Page 37 - DAPHNE HART - MY MAMA STORY (AUDIO VERSION)

We could have made it together. The little I knew about love—I did
love him. He was kind and affectionate and funny. He was the first

person who ever told me that I was pretty. And of course, he was

handsome.

So we became friends, and all was going well—until he said he got an

opportunity to go to England. I begged him not to go, not to leave me
alone, to no avail. I was just a few weeks pregnant and didn’t know it.

So he took off, with a promise to send for me.

I never met his family or any friends of his. I was completely all alone.

I got a couple of letters that had no real meaning. But after the baby

was born—and it was a girl—I guess he was disappointed, and really
didn’t love me like I thought he did. In those days, men wanted boys. I

got some letters with empty promises, and then the letters slowed down.
The last letter stated that he had gotten some other girl pregnant, and if

he didn’t marry her, he could be deported—which, of course, I was

hoping for. But it was a lie.

And with that, my entire world came crashing down. Back in those

days, girls were not important. If it’s a boy, well, that’s a different story.

I worked all nine months as a domestic help and lived on the premises,

getting a few shillings and something to eat. They had a cook, a

housemaid, a gardener, and a driver. After the baby was born, I had
nowhere to go. So the cook—a very kind lady—suggested I stay with

her and her two daughters until I could sort things out. It wasn’t long

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