He still didn’t offer his daughter a hug. Maybe if he showed her any affection, God would strike him dead for consorting with the enemy.
Janie looked him right in the eye. “Will I ever be going back to Whitesboro?”
“Probably not,” her father answered as he stepped out into the hallway. “But we’ll figure all that out in good time. We’ll have to talk to Aunt Ruthie before we decide where you’ll be living after you leave here.”
“Yes, sir.” She followed him to the door and watched him hurry down the hallway and turn the corner. It wasn’t until he was out of sight that she let one tear escape.
Greta crossed the room and handed Janie a tissue. “Not exactly the way you thought you’d be spending Christmas Day, is it? Who was that man?”
“That was my father, the Reverend Arnold Jackson.” Janie dried her eyes and blew her nose. Then she threw the tissue in the trash can beside the empty desk and made a vow that she wouldn’t shed another tear for the way her parents had treated her. “It’s not the way I wanted to spend Christmas, but then, according to Mama, I don’t deserve to worship the baby Jesus. God, this room looks like a prison.”
“What did you expect?” Greta asked. “A five-star hotel with pictures of pretty roses in gilded frames hanging on the walls? There won’t be mints on your pillow every night, either, and you don’t get room service. You got the speech before you came up here, didn’t you? No outside contact with anyone, especially the miserable son of a bitch that got you pregnant. No personal anything. Just have your baby, give it to loving parents to raise, and leave so the next pregnant girl can have your spot. Chop, chop! There’s a couple that can’t conceive waiting, and you’re here to make them happy.”
Janie sat down on the edge of the bed that looked less used. “That’s not exactly what they said.”
“Pretty damn close, though, isn’t it?” Greta eased down on the other twin bed. “Might as well unpack. Tomorrow we start back to school. I’m a junior, and my baby is due in six weeks. My roommate just left yesterday. She had a baby boy. She got to hold him for an hour before they took him away. When’s your baby due?”
“The doctor said toward the end of April.” Janie threw her suitcase on the bed and opened it. “Where are you from?”
“Little town south of Richmond, Virginia, but we’re not supposed to talk much about where we came from or exchange personal information.” Greta winked. “You’re breaking the rules.”
“If we hadn’t broken the rules already, we wouldn’t be here.” Janie picked up seven pairs of white cotton underpants and looked around.
Greta pointed toward a set of double doors built into the wall with drawers below them. “Bottom two are yours. When I move out, you can put your things in the top two. Biggest belly gets the upper ones, so it doesn’t have to bend as far.”
Janie opened the third drawer and put her panties to one side. “So basically, we are supposed to have this”—she laid a hand on her stomach—“that’s what Mama always called it, anyway. It was never a baby or her grandchild. Once we have it, we’re supposed to hand it over like it’s a hamburger at a café and never think about it again.”
“Yep,” Greta answered. “Who’s Aunt Ruthie?”
“Mama’s great-aunt,” Janie said. “My folks think they’re punishing me, but I’d rather live with her in a town that doesn’t even have a grocery store than go home to them. Where are your folks sending you?”
“I’m going back home, but there’ll probably be a set of rules engraved in stone and set up in my bedroom. God only knows that I sure won’t ever again be allowed to roam free and wild or go to the horse stables without a chaperone. You’d think getting pregnant out of wedlock was a sin that would cast a person straight into hell, wouldn’t you?”
“According to my mother, that’s where I’m headed. When this is over, I’m supposed to spend hours and hours on my knees begging God for forgiveness for my sin.” Janie took her toiletries to the bathroom and began to pace the floor. “Someday in the next hundred years, it won’t even be a big deal, and women won’t be looked down on for doing what men have been doing for years. I hope I live