When Angela Bennington lifted the crying baby out of the bassinet, she discovered two birth certificates of the children whose names were Rachelle and Shane Crow. Angela did her best to soothe and comfort the crying baby girl while her husband, Cort tried to talk to the little boy who was still playing with his toys.
“Hey buddy, what’s going on?” He asked him. The little boy put his toys down and turned to face Cort.
“Shhh…” he said. “Mommy and daddy are sleeping forever… Mommy told me that if we are really good, someone will take us…are you going to take us?”
Angela’s heart sank into her stomach as she heard what the little boy had told Cort. She managed to console the baby girl and had to fight back her tears. Not only was this situation itself, sad but the baby girl who couldn’t have been any older than four months which would have been the same age as her daughter that was stillborn. Holding this baby girl in her arms was a devastating reminder of the baby girl that she lost and she desperately wanted to keep Rachelle to herself…
Angela found yet what appeared to be a note along with the birth certificates.
“To whom it may concern: my husband overdosed on heroin and he left me with nothing… the reason we were staying in this hotel was because he spent all of his money on his habit. I ended up selling my body to be sure that we had some sort of shelter and I have nothing. I have failed as a good mother to my children as I cannot raise them and provide the life that they deserve. Please call my sister as I know my children will be better off with her. Whenever they are old enough, I want them to see this letter because I want them to know that I gave my life up to make sure that they would get a better life and a chance that they deserve. I gave up my life because I love them so much and they deserve better than I could give… ” she left a phone number on the paper with the name, Camille Rattleghourd.
Angela and Cort were able to get a hold of Camille, thankfully, and they had to call authorities to resolve the issue. When Camille had arrived, it was discovered that she had only lived three blocks from their house. The children had to temporarily go into state custody until Camille had been granted custody.
When she finally was in favor of custody, she realized that she did not have time to take care of the baby girl as Shane had a variety of health issues, development issues, and emotional issues. Every day, her main priority was taking care of Shane and trying to rehabilitate him because of the horrible environment he had grown to know and she felt like it wasn’t fair to the baby girl.
On a whim, she called the couple who found the children. She didn’t want to separate Shane and Rachelle, and it was perfect how close by they lived to one another. She also realized how good Angela had been to the baby and how motherly she was.
When Camille asked them to take custody of Rachelle, Angela was overjoyed with happiness because in a way, she felt like her daughter was reborn. She would get the daughter back that she lost. Camille signed over custody rights to Angela and Cort and Rachelle became a part of their family under the agreement that Rachelle and Shane would have the chance to know each other and see each other but they couldn’t know the truth of their tragedy until they were old enough to understand…