A loving father is shocked when he sees a child who looks exactly like his daughter begging on the streets and he is devastated when he discovers who she is.
Jonathan Prince was stunned when he saw the slender little figure crouched next to the dumpster, digging through the pile of take-away cartons. If he hadn’t just dropped off May at her ballet lesson, he would have thought he was looking at his daughter.
He crossed the street and walked towards the little girl, and as she saw him, she stood up and stretched out her hand. “Please,” she whispered. “Please mister, I haven’t eaten in days and I can’t go home without money…” Looking into those big blue eyes, Jonathan’s heart stopped.
Jonathan had always wanted a big family, and when he’d met Sandra, he believed she shared his dream. What Jonathan didn’t realize was that Sandra would have said anything he wanted to hear, anything at all.
Jonathan was just 32 but he was already a partner at his law firm. He was a pleasant-looking man and a thoroughly nice and honest person. He was a find, as rare as an orchid in a desert, especially for a woman on the make like Sandra.
You can’t hide your true nature forever.
Six months after they started dating Sandra, fell pregnant by ‘accident,’ and Jonathan immediately proposed. They married and the future dad was delighted when the doctor announced that Sandra was expecting twins.
“Twins?” Sandra cried. “It can’t be!”
“Yes indeed,” said the doctor. “Identical twin girls, Mrs. Prince! Two little peas in the pod.”
Sandra frowned. “I can’t handle two! It’s bad enough raising ONE…”
Jonathan looked at her in surprise. “But I thought you WANTED children! Lots of children… Honey, you’re just in shock and nervous…”
He tried to put his arm around her but she pushed him away. “YOU wanted lots of children, OK? I always thought one was more than enough!” For Jonathan, this was a harsh blow, but only the first of many.
Over the next six months, Sandra revealed herself to be selfish, capricious, and cruel. Jonathan pampered her, thinking constantly of his unborn babies and telling himself it was the hormones that were affecting his wife’s sweet character.
But the worst was yet to come. Sandra went into labor, and like so many twin pregnancies, it ended in a Cesarian section. Jonathan waited anxiously in the corridor outside the OR. When the doctor walked out, Jonathan knew from his expression that something had gone wrong.
“Sandra?” he asked anxiously. “Is she OK?”
The doctor nodded. “Your wife is fine Mr. Prince, but unfortunately one of your daughters didn’t survive. I’m very sorry…”
Jonathan sobbed out his pain alone in that corridor, but when he walked into Sandra’s room, he was calm and composed. He had to be there for her. He couldn’t imagine the pain she’d be going through at the loss of one of their little girls.
Sandra was very upset and she refused to even look at their surviving baby. “I can’t!” she sobbed. “Take her away…”
So it fell to Jonathan to care for little May. He hoped that as time went by Sandra would come to terms with their loss, but she never did.
Her only consolation seemed to be going out with her friends from her single days as if she was pretending the pregnancy away. Jonathan tried to talk to Sandra, tried to convince her to get help.
“HELP?” she screamed. “You want me to get help to forget I lost my baby girl? After all I’ve suffered? Are you a monster?” Jonathan never spoke of it again and focused on raising his daughter as best as he could on his own.
May was now five, and here was this tiny, thin little girl with her blue eyes and her delicate features looking up at him and begging for help. “Hi sweetie,” Jonathan said gently, going down on one knee in front of the little girl. “Why don’t we go have a hamburger?”
Jonathan watched as the child devoured a burger and fries in record time, then he asked, “Honey, where is your mommy?”
The blue eyes turned up to him. “My real mommy gave me away. She didn’t want me. I live with my foster mom, Laura.” the child said. “She is very sick and needs a lot of medicine so Kyle and me, we have to ask for money on the streets…”
Jonathan was horrified, especially when he realized that the ‘medicine’ Laura needed were bottles of bourbon! This girl…she looked so much like May it was uncanny! So he asked, “So what’s your name, and when’s your birthday?”
“I’m Ellen,” the girl said. “My birthday is on April 5th and I’m five years old!”
Jonathan felt all the blood drain from his body. April 5th was May’s birthday! This was too much of a coincidence! This child was his daughter, May’s twin! “Please take me to your foster mom’s house,” Jonathan asked Ellen.
As Ellen opened the door, Jonathan heard a woman snarl. “You and Ellen. You better get me what I need or you’ll be out on the streets! No one else will want you, believe me! Your mothers didn’t want you! Only me…”
When she saw Jonathan, the foster mother was frightened. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” she screamed.
“I’m calling the police,” Jonathan said. “And I’m taking these children!” He gave his hand to Kyle, a sweet-faced boy of about seven, and led him and Ellen out of the house.
A police investigation revealed Laura’s exploitation of the children, and a DNA test proved that Ellen was Jonathan’s daughter.
Jonathan learned that Sandra had bribed the doctor to tell him that the second baby was dead, and gave her up for adoption so she wouldn’t have to raise two children. Her despicable behavior was cited during the divorce and she didn’t get a dime of Jonathan’s money.
Jonathan adopted Kyle too, and May was delighted to have a brother and a sister. Jonathan’s dream of a big family finally came true!