My Babysitter Canceled At 5 AM — Then The CEO Realized Who My Daughter Looked Like
Part 2
“She has my eyes,” Craig breathed, the sharp edges of his corporate armor shattering in an instant.
He reached out a trembling hand.
He caught himself before touching her, his fingers hovering in the air.
Lily, completely unaware of the gravity of the moment, let out a delighted squeal and offered him a gummy, innocent smile.
I saw the exact moment the billionaire broke.
A ragged breath escaped his chest.
I asked Heather to give us a minute.
She practically sprinted out the door, leaving us alone in the sudden, heavy silence.
I scooped Lily up, holding her tightly against my chest, a physical barrier between my past and my present.
Craig couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“What is her name?” he asked, his voice thick and hoarse.
“Lily,” I whispered.
“Lily Foster.”
He swallowed hard.
“May I hold her?”
I hesitated.
Giving her to him felt like crossing a threshold I could never step back over.
But the raw, unmasked longing in his expression paralyzed my defenses.
I gently transferred Lily into his arms, showing him how to support her head.
He cradled her as if she were made of spun sugar.
Lily immediately reached up, her tiny fist grabbing his silk tie.
A broken laugh slipped from his lips.
“She’s perfect.”
We stood there for what felt like hours.
He demanded to know why I hadn’t told him.
I explained the fear, the impossibility of approaching the CEO of my company to claim he was the father of my child.
He told me how he had hired investigators to search for the woman from the Colorado bar, how that night had haunted him.
The door opened abruptly.
Brenda stepped in, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head at the sight of her boss bouncing a baby.
“The Tanaka presentation starts in ten minutes,” she announced.
I gasped, reaching for my laptop.
“Reschedule it,” Craig ordered without looking up from Lily.
Brenda blinked.
“Mr. Tanaka flew in from Tokyo.”
“Then he can wait.” Craig’s tone brooked absolutely no argument.
“Something more important has come up.”
“Send my apologies.”
He turned back to me, the intensity in his gaze pinning me to the floor.
We needed to talk.
We needed to figure out custody, the company, and our future.
He invited me to his penthouse, promising he wanted to do this right.
I looked at the man holding my daughter, stripping away his entire schedule just to be near her.
Could a man who had built a billion-dollar empire out of nothing really make room for a family he never asked for?
Part 3
The alarm on the nightstand blared at exactly four-thirty in the morning.
Megan Foster groaned and slapped her hand against the snooze button.
The digital numbers glowed red in the darkness of her small apartment.
It was Tuesday, the most important day of her professional life.
For three grueling months, she had been preparing the financial models for the Tanaka merger.
The silence of the room was broken by a soft, melodic ping from her phone.
Megan rubbed her tired eyes and reached for the device on the nightstand.
The screen illuminated her face, casting long shadows against the bedroom wall.
It was a text message from her reliable, sixty-year-old babysitter.
“Megan, I am so sorry,” the text read.
“My sister had a bad fall, and I am at the hospital with her.
I can’t make it today.
So sorry for the short notice.”
The phone nearly slipped from Megan’s hand.
A cold wave of absolute panic crashed over her.
She sat bolt upright in bed, her heart hammering against her ribs.
She stared at the glowing screen, rereading the words until they blurred together.
This could not be happening.
Not today.
She threw the blankets off and swung her legs over the side of the mattress.
Her bare feet hit the cold hardwood floor.
She paced the length of her small bedroom, running a hand through her tangled hair.
She had no family in the state.
Her mother lived three states away in Ohio.
Her friends from college all worked regular corporate jobs and could not drop everything at five in the morning.
From the corner of the room, a soft coo broke through her rising panic.
Megan walked over to the crib.
Six-month-old Lily was awake, kicking her chubby legs under the soft pink blanket.
Her large, striking green eyes tracked Megan’s movement in the dark.
“What am I going to do, Lily?” Megan whispered, gripping the wooden rail of the crib.
Missing the presentation was career suicide.
She was a senior analyst on the fast track to a Vice President promotion.
She had sacrificed sleep, weekends, and any semblance of a social life to build this exact presentation.
If she called in sick on the day of the biggest merger in Mitchell Industries’ history, she would be finished.
There was only one impossible choice.
By seven-thirty, the Chicago subway was packed with commuters reading newspapers and staring at their phones.
Megan stood near the doors, holding tightly to the overhead rail.
Lily was strapped to her chest in a navy-blue baby carrier.
The rhythmic swaying of the train had lulled the baby back to sleep.
Megan stared at her reflection in the dark glass of the train doors.
She wore a tailored black blazer, a crisp white blouse, and a matching skirt.
It was the armor of a corporate warrior, utterly ruined by the bulky baby carrier strapped over it.
Every time the train lurched, Megan wrapped a protective arm around her daughter.
People gave her strange, sidelong glances.
She ignored them, mentally reviewing the first slide of her presentation.
When the train finally screeched into her stop, Megan joined the sea of people pouring onto the platform.
The cold morning air hit her face as she ascended the stairs to the street level.
The towering glass skyscraper of Mitchell Industries loomed above her, piercing the gray clouds.
She took a deep breath, adjusted the straps on her shoulders, and pushed through the revolving doors into the grand marble lobby.
The security guards exchanged confused looks but waved her through when they saw her badge.
The glass elevator shot up to the forty-second floor with a terrifying, silent smoothness.
Megan’s stomach dropped with the altitude.
Inside the carrier, Lily began to squirm.
She let out a soft, fussy whimper.
“Shh, sweetie, almost there,” Megan murmured, patting her back rhythmically.
The digital clock above the elevator doors flashed 8:45 AM.
The heavy glass doors slid open with a soft chime.
Megan stepped onto the executive floor.
The usual low hum of the open-plan office immediately faltered.
Keyboards stopped clacking.
Conversations halted in mid-sentence.
The silence was deafening.
Megan kept her chin up, marching down the center aisle.
Whispers rippled through the workspace behind her like a sudden breeze rustling through dry leaves.
Brian Lee, a senior legal associate who had a habit of taking credit for other people’s work, stepped out from behind his cubicle.
He held a coffee mug halfway to his mouth.
His jaw literally dropped.
“Is that… a baby?” Brian asked, his voice carrying across the silent floor.
Megan didn’t slow her pace.
She nodded once, her heels clicking a sharp, rapid rhythm on the polished hardwood.
“Good morning, Brian.”
Lily stopped crying.
Her tiny fingers curled around the lapel of Megan’s blazer.
Her green eyes blinked curiously under the bright fluorescent lights.
Megan ducked into her office.
It was a small, glass-walled space overlooking the sprawling city below.
She set her leather laptop bag on the desk and carefully unbuckled the carrier.
She laid Lily on the small, black leather sofa against the wall.
The baby cooed happily, kicking her legs now that she was free from the restrictive carrier.
“Please be good for just a few hours,” Megan whispered, stroking her daughter’s soft brown curls.
“Mommy really needs this to go well.
Just sleep, okay?”
Lily grabbed her index finger, squeezing with surprising strength.
Those green eyes stared up at her.
They were striking, unusual, and entirely inherited from a man Megan had spent the last year trying to forget.
The desk phone buzzed loudly, shattering the relative peace of the office.
Megan snatched the receiver before it could ring a second time.
“Megan Foster.”
“Miss Foster.”
It was Brenda, the CEO’s assistant.
Her voice was clipped and perfectly professional.
“Craig Mitchell wanted to see you in his office.
Immediately.”
Megan’s stomach dropped to the floor.
“Immediately?”
“Yes. Right now.”
The line went dead.
In three years at the company, Megan had been summoned to the CEO’s office exactly twice.
Both times had been for massive, board-level presentations.
Craig Mitchell was a legend in the financial district.
He was a self-made billionaire who had built the company from the ground up after losing everything in a recession.
He was brilliant, demanding, and notoriously intimidating.
They called him the ice king behind his back.
Panic gripped her chest.
She couldn’t leave the baby alone in her office.
But she certainly couldn’t bring Lily into the ice king’s lair.
She imagined the look on his face if she walked in with a baby.
He would fire her on the spot.
A timid knock tapped on the glass door.
A junior analyst named Heather Diaz peeked in, offering a sympathetic smile.
She was twenty-two, fresh out of college, and incredibly sweet.
“Hey,” Heather whispered, stepping inside and closing the door behind her.
“I heard the whispers.
My little sister is exactly that age.
Do you need me to watch her?”
Megan nearly collapsed with relief.
“Heather, I owe you my life.
Are you sure?
You have the quarterly reports due.”
“They can wait an hour,” Heather said, walking over to the couch.
She scooped Lily up with practiced ease.
“Go.
Don’t keep him waiting.”
Megan handed over the diaper bag, smoothed her skirt, and practically sprinted down the hall.
The executive suite was unnervingly quiet.
The carpeting here was twice as thick, muffling her frantic footsteps.
Expensive modern art hung on the walls.
She approached the massive, double mahogany doors of the CEO’s office.
Brenda sat at a sleek white desk outside, typing furiously.
She waved Megan in without looking up from her monitor.
Megan knocked twice on the heavy wood and pushed the door open.
The office was sprawling, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a dizzying view of the Chicago skyline.
Craig Mitchell stood with his back to her, gazing out at the lake.
His hands were clasped behind his back.
“You wanted to see me, Mr. Mitchell?” she asked, her voice surprisingly steady.
He pivoted slowly toward her.
Megan’s breath hitched in her throat.
She had seen him in company-wide meetings and from a distance at presentations.
Up close, he was even more imposing.
He was tall, with dark hair dusted with silver at the temples, and sharp, uncompromising features.
And those eyes.
Those incredibly striking, unmistakable green eyes.
The floor seemed to drop out from beneath her.
She gripped the back of a leather guest chair to keep her balance.
“I understand you brought a child to the office today,” Craig said.
His voice was deep, resonant, and perfectly controlled.
Megan forced herself to stand tall.
“I apologize, Mr. Mitchell.
It was an absolute emergency.
My childcare fell through at five this morning.
I have the Tanaka presentation in fifteen minutes.”
“What is the child’s age?”
The question threw her.
Why did he care?
She blinked.
“She is six months old.”
Something flickered across his face.
It was too fast to identify, like a shadow passing over the sun.
“What about her father?”
Megan’s nails bit into her palms.
Her defensive instincts flared.
“He is not involved in our lives.”
Craig stared at her.
The silence stretched between them, thick and heavy.
The air in the room felt suddenly very thin.
He moved to his desk and picked up a manila folder.
Megan recognized the blue tab.
It was her personnel record.
“You have been with the company for just over a year,” he murmured, turning a page slowly.
“You started in January.
That would have been shortly after the company retreat in Colorado.
Fifteen months ago.”
All the blood drained from Megan’s face.
The room began to spin.
The crowded hotel bar.
The final night of the conference.
She had sat in a dim corner, nursing a drink, trying to forget a terrible breakup.
A handsome stranger had joined her.
They had talked for hours about everything and nothing.
They had laughed.
They had connected on a level she had never experienced.
They had never exchanged names.
She had left before dawn, completely terrified by the depth of her own vulnerability.
She had never imagined she would see him again.
She had certainly never connected the charismatic stranger in the dim light to the terrifying CEO whose portrait hung in the lobby.
“I need to see the child,” Craig said.
His voice was entirely stripped of its corporate polish.
It was raw and demanding.
“That is highly inappropriate,” Megan argued, her voice trembling despite her best efforts.
“Is it really?”
Craig leaned forward, his knuckles turning white against the polished wood of his desk.
“Because I am starting to think that what’s inappropriate is that I might have a daughter I knew nothing about.”
Megan took a step back, her heel hitting the thick carpet.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“I looked for you,” he pushed on, stepping around the massive desk.
“For months, I looked.
I hired private investigators to check hotel registries.
I had nothing to go on.
No last name.
No phone number.”
He closed the distance between them.
“You told me you were starting a new job in Chicago in January.
You started here six weeks later.
Now you have a six-month-old baby.”
He stopped a foot away from her.
His green eyes blazed into hers, searching her face for any sign of a lie.
“Show me I’m wrong,” Craig whispered.
“Let me see her.
If I am wrong, I will apologize and we will never speak of this conversation again.
But if I’m right, I have missed the first six months of my daughter’s life.
I need to know.”
Megan stood frozen.
The terrifying possibility that her carefully constructed world was about to shatter held her completely in place.
Lily had his eyes.
She had always known it, deep down.
Every time someone commented on the baby’s striking eye color, Megan had pushed the thought away.
“She is in my office,” Megan whispered.
The walk back down the hallway felt like a death march.
Every step required conscious, deliberate effort.
Craig walked beside her, his presence commanding absolute silence from the employees they passed.
People who had been whispering moments ago now stared in stunned disbelief as the CEO escorted a junior executive back to her desk.
When they reached her office, Heather was sitting on the couch with Lily in her arms.
The junior analyst started to stand, her eyes wide with absolute panic.
Craig ignored her entirely.
His attention was fixed solely on the baby.
Megan watched the color drain completely from his face.
The recognition hit him like a physical blow.
He staggered a half-step backward.
Lily, entirely oblivious to the monumental tension in the room, offered him a bright, gummy smile.
“She has my eyes,” Craig breathed.
A ragged, broken sound escaped his chest.
Megan turned to the younger woman.
“Heather, could you give us a minute?”
Heather practically fled the room, closing the glass door behind her.
Megan sat on the couch, pulling Lily onto her lap.
She wrapped her arms around the baby defensively.
Craig remained standing in the center of the room, seemingly paralyzed.
“What is her name?” he asked, his voice thick with unshed tears.
“Lily.
Lily Foster.”
He visibly swallowed.
“May I hold her?”
Megan hesitated.
This was the point of no return.
Once she handed this baby to him, the truth was out in the open forever.
But looking at his face, seeing the raw, unguarded emotion stripping away his intimidating persona, she couldn’t refuse.
She stood up and transferred Lily into his arms.
Craig cradled his daughter with surprising, practiced tenderness.
Lily reached up immediately, her tiny fist grabbing his expensive silk tie.
A tear slipped down Craig’s cheek.
“She is perfect.”
They stood in silence for a long time.
Craig was completely absorbed in his daughter, examining her tiny fingers, her nose, the curve of her cheek.
Finally, he looked up at Megan.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know how to find you,” Megan explained softly, crossing her arms over her chest.
“We never exchanged names.
By the time I realized I was pregnant, I had already started working here.
When I saw your picture in the lobby, I realized you were the CEO.”
She shook her head, tears finally spilling over her lashes.
“Who would have believed me?
It would have looked like I was trying to trap you.
Like I was using a one-night stand to climb the corporate ladder.”
Craig’s jaw tightened.
“You thought I would accuse you of that?”
“You didn’t know me,” Megan countered.
“And I didn’t know you.”
Craig looked down at Lily’s tiny hand wrapped around his finger.
“That night meant something to me.
We connected.
Then you were gone.”
Lily began to fuss.
Craig automatically started a gentle bouncing motion that Megan had perfected over six months.
The natural way he did it made her chest tight with an emotion she couldn’t name.
“I didn’t leave because I wanted to disappear,” Megan admitted, her voice barely a whisper.
“I left because I was scared.
I plan everything in my life.
And with you, I just let go.
It terrified me.”
Craig’s expression hardened with sudden, fierce resolve.
“You’re not alone anymore.”
Megan’s stomach knotted.
“Craig, I don’t expect anything from you.”
“Don’t,” he snapped.
He immediately softened his tone as Lily startled in his arms.
“Don’t say that.
She is my daughter.
I have a daughter.
That changes everything.”
Before Megan could argue, a sharp knock hit the glass door.
Brenda pushed it open, staring in absolute shock at her boss holding a baby.
“Mr. Mitchell, the Tanaka merger presentation starts in exactly five minutes.”
Megan gasped.
“Oh my god.
I need my laptop.”
Craig stood up smoothly.
“Reschedule it.”
Brenda blinked rapidly.
“Sir, Mr. Tanaka flew in from Tokyo specifically for this meeting.”
“Then he can wait another day.”
Craig’s voice was absolute steel.
“Tell him a personal emergency has come up.
I am taking the rest of the day off.”
Brenda nodded, her eyes wide, and rushed away.
Megan stared at him in disbelief.
“You just postponed a major merger for me.”
“I postponed it because I just found out I have a daughter,” Craig corrected gently.
“Take the rest of the day off.
We need to talk about this properly.”
Megan looked down at Lily.
She nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
They drove to Craig’s penthouse apartment in his private town car.
The ride was silent, thick with unsaid questions and the heavy weight of the future.
Megan felt completely out of her depth as she stepped out of the private elevator and into the sprawling, modern apartment.
It overlooked Lake Michigan with stunning floor-to-ceiling windows.
It was pristine, expensive, and incredibly empty.
There were no photographs, no personal touches.
Just cold, perfect luxury.
Craig set the diaper bag on the massive marble kitchen island.
He poured two glasses of water and handed her one.
“I want to be clear about something,” Craig began, sitting opposite her on a white leather sofa in the living room.
“I am not trying to take her from you.
You have done an incredible job raising her alone.
But I want to be part of her life.
A real part.”
Megan held her glass tightly.
“I never put your name on the birth certificate.
Legally, she doesn’t have a father.”
A flash of sharp pain crossed his face.
“That needs to change immediately.
I want legal rights.
I want my name on that paper.”
Megan felt a surge of defensiveness.
“You found out about her two hours ago.
How do I know you won’t wake up tomorrow and decide a baby is too complicated for your perfect billionaire life?”
Craig’s eyes flashed with anger.
“You think my life is perfect?
I wake up at five every single morning.
I spend fourteen hours at the office.
I come home to this empty apartment and eat dinner alone while reading financial reports.
It is successful, yes.
But it is lonely as hell.”
The raw honesty caught Megan off guard.
“I want to be a father,” Craig continued, his voice dropping to a vulnerable whisper.
“I want to be there for everything.
First steps, parent-teacher conferences, everything.”
For the next two hours, they actually talked.
Craig told her about growing up poor in a small town, building his company from nothing, and losing everything in a recession before clawing his way back to the top.
Megan shared the intense pressures of her career, the terror of being pregnant and alone, and the overwhelming love she felt for their daughter.
Lily fell asleep on the couch between them, entirely undisturbed by the monumental shift in her universe.
“The optics at work are going to be terrible,” Megan pointed out quietly, breaking a comfortable silence.
“I should probably look for another job.”
“Absolutely not.”
Craig’s response was instant and commanding.
“You earned your position.
You are on track for Vice President.
I am not letting you throw that away because people might gossip.”
“If I get promoted, people will assume it’s because of Lily.”
“Then we establish clear boundaries,” Craig insisted.
“I will treat you exactly like every other employee.
Probably harder.”
Megan smiled faintly.
“That hardly seems fair.”
“It’s the only way,” Craig said.
He looked toward the long hallway leading to the guest bedrooms.
“I want to set up a nursery here.
So she can stay over.
So I can be a real part of her routine.”
Megan looked at the man who had just dismantled his entire day for a child he had never met.
“Okay.
We can do that.”
Over the next three months, their lives fell into a new, complicated, but beautiful rhythm.
The paternity test confirmed what they already knew.
Craig’s name was added to the birth certificate.
He threw himself into fatherhood with the exact same intensity he brought to the boardroom.
He came to Megan’s apartment every evening after work.
He learned to change diapers with military precision.
He warmed bottles perfectly.
He read board books using ridiculous voices that made Lily shriek with uncontrollable laughter.
At work, he kept his word.
The gossip was vicious at first, but Craig treated Megan with brutal professionalism.
During the rescheduled Tanaka presentation, he challenged every single one of her financial models in front of the entire board.
He grilled her on projections and risk factors.
She had fought back with flawless data, eventually securing the merger and completely silencing the rumors of favoritism.
To Megan’s surprise, the other executives rallied around her.
Sarah Jenkins, the Chief Financial Officer, shared her own struggles with balancing motherhood and corporate life over lunch.
Tyler Davis, the Chief Operating Officer, recommended a discreet nanny service that ended up being a lifesaver.
One Tuesday evening, the Chicago winter howling outside her windows, Craig was sitting on Megan’s living room floor.
He was serving as nine-month-old Lily’s personal jungle gym.
She was climbing over his legs while he made exaggerated lion noises.
Megan watched them from the kitchen, a warm ache settling deeply in her chest.
They had become a strange, perfectly functional team.
But they had carefully, almost strictly, avoided discussing their own relationship.
Craig stood up and carried Lily to her high chair.
He strapped her in, handed her a teething biscuit, and joined Megan at the dining table.
“The board wants me to do a major profile for a financial magazine,” Craig said quietly, staring down at his hands.
“If I do it, our situation is going to come up.”
Megan’s stomach tightened.
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to be honest,” Craig said, meeting her eyes.
“I want to talk about Lily.
I want to be proud of my daughter publicly.
I don’t want to hide her like a secret.
But I won’t do it if you’re not comfortable.
It affects your privacy and your career.”
Megan looked at Lily, who was happily smashing the biscuit onto her tray, oblivious to the world outside their apartment.
“Do it.
Tell our story.
I’m tired of hiding.”
Craig smiled.
The warmth in his eyes completely transformed his face.
He reached across the table and took Megan’s hand.
The contact sent a shock of electricity up her arm, a vivid reminder of the chemistry that had started all of this.
“There is something else,” Craig murmured, his thumb tracing the knuckles of her hand.
“That night in Colorado wasn’t just a one-night stand for me.
I looked for you because I felt something I hadn’t felt in years.
Maybe ever.”
He took a deep breath.
“And these past three months, getting to know you again, seeing what an incredible mother you are…
I’m falling for you, Megan.
Maybe I never stopped falling for you.”
Megan couldn’t breathe.
She had spent months building iron-clad walls to protect her heart.
She had convinced herself that they were just co-parents.
“I feel it too,” she whispered, the truth finally breaking free.
Craig stood up and moved around the table.
He kneeled beside her chair, taking both of her hands in his.
“I know we are doing this completely backward.
We had the baby first.
But I want to try this.
I want to take you on real dates.
I want to hold your hand in public.
I want to build a real family with you.”
Megan looked down at him.
Tears blurred her vision, spilling over her cheeks.
“Yes. I want that too.”
Craig pulled her up and into his arms.
When he kissed her, it felt like a culmination of every messy, terrifying, and beautiful moment that had led them to this exact spot.
Lily squealed from her high chair, clapping her messy hands as if she understood exactly what was happening.
Six months later, the magazine profile went wildly viral.
The public completely fell in love with the story of the billionaire CEO who stepped up to be a devoted father.
Megan had braced herself for criticism, but the overwhelming response was support.
Her career skyrocketed on her own undeniable merits.
She was promoted to Vice President of Strategic Development just before Lily’s first birthday.
Craig formally recused himself from the decision, ensuring no one could question her qualifications.
They dated quietly, building a foundation of trust and intimacy that went far beyond their shared daughter.
They took long walks in the park, cooked dinner together, and spent hours just talking after Lily went to sleep.
A year after that chaotic morning in the office, Craig proposed.
He didn’t do it at a fancy, five-star restaurant or on a private jet.
He did it in Megan’s tiny bathroom, while they were kneeling on the tile floor giving Lily a bath.
Lily was splashing water everywhere, soaking both of them, when Craig pulled a small velvet box from his soaked pocket.
“I bought this months ago,” he laughed, wiping bathwater from his face.
“I kept waiting for the perfect, romantic moment.
Then I realized our perfect moments are always like this.
Messy, loud, and chaotic.”
He opened the box, revealing a stunning diamond ring.
“Marry me, Megan.”
Megan looked at the diamond, then at the man she loved more than anything, and said yes.
They married in a small, private ceremony overlooking the lake.
Lily served as the flower girl, toddling down the aisle in a white dress that perfectly matched her mother’s.
Sarah Jenkins stood as the maid of honor.
Tyler Davis stood as the best man.
As Megan stood at the altar holding Craig’s hand, she thought about the morning she had walked onto the executive floor, terrified, desperate, and alone.
She had apologized for bringing her child to work.
She would never apologize for her daughter again.
“I love you,” Craig whispered, slipping the gold band onto her finger.
“I love you too,” Megan replied, tears shining in her eyes.
From the front row, Lily let out a loud, happy squeal, clapping her hands together.
The small crowd erupted into laughter.
They had done everything completely backward.
Baby first, relationship second, marriage last.
But as Craig kissed his wife, Megan knew the order didn’t matter in the slightest.
They had built a family out of a crisis, proving that sometimes the greatest mistakes lead to the most beautiful redemptions.
THE END
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Disclaimer
This story is a work of fiction inspired by real events. Names, characters, and details have been altered. Any resemblance is coincidental. The author and publisher disclaim accuracy, liability, and responsibility for interpretations or reliance. If you would like to share your story, please send it to [email protected].
