Danny Stewart, 34, was rushing to meet his partner for dinner when something on the floor of the 14th Street station in Manhattan caught his attention. He thought it was a doll. It was the legs of a newborn, wrapped in a dark sweatshirt, with the umbilical cord still partially intact.
At first, no one believed him. He called 911, called Pete Mercurio, his partner, and waited with his heart racing until the police arrived. Months later, at a court hearing, the judge asked a question neither of them expected: did they want to adopt that baby?
There were arguments, fear, and a divorce that almost happened before the yes. But two days before Christmas in 2000, Danny and Pete brought Kevin home on the same subway where they had found him. Today Kevin is 20, studies mathematics and programming, and is taller than both his fathers. “I didn’t know such a deep love existed until my son came into my life”, Pete says.
