The morning I found the baby was a turning point. I was just returning home after another exhausting shift when I suddenly heard a quiet, tremulous cry that made me stop. The fate of this child became not only hers, but mine as well.
Four months ago, I became a mother. I named my son after his father, who never got to see him. Cancer took my husband’s life when I was five months pregnant. He dreamed of being a father.
As a young mother, I faced enormous difficulties. Being a widow and raising a child without a financial cushion, while working at the same time, made me feel like I was climbing a mountain in the dark. My life turned into an endless cycle of night feedings, nappy changes and nursing tears.
To earn a meagre income, I cleaned offices at a financial company in the city centre. I started work before dawn, four times a week, which only covered the rent and nappies. My mother-in-law, Ruth, looked after my son while I was away. Without her help, I would not have managed.
That day, after finishing work, I stepped out into the frosty dawn. I wrapped my coat tighter around me and suddenly heard it — that call again, quiet but insistent.
I stopped and looked around the empty street. The cry repeated itself, and I followed the sound to the bus stop. There, on the bench, something was moving.
At first, I thought it was just a bundle. But when I got closer, I saw that it was a baby. His face was red from crying, and his lips were trembling from the cold. I looked around in fear, searching for a pram or at least someone, but the street remained empty.
I crouched down, my hands trembling. He was very small and cold, and without thinking, I pressed him to my chest, wanting to share my warmth.
I wrapped my scarf around his head and rushed home. By the time I got home, my hands were numb, but his crying had quieted.
Ruth saw me in the kitchen and dropped her spoon in horror.
‘Miroslava! What is this…?’
‘I found a baby on a bench,’ I said breathlessly. ‘He was alone and freezing. I just couldn’t leave him.’
Her face turned pale, and she quickly said, ‘Feed him right now.’
I did as she said. Despite the hopeless state of my body, as I fed this fragile stranger, something inside me changed. Tears welled up in my eyes as I whispered, ‘You’re safe now.’
Ruth sat next to me and said softly, ‘He’s beautiful, but we have to call the police.’
Those words brought me back to reality. I shuddered at the thought of parting with him. In that short time, I had grown attached to him.
I dialled 911 with trembling fingers, trying to ask for help, and soon two officers appeared in our small flat.
‘Please take care of him,’ I begged. ‘He likes to be held.’
As soon as the door closed, the room was filled with an oppressive silence.
I spent the next day in a daze. Alas, thoughts of the baby I had found would not leave me. In the evening, as I was putting my son to bed, the phone rang.
‘Hello?’ I answered quietly.
‘Is this Miroslava?’ said a deep, harsh voice.
‘Yes.’
‘It’s about the baby you found,’ he said. ‘We need to meet. Today at four.’
When I saw the address, I froze. It was the very building where I cleaned offices every morning.
‘Who are you?’ I asked, my heart pounding in my chest.
‘Just come,’ he replied and ended the conversation.
At four o’clock, I was standing in the lobby. I was escorted to the top floor, where I was met by a man sitting behind a huge desk. His hair sparkled as he looked at me.
‘Sit down,’ he said.
I sat down, and he leaned forward. His voice trembled: ‘This child you found… he’s my grandson.’
I couldn’t believe my ears: ‘Your… grandson?’ I whispered.
He nodded, looking at me sadly: ‘My son abandoned his wife with a newborn baby. We tried to help, but she ignored our calls. Yesterday she left a note: she couldn’t take it anymore.’
I was shocked: ‘She left him on a bench?’
He trembled. ‘Yes. If you hadn’t walked by… he would have died.’
Then he suddenly stood up and knelt in front of me: ‘You saved my grandson. I don’t know how to thank you. You gave me my family back.’
Tears filled my eyes: ‘I just did what anyone in my place would have done.’
‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘Not everyone. Most would just turn away.’
I hesitated, embarrassed: ‘I… I just work here. I clean the building.’
‘Then I owe you twice as much,’ he said quietly. ‘You don’t belong with a broom. You have a good heart, you understand people.’
I didn’t understand what he meant until a few weeks later.
From that day on, everything changed. The company’s human resources department contacted me to offer me a ‘new role.’ The CEO personally asked that I be given training.
‘I wasn’t joking,’ he told me. ‘You’ve seen life from the ground floor, both emotionally and physically. I want to help you build a better life for you and your son.’
Although I wanted to turn down the offer out of pride, Ruth gently reminded me, ‘Sometimes God sends help through unexpected doors. Don’t turn it down.’
I agreed.
Those months were difficult. I took online courses in human resources management while caring for my son and working part-time. But with every smile from my son and every memory of that baby, I kept going.
When I finally received my certificate, my life changed. I moved into a bright flat thanks to a support programme from the company.
The best part? Every morning, I took my son to the new family corner that I helped design. The CEO’s grandson was there too, and they played and laughed together.
One day, as I watched them through the glass wall, the CEO approached me and said, ‘You gave me back my grandson, but you also reminded me that kindness exists.’
I replied with a smile, ‘You gave me a second chance, too.’
Sometimes I still wake up from phantom screams, but then I remember the warmth of that morning light and the laughter of two babies. One moment of compassion on that bench that day changed everything.
Because that day, I wasn’t just saving a child. I was saving myself.
