A woman abandons her newborn baby on the seat of a business jet because she fears she won’t be able to take care of him, but when her situation improves a few years later, she decides to find him and take him in.
‘Pregnant?! You must be out of your mind, Rhonda!’ – shouted at her by her father, David Harris, when he found out she was pregnant with her boyfriend Peter’s baby.
Rhonda, unlike Peter, came from a wealthy family, her father owned a large textile company. Unfortunately, her mother died when she was only two years old, so her father raised her alone.
Mr Harris provided his daughter with the best of everything – clothes, food, education – but he was also a very controlling man who did not want his daughter to go against his wishes.
When Rhonda found out she was pregnant, she tried to hide it from her father by wearing oversized clothes, but as the baby bump became more and more visible, she could no longer hide it. She decided to tell Mr Harris about her pregnancy, but he wasn’t impressed. “You’re going to get rid of this baby, Rhonda. Do you understand?”
‘No, Daddy,’ 16-year-old Rhonda declared adamantly. “I’m not going to terminate the pregnancy. It’s too late and I can’t terminate the pregnancy.”
‘Then you’ll have to decide for yourself how to raise this child,’ Mr Harris warned her. “No one in our family has ever dared to marry someone from a lower class. So if you want to bring up that man’s blood, get out of my house!”
‘Okay, Daddy,’ Rhonda said after a short pause, her eyes filling with tears. “Maybe if Mum were alive, she’d support me. But that’s okay. I’ll raise the baby on my own and prove you wrong.”
Rhonda packed her things and left that evening, severing all ties with her father. Mr Harris was not the least bit embarrassed and slammed the door behind her, ordering her to return only after she had had an abortion or given the baby to an orphanage.
Rhonda didn’t say a word and ordered a taxi to Peter’s house. When she arrived, she explained that she had left her father’s house because he refused to accept their child and that she wanted to start a new life with him. But, to her shock, Peter refused to take responsibility for the child.
‘Listen, baby,’ he said. “I’m not ready to be a father. And why did you leave your father’s house? He could have helped us financially when we got married and decided to start a new life. Get rid of this baby or forget about me, Rhonda.”
Hearing this, Rhonda was shocked. “But Peter, it’s our baby. How can you?”
“Look, Rhonda, this baby and you are causing me nothing but trouble right now. You know what, just forget about us! It’s over!”
‘Peter!’ Rhonda cried. “You were so happy when you found out you were pregnant! What happened?”
“Because you’re a nobody now, baby. Your father kicked you out and I can’t raise this baby, so goodbye,” he said and slammed the door in her face.
Rhonda’s life had been turned upside down in one night! She couldn’t believe she was heavily pregnant and neither her father nor her boyfriend cared about her! She left Peter’s house that night, crying inconsolably, and wandered the streets, not knowing where life would take her.
Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her stomach and she went into labour. The pain was excruciating and she kept begging passers-by to help her. Fortunately, one woman spotted her and with the help of her driver, helped Rhonda to get to her car and take her to the hospital.
That night Rhonda gave birth to a baby boy, and when she woke up, the woman who helped her, Angela Bamford, was sitting by her bedside.
‘Thank you for helping me,’ Rhonda said in a low voice. ‘My baby…he’s safe, right?’
‘He’s perfectly fine,’ Mrs Bamford assured her. “Are you new in town? I noticed you’re carrying your luggage.”
Rhonda couldn’t hold back her tears. She burst into tears and told Mrs Bamford the story of how she came to be here. ‘I don’t want to live here anymore,’ Rhonda sobbed. “I just want to get out of Texas. But I’m not sure I can provide a good life for my child.”
Mrs Bamford felt terribly guilty towards Rhonda, not only because she was a homeless mother deciding whether to bring up her child or not, but because she reminded her of her own daughter.
‘Don’t say that, dear,’ Mrs Bamford consoled her. “I had a daughter your age. When we found out she was pregnant, we were furious and kicked her out of the house.”
“My husband owns an airline and we were rich enough to support our daughter. But we were against such a young pregnancy. I’m sorry I couldn’t help her. She killed herself because she couldn’t take it all. I don’t want anyone else to go through that! It’s a horrible place to be in.”
‘I’m so sorry to hear that,’ Rhonda said, wiping away her tears.
‘I’m sorry for her too,’ Mrs Bamford added. “However, it’s too late now. Don’t worry, I’ll help you. I can book a ticket for you. See to it that your child has a good life in her new place.”
‘Oh no,’ Rhonda exclaimed. “You’ve already done a lot for me. I’m afraid I can’t do you the favour in return.”
‘Please,’ Mrs Bamford begged. “If I help you, it will be like I helped my daughter. And it will help me get rid of my guilt.”
At that moment Rhonda couldn’t refuse Mrs Bamford. She agreed to the ticket and a few days later was flying business class from AUS to JFK, ready to start her life anew.
However, as she sat on the plane with her baby in her arms, she constantly worried about her ability to provide a good life for him.
“What if I can’t take care of my baby? What if he lives on the streets with me?” These thoughts so preoccupied Rhonda that she didn’t notice the flight was over and the pilot announced her arrival at JFK airport.
Rhonda was horrified to realise that she would be alone in a foreign city with a newborn baby and no means of support. Her thoughts began to spin, her heart racing with anxiety at the thought of what lay ahead for her and her son.
It was at that moment that she made an agonising decision. She decided to leave the baby on the plane, hoping that someone would take him and give him a good life.
She waited for the people in the neighbouring seats to leave and when she saw that no one was looking, she left her son on the seat, along with the note she had written earlier, and quickly exited the plane. It took all her strength not to look back and snatch her child back, but she decided it was for the best.
When one of the flight attendants, Lynsey, approached the seat after the passengers had left, she was shocked to find the infant. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for the baby as she read the note Rhonda had left with him.
I’m a poor mother who couldn’t take care of her child. Don’t waste your time looking for me if you find this note. I could never give him a good life. I hope you will accept and cherish him as your own. I’d be glad if you’d call him Matthew. Matthew Harris. That’s the name I chose for him.
After nearly a decade of struggle, Rhonda had finally found a stable job, and her financial situation was not bad. However, there wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t regret leaving her son behind on the voyage.
After moving to New York City, she was homeless for almost 7 years and spent the remaining seven years trying to find a steady income and renting. Eventually things got better and she thought she could provide for her son with everything he needed.
Of course, she was ashamed of what she had done in the past, and she feared her son would never accept her. But she decided to take a chance and meet her boy for the first and possibly last time. Unfortunately, she was right in thinking that things would go wrong.
“My mum? You’ve got to be kidding me!” Matthew pounced as she met his gaze. “Where have you been all these years? I don’t need you! I’m happy with my foster parents.”
At those words from Matthew, Rhonda’s eyes glazed over. She went to the local police for help, telling them her whole story, and luckily one of the officers helped her find her son.
At first she was afraid she would never find Matthew, for he could have been adopted by anyone in the world and given a different name. She was lucky: she searched in New York and found him there under the name she had given him.
She contacted Matthew’s adoptive mother, explaining why she gave him up and chose the name Matthew Harris for him. It turned out that the boy had been adopted by flight attendant Lynsey and her husband. She questioned whether to introduce Rhonda to Matthew after she abandoned him, but eventually agreed to give her a chance to explain herself after hearing her story.
‘I’m so sorry, Matthew,’ Rhonda said. ‘I know you’re upset and don’t want to accept me, but can’t you just give me one chance?’
‘No way!’ – The boy shouted. “You’re an evil woman who left me all alone. If my parents hadn’t adopted me, I’d be in an orphanage today!”
‘But Matthew,’ Rhonda said. “I didn’t want to do this. Won’t you let me explain why I left you?”
Matthew didn’t want to do it, but after pleading with his parents, he agreed. Rhonda didn’t tell him about the early pregnancy and how she was kicked out because he was only 13. But she did tell him that she had been poor and that his father had abandoned her.
Lynsey explained that Rhonda had had a hard time providing him with a good life, so she’d given up on him. However, Matthew still didn’t want to acknowledge her as his mother. ‘I can forgive you, maybe,’ he said. “But I can’t call you mum. I only have one mum.”
‘It’s okay, Matthew,’ Rhonda said. ‘Can I come and see you at least on the weekends?’
‘Okay, I don’t mind,’ the boy said.
Ten years have passed since that fateful day. Matthew is now 23 years old and works as a data analyst in New York City. Over time, he has forgiven Rhonda for what she did and accepted her as his mother, realising that everything she did was an obsession.
Rhonda recently met a man named Andrew at work, and they have been dating for a month. Rhonda wants to marry him, but she intends to talk to Matthew about it first. She also met Mrs Bamford when she went to Texas two years ago, and the older woman was glad it worked out for her.
What can we learn from this story?
- Time heals all things. Over time, Matthew realised that Rhonda wasn’t entirely to blame for what happened on that fateful day when she left him.
- There was no point in dwelling on the past. Matthew realised this and forgave Rhonda.
