Yes, Cynthia had found the book while cleaning up. She wondered: ‘what on earth wants a boy with a book about pregnancy?’ She didn‘t think it over a long time and just put the book away.

After finishing her daily tasks, she made a phone call to Ilona to ask her if she was all right. Ilona answered that everything was going as expected. She told Cynthia that she was still furnishing their new home and wanted to finish it soon because it wouldn‘t take long before she would have to go to hospital to have her new baby. Fortunately she was living in front of the hospital. “When I‘m settled I will phone you and then I would be pleased if you could come over to see it.” Cynthia said that she would be looking forward to that.

She hung up the phone and while preparing lunch for Raphaelito and herself, she made plans to spend the afternoon with the boy at the beach; not the beach at Old Fisherman‘s Pier but the small quiet beach on the north-west side of town.
After school, Raph went straight home. He was curious if his mother had read the book. After kissing her he looked at her and she asked him: “What‘s the matter darling; is something wrong?” “No, no; I just wondered…, no… there‘s nothing.

After lunch, Cynthia asked him if he felt like going with her to the beach because she wanted to do some fishing. Of course he was willing to go with her. He quickly made his homework and they went walking all the way to the beach.

Once there, Raph went exploring if he could find something for his stone collection while his mother was fishing. They spent a great time together and when it was getting dark, they walked home.

During their walk, Raph asked: “Mom, did you find the book in my bedroom?“ She answered: “Yes, why?“ Raph said: “A friend gave it to me and you really should read it because it‘s very interesting.”“Well, if you say so… I will read it one of these days.”

After a week, Raph asked his mother if he could go to Mattie after school. Cynthia answered: “I don‘t know if it‘s a good idea because the day before yesterday, his mother told me that she had to go to hospital to give birth to her baby and I haven‘t heard of her since then. It‘s fine with me but perhaps it would be a better idea if you take Mattie home with you.

No, Mateo preferred to take Raph home with him. They talked about the book and if there was already some change in Cynthia. Raph looked sad when he said that she didn‘t wear wide dresses.

Then Raphael made his homework while Mateo’s twin brothers were playing. He commented that he liked them very much and that he hardly could wait to have babies in the family.
Mateo said: “Don‘t worry, the book works all right! Come; I‘ll show you something“ and he took him to another room.

Then…, Raphael looked around and couldn‘t believe his eyes. There were cribs all over the place.

His mouth fell open and his friend said: “you see…? Twins were not enough, now she had triplets…; three girls!” Mateo was even worse humored than ever: “Now I’ll have to write my mother a letter to ask her an audition“ but, in spite of himself, he smiled over his own joke.

Raphael stood there in awe. He thought about the nightmare that he had about having to share his bedroom with many children. He got very nervous and said: “Sorry Mat, I have to go home. I‘m going to take the book away from my mother!“
He ran away still hearing his friend laughing and saying “I told you so!”

When he came home, his mother was standing in the garden and when he saw her, the only thing that he could utter was: “Too late!“
Cynthia saw the expression on his face and said: “Come here young man and tell me why you said that.” Then he told her about his plan with the book but he was sorry because his friends‘ mother had triplets because of the book.

Cynthia stood there in silence until the child‘s logic filtered into her brain and then she understood… She laughed and before the boy could feel ridiculous she took him in her arms and said: “No honey; it‘s not because of the book that a woman gets a baby; when a woman knows that she will have a baby, she reads the book in order to know what she can expect and how to be a good mother. Why haven‘t you asked your father about it?“
“I have… but he just said that there are so many children in the world who need to be taken care of.“
“Did you get that answer?“
“Yes, I did not know what he meant with that. Do you know what he meant?”

“I‘m not very sure yet“ she answered. “Why don‘t you go and make your homework?”

 “I‘ve made it already.““Honey, make yourself a cake and play a while with your construction set. I must go for a short walk. I‘ll be back within half an hour. Can you manage without me?“
“Yes mom, of course.”

Cynthia changed into something comfortable and started walking. In reality she was trying to sort out her thoughts. Raphael had said to the boy that there are so many children needing love and care. So he wanted her to adopt a child?

While walking she tried to get used to the idea. Adoption is not something to do only to please your child. She had to be sure if that is what she wants as well.

When she came home, Raph was pointing very proudly to the construction he made; the mere sight of the boy was heartwarming.

After tucking him in, she kept thinking of adoption and then she made her decision. She took up the phone and dialed a number.

A few days later, Raph went to school. It was Friday and the boy went to school thinking about the coming weekend. Where would his mother take him to? That always was a nice surprise for him.

She had told him to go to the grocery store after school to buy some fruit. So, before he went home he did the shopping and ran into a classmate. They had a few laughs and then he went home.
Cynthia thanked him for the fruit and she said: “Go to your room; there‘s a surprise…”
He went to his room but didn‘t see anything and went back to his mother: “What‘s the surprise? I don‘t see anything new.”
“The surprise must be there…; have a good look.”

The boy went back and wondered what it was until he heard a sound…; his heart started beating like mad when he saw a little boy hiding in his toy box. This was the surprise!; he was sure of it.
“Mom, is he really my new brother? How did you manage that? Oh…, you have adopted him. Great! May I play with him? Can I give him the baby bottle? What’s his name?”

Cynthia laughed with joy and she answered all of his questions. While the children were playing ‘peek-a-boo‘, she remembered how they had brought the baby.

How he had reached out his little arms to her. She was sure that she would love him very much and had started already to teach him how to walk, thinking of the big surprise it would be to Raphael. She decided to call him Risto, that’s short for Evaristo. She liked that name.

Sure… Raphael was very, very happy to see their little family grow; the only thing was that he couldn‘t sleep very well due to the baby sounds. Cynthia noticed that and she invited Raphael once more to sleep with her in the big bed.
She was planning to spend some money and would make an extra room.

In the meantime they were all happy and Cynthia had found a new love in her life.

The End