John Peterson had long dreamed of visiting the cemetery to see his son, but poor health had kept him away. Today he felt better and prepared paint and tools to fix the leaning fence around his son’s grave. It had been almost ten years since he buried Alex, who wasn’t his biological son. John and his wife, Mary, had no children of their own after twenty years of marriage, so they adopted Alex from an orphanage. The thin, sad five-year-old boy had touched John’s heart immediately.
“Why is he sitting all alone?” John asked.
“Alex is special,” they said. “His mother left him here six months ago, and since then, he’s been unable to trust anyone.”
It took a year before Alex approached John and asked if he would really never leave him. From then on, Alex became their son in every way. He excelled in school, joined a military academy, and helped his parents during holidays. The whole village admired how lovingly John and Mary cared for him.
Alex stayed in the military but was discharged for health reasons. He grew sad and fell ill two years later. The doctors were helpless. Soon after Alex’s death, Mary passed away, leaving John alone.
One day, with his old dog Buddy, John went to the cemetery. There, Buddy started digging near the fence and uncovered a buried cardboard box. Inside was a tiny, naked baby girl, barely breathing but alive. John rushed her to Olivia, the village’s former paramedic, who saved the baby’s life.
The next day, a man named George arrived, claiming to be the girl’s grandfather. He explained his daughter had died in childbirth and his son-in-law had tried to get rid of the baby to claim inheritance. The son-in-law was arrested, and George thanked John with money to fix the fence.
Two weeks later, John, with Buddy, returned to find a beautiful new memorial at the gravesite, paid for by George. John sat peacefully by the graves, finally at rest. When John passed away, Buddy stayed with a neighbor, often visiting the cemetery until his own death, buried near the family he loved.
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