I took in the nine daughters that my first love left behind, believing I was giving them a future. I never expected they were the ones holding onto a past that would change everything I thought I knew.Hi readers, my name is Daryl, and here’s my story.Since high school, I’d only ever loved one woman, Charlotte. But we were never able to be together.Years later, she died at age 35, leaving behind her nine daughters with no parents. All four of the girls’ fathers were unable to take them in. Two had died, one was in prison, and the other had left the country.But the truth was, none of the fathers actually wanted to be parents.When I heard what happened to Charlotte and her kids, through a former high school friend who helped me keep tabs on her life, I couldn’t just walk away. I immediately discovered where the children had been taken and arrived unannounced.

I’ll never forget the look on the social worker’s face when I told her I wasn’t leaving without all nine girls.The adoption process took time, especially because I was essentially a stranger.But the social worker didn’t want the girls stuck in the system or separated, so she fast-tracked the process. Soon enough, all the girls were living with me under a trial period.People called me insane. I had moments when I believed they were right.My parents were so unsupportive of my decision that they even stopped calling me!People would whisper, loud enough for me to hear, behind my back, “What’s a man like him doing with nine girls who look nothing like him?”