MaryanneA Story by Maria Just based on my own life, somewhat, except without all the trauma I went through. Still even today in many cultures, young girls for one or the other get pregnant and make tough choices.
One cold, winter night, nothing but the wind, could be heard blowing, in between alley ways and down the long narrow road that led to Huntsville Town. Everything was quiet, and no one stirred about, as a storm was to be expected.
Or at least not that anyone could ever even think, that anyone in their right mind would be wandering the streets at this time of night. Yet today, was to be one of those days, where the unexpected happens, and lives will be touched and turned around, for good or for worse, no way of knowing just yet. A shadow appeared out of nowhere, walking quietly, among the cobblestone road. She was covered in a wool blanket from head to toe, and her shoes, were all worn out in the sole. She jumped over puddles, and skipped here and there. Her figure was small, and frail, yet no one would ever get to see her. As she nears Huntsville, she seems to grow more cautious and makes sure to not make a sound. Walking down Main Street, she looks here and there, and continues down the road. Finally on 5th Street, she makes a right turn and walks down a couple of blocks, and she finally stops. In front of her is a building made of bricks and its no bigger than a warehouse, and has ample parking. Its the Baptist Church of Huntsville. She makes her way, up the stairs that lead to the main entrance of the church. After standing there for about ten minutes she begins to unwrap the blanket, that is covering her, and alas, a small bundle, lies in her arms. She puts the wool blanket on the cement floor and then leans over to lay the bundle on top of the blanket and covers it up, making sure there is room for it to breathe. Tears fall over her face, and she weeps quietly, as she puts an envelope underneath the blanket, and walks away with what little clothing she had left and disappears into the dark, cold, night. The next morning, all was as normal as can be, for everyone in Huntsville. Everyone awoke and started getting ready for the day. Mrs. Betsy Palmer, was already running 15 minutes late. And she exhaled as she tried gathering her things to run down the block to open up the doors at First Baptist Church of Huntsville. Pastor Mark, would be arriving soon, and not be happy if the doors are still locked. Why did I stay up late watching that damn movie, she mutters to herself. Mr. Palmer already left for work, and she is cleaning up the kitchen and gathering her things to get our the door, when the phone rings, Hello? and with that she hurries out the door. Pastor Mark was sitting in his car, waiting for Mrs. Palmer to show up and open the door. I really need to have a copy of the main key, so this can be avoided. He knows Mrs. Palmer has gotten a tad bit slower the last year or so, and yet she still remains faithful in opening up the church each day of the week. Finally, Mrs. Palmer arrives and goes running up the steps to open the door, than, out of no where, Pastor Mark hears a scream and a squeal at the same time! He gets out of his car and goes to see what is wrong; upon arriving at the top, he sees Mrs. Palmer holding something in her arms, as she is crying out loud, Oh God, Oh Lord!, and at the same time he can hear something wailing out loud. What in the world, and gets closer. Mrs. Palmer hands over an envelope and he opens it up and reads the following: My name is Amanda Ditto, and am too young to care for my child. I hate leaving her like this, but had no where else to go. I beg you find her a good home, and let her know that I loved her, and will never stop thinking of her as long as I live. Her name is Maryanne. She was born, on the 4th of February, of this year. She is barely a week old. Thank you kindly, Amanda. ................................................................................................. A month later ................................................................................................. Pastor Mark, is sitting in his office, working on his next sermon. Yet, he has been having some difficulty concentrating, as his mind wanders off. He cant help but think of the newborn little girl, that was found a month ago, on the steps of his church. What an event! Everyone offered to have her in their household and Mrs. Palmer did not want to let go of her, yet the Pastor, knew they had to alert Child services, and a week later, Mrs. Palmer, had to give up little Maryanne to Child Services. Ever since, Mrs. Palmer was always on the downside, and very moody. He had caught her crying a couple of times, and she would say something was in her eye. He knew better. He hoped the baby would not stay long in the system. So he prayed every night, asking God to provide a good home for her. He wondered if he had done good, on behalf of the little girl. She was quite a beauty. Dark, blue eyes, and tanned colored skin, with a top full of light brown hair. She was very feisty and demanding, and of course always hungry. Out of no where he dialed Child services and inquired on behalf of Maryanne, and was told she was doing just fine, and that they would be placing her in foster care the next week. He asked if he could be told where she would be placed, and they declined to say. He thanked them, and hung up. .............................................................................................................................. Mrs. Palmer was beside herself! She should have fought harder for little Maryanne, but she knew that due to her being in her sixties, the Child Services would not think her a good fit for the baby. But if they only knew how she had longed for a babe, and never was able to conceive on her own, and from the start that she picked up the little baby, she felt a connection as no other. Mr. Palmer tried lifting her spirits up to no avail. So he decided to see if they could get permission to visit little Maryanne this week and surprise her. So he called, and was informed that little Maryanne had had an incident at a Foster home and was currently hospitalized. He managed to get permission to take his wife and visit the little girl. Mrs. Palmer was so happy when he told her they would get to see little Maryanne but he cautioned her that the baby was probably ill. So they went on a Friday afternoon, to Huntsville Hospital, and were told to go up to ICU. There they both had to put on gowns and were told to wait. Once cleared, Mrs. Palmer entered first, and behind her, followed her husband. They were taken to an incubator that was at the end of the room, and all they could see, were wires running here and there, and nothing else. The nurse told them, that Maryanne had been placed in a Foster Home that week, and on the third day, she had been nearly suffocated by a blanket. When they got near the incubator, they managed to see little Maryanne, and were shocked at what they saw. She had lost considerable weight and looked tiny and frail. Her beautiful hair had been chopped off, at different angles, and her legs were pretty bruised up. She was on oxygen at the time, and her eyes were swollen shut. Mrs. Palmer broke down and wept, while her husband held her from behind. They asked what happened and were taken out of the room. Dr. Marcus came in and asked if they were relatives and they told how they had come to known the baby. The Dr. told them that the baby was not being fed properly and the older children were jealous of her and had hit her on several occasions until one of the older boys tried suffocating her. They asked how they could get custody of her, and were told to call the Child Services and get an interview. So they went off immediately, and met, Julia Clark, the Social Worker in charge of Maryanne. She heard their story and could see how much they wanted to take care of Maryanne, but due to their age, she told them that she would see, if anything could be done. She appreciated their concern. She would talk with her boss and see what he thought. After that Mrs. Palmer would go to the hospital every day for two hours and read books to little Maryanne. After 2 weeks, little Maryanne, started reacting to her voice and each time she would hear Mrs. Palmer read to her, she would shake her hands and move her legs as if saying, keep on reading. At the end of the second week, the nurses allowed her to hold Maryanne for short periods of time. And they could see how the baby would react to her and vice versa. Eventually once Maryanne was cleared to leave the hospital, the Palmer's had been cleared to take her home temporarily, and that at the end of a 3 month period they would have to appear in family court and see what the judge would deem appropriate for the child. Pastor Mark visited them and was happy to see Mrs. Palmer back to her old self, and he could see how her eyes sparkled as well. They were looking for a lawyer to help them win full custody of Maryanne, and he was going to see if he could find them one. After 3 months had past, the time came to go to court, and the whole church went with them to give them support. They prayed over the Palmer's and little Maryanne. The judge heard the case and asked for the Palmer's health records, which they gave and asked if they had someone who would take over in case something happened, and Mr.s Palmer simply stated, that Pastor Mark and his wife would. Pastor Mark was not sure he heard correctly, but see, he was not married, as of yet, and his first love, had left him for another, so how in the world could Mrs. Palmer say such a thing! Well, he could not say he was married, so he told the truth that he was still single, but that if that was not an issue he would do what he could to help the Palmer's out and that there were more couples at his church. Well Judge told him that in order for the Palmer's to have full custody over Maryanne, he would need to get himself a wife. And everyone laughed. So, in the end the Palmer's got permission to keep Maryanne for 3 more months but that at the end of that time, if Pastor Mark had not married, they would have to turn her back in to Child's Services. So in the end, Mrs. Palmer took to putting out a big announcement, that a wife was needed for her Pastor. ............................................................................................................................ Eventually Pastor Mark became the talk of the town, as everyone was looking for a young lady, that would be to his liking and not mind his clumsiness. And so they passed the word on down to the neighboring towns, and cities. Pastor Mark was forced to create profiles on different social media and he had no clue as to why but he complied. He did not think much of this as he felt that he would never find the one. Yet, who knew, right? A month and a half later, Pastor Mark had been invited by Pastor Brian to go preach to his church in Knoxville, Tn. So he accepted and went. Had a blast, and service was good. At the end of his last day in town, an elderly lady showed up with her granddaughter, Betty. They gave him some good old minced pie for the road. Pastor Mark, stuttered a thank you, and walked on back to his hotel room. On the road trip back, he could not keep Betty out of his mind. She was a fine young woman, tall, and full at the hips, and neither was she skinny or too filled up, but her eyes, were a beauty to behold. Dark and green, full eye lashes, and he loved her freckled face. Why did it have to happen now, Lord? she lives too far! Alas, as he got close to Huntsville, his head was still thinking of her. After a week later, he called up Pastor Brian and asked about Betty and her grandmother, and Pastor Brian told him that Betty was single and her grandmother had taken care of her most of her life. She was working as an assistant nurse and loved helping those in need. So in the end Pastor Mark asked that if he could give his number to her, so she could call him, he would appreciate it. Pastor Brian chuckled and said it would be just fine. A few days later she finally called him, and he could not believe it. They talked over an hour or two and shared stories from their childhood. She was a year younger than him, and very independent. Pastor Mark, kept Betty in secret, cause he did not want Mrs. Palmer to get her hopes up high. Eventually over the next couple of days he would look forward to talking to Betty over the phone but he also wanted to see her. So they set up a meeting in Nashville, and were going to to go to a show. It went well. But see, Pastor Mark was not sure how Betty would react if he told her how he was supposed to marry within a month time, and be opened to having guardianship of a baby girl that for now would have a family with a couple from his church. Not many women would want to marry and such, so he was very afraid. Eventually, he talked to Mr. Palmer and they both talked about how to best approach this. Mrs. Palmer upon finding out got all the ladies at the church to pray fervently for everything to go in favor of Pastor Mark. ...................................................................................................... A couple of weeks later, and a week before the time ran out for Pastor Mark to get married, he and Betty were engaged. Mrs. Palmer was so happy she could not hide her tears of joy; sadly it would be short lived, as her husband died after Pastor Mark got engaged due to a clogged artery in his heart. She was sorely devastated yet she still believed it was only right for her to keep Maryanne. The baby was doing great. She had regained her lost weight and her hair had grown back, and she was crawling already and hard to keep up with. Mrs. Palmer could not be happier to see her little girl growing up so fast. Eventually, once the time came to appear before the judge, Pastor Mark and Betty were to married that same day via court. So luckily everything went well and Maryanne got to become Mrs. Palmer's daughter. And everything was good. Or so everyone thought. A couple of weeks later, a young man of twenty years of age, appeared in Huntsville. He was very rogue and looked unhealthy. No one knew where he came from and he would not talk to anyone, but he had come to this town with one thing in mind; get his baby girl and take her back with him. He had had to kill Maryanne's mother until she finally told him where she had left the baby. And he had buried her body well inside the woods. He could not believe she had taken off with his baby, and given her away, just because she did not love him! how could she do such a thing! ........................................................................................................ Before anyone knew it, Maryanne was turning five years old, and you could not find a happier little girl. She was so full of love and a happy attitude, that no one could ever doubt her mother Ms. Palmer could not love her any more than she already did. Plus the best part she had her uncle Mark who was the pastor of their church and he always gave her candy. Maryanne, could already read and write and knew her numbers, up to twenty at least. She loved Mac and Cheese, and biscuits with sausages. Her life was full of activities and the such, and she could not complain about a thing. She could ride her bike by herself now, and she could defend herself if needed. She knew not to talk to any stranger and stay away from dark and lonely places. Yet, there was a set of old train tracks down by the lumber jack yard, that she had discovered recently, and she loved going out there and play on the tracks. She always made sure to clean her shoes and not stay too long so her mom would not worry too much. It was a lovely place. There were trees, and a small creek on the right side of the tracks and birds and squirrels. She loved being in that place. And up til now no one had discovered her secret place or so she thought. .......................................................................................................... Dennis had tried in vain, asking around town about a baby girl, and no one ever dared say a thing, and he had about given up, until he ran into Mrs. Palmer one day, holding a toddler by the hand, in the grocery store. He could not believe his eyes, the girl was the smitten image of her mother except her eyes, she had his eyes. He dared look her way but disappeared. He started following her around, and found out where she lived and learned her routine. Eventually he never knew how to approach, so he ended finding an old cabin by an abandoned warehouse and took shelter there. He decided he would wait until the time was right to approach his daughter and take her away. He waited year after year until finally, he decided it was time he start gaining her trust. So he would wait for her every other day, on the path she would take to go to school, and give her a flower or a candy bar, and smile at her. He had learned her name by chance and would always say, Good morning Maryanne. She would smile and take whatever he would offer her and run off with her friends. Eventually, he would try and talk to her whenever she was in town with her mother, and be extra careful. Other times he would leave a package at the house with her name written on it. Maryanne never knew what to make of the man that would give her things, she would grab them and give them to her best friend in Kindergarten. Her friend told her she should say something but for whatever reason, she kept on insisting not to. Once he started leaving stuff for her at home, her mom would ask her, if she knew who would be leaving all these things for her and she would say, she had no idea. This went on for three months, and at the end, of that time, he started following her to her favorite spot and just look at her. Until finally, one day he approached her and asked her to come with him, but she said no, and ran off. He would than start waiting on her, and do small talk, and eventually she would not be as afraid as before but she was always cautious. One day, he finally told her that he was her dad, and that her mamma had been sick in the head the day she was abandoned, and she had no idea what he meant, for she had always been with her mother and she told him so, and ran off crying. Her mother asked her what was wrong and she only asked, Are you my real Mom? And Ms. Palmer asked her why, and she said a man had told her her mamma had left her for dead. Ms. Palmer inquired about this man and Maryanne spilled it all out. Afterwards she showed her the letter her mother had left with her and told her that from what the note said, her mother was simply too young to care for her but that she loved her. Afterwards, Maryanne was not allowed to go out by herself. And Uncle Mark got in touch with the sheriff. They had no idea what this mans name was, but they made sure to keep an eye out for him. ................................................................................. One night not long after all this, Dennis, decided to kidnap his kid if she would not go willingly with him. So he started looking for a chance to grab her. And on this night, Maryanne was out in her backyard playing with her cousin, Oli. The adults were inside the house, talking and the lights were on. Well, Dennis, was able to get inside the backyard after crawling over the fence, and he grabbed Maryanne, and the other girl started screaming, so he threw a rock on her head and knocked her out. Little Maryanne, fought hard but was unable to get loose of this stinky man. He ran over the fence and took off. Maryanne was so scared she had no idea what to do, but decided to stay quiet. He kept on repeating the same story. And she never accepted that he could be her dad. They walked for days into the woods, and she was never fed a thing, only given water. He told her he would take her far away and show her how she had to treat her old man, and that she would never go back to her old home. Maryanne would cry each and every day. ......................................................................................................... Sheriff Daniels got the call about the kidnapping and contacted the FBI, and formed a unit, to look for Maryanne. There was not much to go on, but they knew they could not give up. And right away they started looking for clues and such that could lead to her. ........................................................................................................ Ms. Palmer was taken to the hospital after she suffered a stroke and Pastor Mark and his wife, looked after her and promised to find Maryanne. They held a vigil and such and never stopped praying. .......................................................................................................... Finally after 3 weeks of being on the move, Maryanne, and her father, were looking for a river or creek to get some water to drink. Well, they ended getting near a park, and he told her to keep quiet. He put mud on her face, and covered her hair with his hat. And meanwhile Ms. Palmer was not doing good at the hospital but was fighting to stay alive so she could see her daughters face one more time. ........................................................................................................... Maryanne trudged along the creek, following the man, that was her father, or so he said. She was tired and hungry and sorely afraid of him, so she started seeing if she could see anyone that would know her in order to get help, but there were not many people at the park. Eventually, she sat down ,and started crying. Her dad, turned and smacked her hard, which made her fall off the rock she sat on into the water. And just as this happened a jogger had been passing by and saw the whole thing, so he ran towards the little girl and helped her up. Are you ok?? and she just kept on crying. Dennis told him to leave them alone and took out a knife. The jogger took off and dialed 911. ..................................................................................................................................... Dennis knew better and grabbed Maryanne roughly and started off towards the other side of the creek, while dragging the child along the way. Maryanne screamed at the top of her lungs and than she hit her head and was knocked out. .................................................................................................................................................. Sheriff and special unit got the call, and got there as quickly as possible. The location of the park was an hour away from town. And if the jogger was right the child was in extreme danger. They told Mark to not say a thing to Ms. Palmer until they knew more. As they got near the park, they were met by the jogger and he took them to where he had last seen the pair. And they saw dragging marks ahead of them leading to the other side, so they called in the hounds and took off. Meanwhile Maryanne was put in a sack, while Dennis, thinking she was dead, looked for a place to hide her body. Finally he saw a small mound of branches and dug out a hole big enough to fit the sack. And Maryanne started stirring within the sack, but kept quiet. Once he stuffed her in between the branches, he took off once more. Maryanne, waited as long as any five year old could before she tried getting out of the sack, but he had tied it good so she could not escape. It was hard to breathe, and she had wet her pants. She felt ashamed and guilty. What will mom say? And than she stayed put and cried her heart out. The hounds had picked up a scent an hour ago, and lost track twice, finally after two more hours ,they caught a sniff of something and started pulling towards a pile of branches. As they approached, one gave out a howl, and the little girl in the sack cried out in fear. Half an hour later they had found Dennis. He had fallen off a cliff that led to a pile of rocks below. He was surely dead. And Maryanne was rushed to the hospital where she was bathed, and cleaned, and her scratches and scrapes were tended to. She had a nasty gash on her forehead but otherwise was fine. They hooked her up to an iv though just to help her get the nourishment she needed, and the very next day she was taken to see her mom, whom upon seeing her cried out of joy and passed away shortly after. Little Maryanne was broken hearted yet in the end she would end up living with Uncle Mark and his family. So in spite of it all, she would still have family, but she would never forget her mom, and wished her real mamma would be alive too. But all in all, compared to other kids, she knew that she was lucky, for she never had felt unloved, yet she was now scared of older men, and was having trust issues. Her life had been scarred, but she still had a chance to live and grow up and learn to love and trust as before to an extent, and perhaps get married, later on in life. All in all she was grateful for Uncle Mark and his family, and knew that she would never be alone.
© 2017 MariaAuthor's Note
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MariaFairfax, VAAboutI write from my heart, soul and mind. Sharing both past and present trials, that I have faced and or am facing. I believe strongly in God and the Bible, yet I respect everyone's views. I myself am no.. more..Writing
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