Jonathan Husbands had largely lived out most of his life. He was 65-years-old and always wondered why his step-father never fully embraced him or what was the cause of so many hush-hush quips and stares that locals would give him. Now, with his 84-year-old mother on her deathbed, she revealed to him that he was the product of a rape.
It turns out that when she was 19 or 20 years old, her parents took a married family man into their home as a tenant. On one fateful day, he took her aside and forced his way on her. A pregnancy results from the rape leading to the birth of Mr. Husbands.
Society was very different during her youth and a rape victim would likely get no sympathy. Likewise, she would be blamed for the attack and any child resulting from it would be viewed with derision. Her family would also suffer great public shame. For this reason, they married her off to a widower in his fifties with children he was still raising. The marriage was one of convenience. She would cook and clean for him and his children, and she got to make use of his good name to escape her reproach.
Now that Mr. Husbands knew the truth, he better understood why his mother put up with spouse abuse from her husband. While the circumstances of his upbringing were as tragic as was his conception, he now understands that his mother loved him deeply and sacrificed so much for him to get what little semblance of normalcy he enjoyed.