in the bathroom. Four backpacks by the door.
Four kids yelling “Dad!” when I walk in with pizza.
I didn’t call Child Services because of a house or an inheritance.
I didn’t know any of that existed. I did it because four siblings were about to lose each other.
The rest was their parents’ last way of saying, “Thank you for keeping them together.”
I’m not their first dad. But I’m the one who saw a late-night post and said, “All four.”
And now, when they pile onto me during movie night, stealing my popcorn and talking over the movie, I think, This is what their parents wanted.
Us.
Together.
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