A woman forces her 16-year-old girl to give her baby up for adoption, but years later her remorse leads her to bring up her daughter and her child together. Grace Washington wanted something better for her daughter than she had had for herself, so she pushed Daria to excel academically, in sports, and in her music. Grace was going to make sure that Daria had a chance at a better life.
Grace’s plan for her daughter’s future seemed to be ruined when the 16-year-old Daria broke some shocking news to her mom. “Mom,” she said in a frightened, trembling voice, “I’m pregnant.”
“PREGNANT!” shouted Grace angrily. “You stupid girl!
Do you want to ruin your life? Look at me! I was a teenage mother and my life is hell.”
“Mama,” whispered Daria, “I spoke to my school counselor and she said I could still finish high school, have my baby, and go to college…There are programs.”
“You told some stranger first before you talked to your mama?” screamed Grace.
“Does this counselor put food on the table? Tell me that! Is she going to wipe that child’s butt?
Get up for 3 am feeds?”
“No mama, but…” Daria said nervously. “There are no buts, here, Daria. You’re not keeping that child.
You have a scholarship to Julliard because of that there violin, and they’re not going to be wanting you with a sack of diapers in your hand and a baby on your back.”
Daria was crying. “No, mama, I want my baby!”
“You don’t know what you want, Daria,” Grace cried, “I’ll tell you what you want, and it ain’t some snotty-nosed brat on your tit while I pay the bills! You’re going to give that baby for adoption to some good family, and you’re going to have a future.”
Grace wanted the best for her daughter and she believed that giving up her baby was the only way to safeguard her future.
And so when her baby was born four months later, Daria gave her baby away and signed the papers. Two months later she was in college. The pain of losing her baby would come late at night when she couldn’t sleep.
In those dark hours, her arms and her breasts would ache, she could smell the baby’s sweet scent. She’d whisper the baby’s secret name to herself, “Melody,” and smile even as the tears ran down her cheeks. But Grace was right about one thing, Daria was enormously talented and by the time she was 26 she was a star soloist traveling all over the world, playing her violin with some of the greatest conductors and prestigious orchestras.
When she was 34, Daria met a man who made her smile, a kind, quiet man and she fell in love. Daria and Robert married and talked about starting a family. Daria gave up her touring and concentrated on recording, expecting she’d be pregnant very soon.
But the pregnancy just didn’t happen. Robert and Daria consulted fertility specialists and tried IVF, but nothing worked. After four years, Daria was at breaking point.
All she could think about was the baby she’d given up. “God is punishing me,” she told her mother bitterly, “I gave His gift away, now He won’t give me another.”
“Calm down, Daria,” said Grace. “You did what you had to do and look at your life.
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