Here is the story.
Unwed Mom To Marry Baby's Dad 40 Years After They Were Forcibly Separated
It was a time when getting pregnant outside of marriage was akin to being forced to wear Nathaniel Hawthorne's proverbial Scarlet Letter - a badge of shame that sent many women into hiding amid the whispers and disapproving glares of their neighbours.
Values - and birth control - have both changed that to some degree and unwed mothers face a far different life these days. Which is why what's happening in a city in Britain is so remarkable.
It involves a woman named Christine Orchard and her boyfriend Chester Locke. The two met at a club in Taunton, England in 1965 and quickly fell in love. One thing led to another, and soon Orchard found herself in what used to be called "The Family Way." Her mother agreed the 16-year-old girl could keep the baby, but only if she cut the father - a then 21-year-old Locke - out of her life forever.
She reluctantly agreed and the duo split up.
Years passed and that baby - who is now 40 years old - was raised by her grandmother. But when Tracey Orchard decided about 12 years ago to hunt down her birth parents, she didn't realize what would happen.
The well meaning daughter made contact with her birth father and knew where he was. But when both his marriage and her mother's union ended in divorce, she decided to arrange a surprise reunion between the childhood sweethearts at a local pub.
But the surprise was on her. She thought she was reuniting the long separated pair for a brief nostalgic trip down memory lane, a chance for Locke to meet the grandchildren he had never seen.
But to her amazement, her parents found that spark that had attracted them to each other in the first place was still burning strong. And before the daughter knew it, the couple was making plans to get married - the same union that had been forbidden all those years ago.
Locke is now 64. Orchard is 57. Both are acting like young lovers despite the passage of 40 years of separation.
Their daughter is flabbergasted but happy, noting she never dreamed it would end up like this.
Orchard and Locke plan to tie the knot on September 27th. Just don't expect them to have any more kids.
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