My Baby My Girl

Episode 5

“Daddy please” She begged.
She had left the streets, cried in the arms of
Tonia and thought of a million things she could
do. Tonia and her Aunt couldn’t take me in, her
aunt was a retired nurse, they weren’t exactly
well to do, no friend wanted another pregnant
friend to feed, and parents would frown to have
their kids around her. She couldn’t run away,
the money she had might last her what? a
couple of hours or a couple of days at least, she
lived off her family, she hadn’t even found a job
since she graduated.

Tonia suggests going for abortion again “My
father will kill me” she had told her, tears
dropping down her eyes

“Well he might. He’ll be angry for awhile, but the kid is gone and in a couple of months all will be forgotten” Tonia had said “Let’s go.

The boy Sean didn’t even want to listen to you,
or know whether what you say was true. I mean
it took you a month to remember and I am sure
you both were so drunk and stoned that night
that the events just suppressed in your minds, I
can’t believe he just left like that’’ Tonia says

They had gone back to the O’Connor’s house, it was only the maid at home, she told them that
Sean wasn’t coming back, he was relocating out of the city to another, his parents were out of
town and wouldn’t be back for months and there was no way she was giving a stranger their
contact details.

“My father will kill me” Megan cried again as
they left

“Abort the baby!!’’ Tonia persisted
Megan shook her head “I have to go home first,
I can’t, not without their permission, I can’t, they will kill me, disown me… I can’t !” she repeats

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Megan comes back home to find her mother
crying, her father pacing, he turns and asks her,
his eyes bloodshot.

“Where is he??’’
“I am sorry daddy, please” she went on my
knees and begged, Tonia sighs falling to her
knees to beg too. Megan told her father what
happened, she told him the boy left.
Her mother gasps, a fresh flow of tears gushes
down her face, her father was beyond furious
“How could you be so careless and bring this
shame upon yourself? how, it’s because of her
right… this wayward friend you have?’’ he points to Tonia, coming towards her.

“Daddy, I am sorry, it’s my fault. Mummy
please, scream and shout at me just
don’t..don’t..send me away” Megan bursts out crying

“You are a disgrace!!!’’ her father spat. “A
disgrace, how do I look at the congregation of
people in church, how do I talk in public and be
able to counsel families and people’s children
and not be able to tame my daughter and make
sure she lives right? You have ruined me Megan,
you have soiled my reputation and everything I
have built over the years, you are a disgrace, a
DISGRACE!!!’’ he spat again

“I am sorry daddy” but he turns away “Mum,
mum please “ Megan crawls to her mother but
she turns away, crying into her handkerchief..
Broken, she lays on the floor and cried.

“You get out of my house, get out now!!!’’ her father thunders at Tonia, she gets up and runs outside.

Megan knew she wouldn’t leave alone unless
she was sure she was safe, she could feel her
standing behind the closed door

“This is what you will do Megan, good thing you
are no longer a child, you will get married and
you will give birth to their child in the confines of
a home and you will leave my house to your
husband’s. You will not abort because my faith
is against killing an innocent child but you will
bear the consequences of you carelessness”
“Father what are you saying?’’ shock vibrates through Megan’s body

“You heard me, we would find you someone who wouldn’t mind marrying you carrying another’s man spawn, and you will mend your ways and your life, but not under my roof” he says walking away

“Mother, I can’t marry a total stranger, not one I do not love or know “

“You should have thought about that when you
decided to indulge your youthful exuberance and
decided not to think of nobody but yourself.
Your actions doesn’t only affect you but it affects all of us, your father’s reputation and prestige is on the line, what about me? How do I raise my head up, how do I teach people’s children and yet I couldn’t handle mine? You have done a bad thing and it is sad you have brought an innocent child to suffer for it. You will marry Megan and save your shame because if you don’t you will be called names and worse how do you cope? Who would want to marry and love you? You see? It is for your own good! so you
will settle, you will marry and I am sure your
father will find you a good man, you will do what
your father has said, you have to. At least we
want to secure your future and the future of that
child, you have no choice Megan”

“No mother no please don’t make me” she cried grabbing her mother’s hand, she pulls it away,

she shakes her head from side to side, No! this
wasn’t happening Her father comes out, looks at her and without saying another word he leaves. she was not allowed to go out nor were friends allowed to see her, especially Tonia. No one else knew she was pregnant except Her parents, Tonia and the boy who left.

Then the fights began, and her morning
sicknesses became worse. Megan rejected the
suitors whom her father brought, they were old
men who already had been married once or
twice or who had children or was widowed and
didn’t mind a young girl with something cooking
in the oven. But she did.

No matter how bad her situation was, she didn’t
want to settle, she didn’t want to settle for a life
she didn’t want.

She and her father fought more, her mother got
tired of it all. One day during their fights, she
told them she was going to abort it and they
told her that if she did, she should consider
herself disowned, they wouldn’t have a daughter who was a murderer.

One day, frustrated she decided to sneak out of
the house to do it, while she waited her turn, she
saw a girl coming out of the theater screaming
and crying in pains, as the fear tickles her toes
up to her spine, she grabs her bag and ran, she
didn’t look back.

She was three months now, slightly showing and
her father had given her an ultimatum, marry
now or leave and never come back.

She stood at the door, holding her stomach, not
knowing what to do. It took her a few days to
make up her mind. And when she did, she
dropped a letter telling her parents how sorry
she was, for the pains, humiliations and all that
she had caused them, and that she knew they
meant well and they loved her and that she
loved them back. She told them that she knew
she was careless and it was her mistake, HERS
alone, so she would take full responsibility for it
and she would not settle for more mistakes , to
be forced into an unhappy home with a man
whom she didn’t know nor loved and to bring
up her child in that home, was something she
wouldn’t do.

She was a single mum, and she would take
responsibility for her mistake. She looks back at
the house she grew up in, the love and
happiness they all shared, with tears in her eyes
and her heart shattering, and with the little
money she had saved, she carries her bag, and
left in the early hours of the next morning.

She didn’t know where she was going to or what she was going to do or how she was going to survive. She just knew she had to live, and she
had to survive.

And she did.

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Sean pulls over and stops as someone waves
him , crossing the road and jumping into the car.