It was said that the girl had come over to babysit a baby girl and a baby boy. The pair was her niece and nephew at the time—a teenage girl getting ready to graduate high school who was intelligent but quite shy. The girl grew up in a culturally prominent, but lower socio-economic part of town in East Knoxville, home of the notable Austin East High School, where someone’s mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, or cousin knew who you were, and it might not always be a good thing. Yes, the community where she lived was close-knit and well-connected, the gossip alive and well per usual.

At first, the girl hung around the older brother of the babies. His younger brother and younger sister. The two families knew each other well and had attended the same church. Like the girl, the boy was a teenager but a year younger. He was said to be a new dad with a little girl—a handsome young male who never failed to communicate with his wit, charm, and charisma.

This boy asked the girl to talk with him for a while. The girl knew better and planned on avoiding the boy during her time there. She was only here to look after her kin. She wished he would leave her be.

He looked back at her smilingly, and said “you know you want to, let’s have some fun for a little while upstairs”

The girl thinks. Her feet started to move in his direction.

The boy gets the girl that day. The girl gets a delayed surprise later.

About five months later, after experiencing some heaviness in her stomach, the girl discovered she was pregnant. She tells her mother of this news, and her mother responds in disbelief and displeasure.

“We are already connected to this family and now you’ve gotten pregnant by that boy!”

The girl becomes worried and concerned. Then she gets angry at her predicament. Then she becomes numb. Before her mother even tells her what to do, she knows the answer.

She cannot keep her baby. She sits in disbelief. Not a girl like her. No that is not what is supposed to happen. The girl didn’t even know this could happen like this. She thought back to how that short time she spent with the boy brought forward this new concern. How reckless. The neighborhood would talk. The church would disapprove. This is just not a good look.

The girl does not tell the boy that she’s pregnant. She knows she should but thinks maybe it’s for the best. He already has another child to take care of and is only a teen. Yes, he would not be able to take care of her baby either. Adoption with a good family is best now.

 No one will know. Just her and her mother.

The girl ends up giving birth. The girl and her mother planned to handle the adoption as fast as possible. There was said to be a couple found. But they wanted to get the boy’s consent.

The girl and her mother said no. That adoption path fell through.

All this time, the baby boy is still in the hospital.

No person has filed a notice of intent to claim paternity or acknowledgment of the baby’s paternity.

The mother never saw her baby boy either. He has her eyes, though. Cautiously curious and always alert.

The Department of Child Services reached out to the girl to get her to release her child to them but to no avail. No callbacks. No address.

The boy has not been reached. He does not know his son has been born. Simply a carbon copy of him in baby form. The eyebrows, the smile, the big head.

The baby boy will never know any of this.

The baby is happy, however, and was placed in temporary care with an older Canadian couple locally who had done this job many times for many years. He has other foster brothers that he can play with so his joy is still continued.

Oh yes, we have found a new home for the baby boy. She’s a single Christian woman, economically stable and ready to welcome this child.

It’s all okay now.

Yes, he should be all okay now.