Youre the mistake of my youth.
The girl had her baby when she was just sixteen. The boy who fathered the child was also sixteen. The details of the scandal were whispered about, then swept beneath the rug. After the child was born, the young couple broke up quickly. The moment the girl realised that her boyfriend wanted nothing to do with her or their son, she lost all interest in the child. Her parents took the little boy in and raised him like their own.
At eighteen, she vanished to another city with a new, handsome manno calls, no letters. Her parents didnt seek her out. Disappointment and bewilderment hung in the air; how could she abandon her own child? The ache and disgrace of having raised someone capable of such heartlessness was something they wore like a heavy coat.
They raised their grandson, and he grew up believing his grandparents were his true parents. He was endlessly gratefulfor the home, the education, the security of love.
When the boy turned eighteen, his cousin Elizabeth was getting married in Leeds. The family arrived for the wedding, even his biological mother. By then she was married for the third time and had two daughtersEmily, ten, and Sophie, only eighteen months old.
He was desperatedesperate to speak with his mother, meet his sisters, and above all, to finally ask, Mum, why did you leave me?
No matter how wonderful and gentle his grandparents were, a longing for his mother gnawed inside him. He had even saved the only photograph of her that survived; all the rest, his grandfather had burned. At the reception, she chatted with relatives about how extraordinary her daughters were.
And what about me, Mum? he called out.
You? She turned her indifferent gaze toward him. You were a mistake of my youth. Your father was rightI should have gotten rid of you.
She turned away, unmoved.
Seven years later, he was living in a comfortable two-bedroom flat in Manchester with his wife, Anna, and their little boythanks to the help from his grandparents and his in-laws. His phone rang from a number he didnt know.
Son, hi, your uncle gave me your number. Its your mum. Listen, I know youre living near the university where your sister will study. Could she stay with you for a while? Shes family, you know. She hates the halls, renting a place costs a fortune, my husbands left, its hardone daughters a student, ones struggling at school, the youngests about to start nursery, the voice said.
Youve got the wrong number, he replied, and ended the call.
He found his son, scooped him up, and whispered:
Right then, shall we get ready? Well visit Grandma and Grandpa for tea, and maybe see Mum as well?
And at the weekend, can we all go out to the country? his little boy asked, excitement in his eyes.
Of course we willfamily traditions are sacred, after all.
Some relatives criticised his actions, insisting he should have helped his sister. But he stands firmhis loyalty belongs to the grandparents who saved him, not to the stranger who once called him a mistake.
