When I arrived in Montana, it was nothing like he had promised. In fact, he had not secured family housing at all. Each day, he would sneak me in the men’s only dorm. It was beyond humiliating. Even more, because he was a collegiate athlete, he wasn’t allowed to work. All of his meals came from the meal plan included in his college scholarship. After each meal he would sneak food out and bring it to the dorm.
It wasn’t long before his coach found out that I was on campus. He was told to get me out of there or risk losing his scholarship. When my VA and social security money hit my account, we found an apartment. Things were going well, and I enrolled in Bozeman High School to finish my last year. During the Thanksgiving break we visited his family in Philadelphia. Repeatedly, they would ask me how old I was. I would look down and say, ask him. Of course, he would lie, but no one said anything.
Right before my eighteenth birthday, I found out I was pregnant. I was so scared. I could barely take care of myself, how was I going to take care of a child. Oddly, he was happy. He told me everything was going to be okay. He took me to apply for food stamps and Medicaid. It was like he’d been through this before. I would later find out that my daughter was his fourth child.
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