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.”