Conception: Callie Douglas - Book Six

Chapter Ten

"Daisy is going to play in the waiting room for a few minutes with Leslie while I talk with you in my office", I said. I led the hesitant mother into the therapy room and sat down on my interviewer's chair. I thought for a moment, wondering where to begin. "Mrs. Ryder, I had a good time playing with Daisy over the last few days. She's a wonderful child."

"Yes, she is. She's a good girl."

"She said that she doesn't have a father. Is her father not around?" Mrs. Ryder began to look uneasy.

"No. He isn't around."

"If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"

"I'm twenty-six."

"So you were fifteen when you had Daisy?"

"Yes." She stared down at her clasped hands and shifted in shame.

"What did the members of your church say?"

"I don't know. We moved shortly after having Daisy."

"That must have been traumatic for you. Having a child so young, it must have been hard to have been moved from your support network." Privately, I wondered why they had moved and suspected that members of the congregation – or even the pastor – suspected the truth behind Daisy's parentage.

"It was all right. I had my family. My parents have been very supportive and have played a central role in Daisy's upbringing."

"When did you leave your husband?"

"I didn't."

"Were you ever married?"

"No. I changed my name legally to Mrs. Ryder to cover for the fact that I've never been married. People don't like it when you aren't married and you have a child."

"Did your boyfriend ever find out about your pregnancy?"

"My boyfriend?"

"Daisy's father."

"Oh. Yes, he knew."

"Does he provide support for the baby?"

"Yes, he does."

"Is your boyfriend, the person Daisy calls Papa, her father?"

She looked surprised. "Derek? No. I just met him three years ago."

"That's wonderful. Are you happy?"

She smiled. "I love him very much."

"That's nice to hear", I said. "But are you happy?"

"Yes. He makes me happy. And he doesn't mind that I have a daughter already."

"Have you found that a problem in meeting men? That they don't like the fact that you have a child?"

She nodded her head. "Yes. And the fact that I wasn't married. I have gone out with a couple of men since Daisy's birth, but when they found out that I had never been married they decided that I wasn't the right person for them. They blamed me for the pregnancy. Derek is different. He knows that I have never been married and he doesn't hold that against me. He loves me anyway."

"I'm happy to hear that. It's important to meet people who are supportive. Where do you meet people?"

"At church. That's why the fact that I wasn't married has been an issue. People who attend church usually don't want to settle down with unwed mothers."

"Do you work outside the home?"

"No, I don't. My father won't let me. He supports the family. He said that it's my job to raise Daisy, to teach her how to write and do arithmetic, to teach her how to be a good child in the way that God intended."