Free The Atonement Child by Francine Rivers Page B

onto the main street again. “He wanted to pick you up, but I told him you called me and I didn’t think you’d be too happy if he showed up.”
    “Thanks, Jan.”
    “I’ll warn you, though. He’ll probably be sitting on the dorm steps.”
    “Could we . . . ?”
    “We can go to the Copper Pot. How’s that sound? I need a break from studying, anyway.”
    “Thanks.”
    Janet turned south. Dynah sat silent, watching stores and houses whiz by. Neither said anything for the better part of a mile.
    Janet glanced at her. “What happened, anyway?”
    Dynah leaned her head back against the seat. “I’m pregnant.”
    “I was afraid of that,” Janet said softly. “And what did he say? You should have it?”
    Dynah turned her head and stared at her.
    Janet glanced at her again, her eyes snapping with anger. “He did, didn’t he? Sanctimonious jerk.”
    “No, he didn’t.”
    “He broke up with you?”
    Dynah turned and stared out the front window. “No,” she said dully, wondering if that would be the next thing to happen. She knew that Ethan was having difficulty dealing with what had happened to her, and the bottom line was that he didn’t have to deal with it. He could just walk away. She stared down at the diamond solitaire she wore. Tears blurring her eyes, she twisted it around and around on her finger, wondering if she could bear to lose him. She would die if she did. She was sure of it.
    Janet frowned, giving her another quick glance. “Dynah, you okay?”
    She gave her a wan smile. “I’ll be fine,” she said, clinging to those words. Oh, God, will I be? What am I going to do?
    Janet pulled into the Copper Pot parking lot. “Busy tonight,” she said, taking the keys from the ignition and dropping them into her purse.
    Though the place was crowded, they were quickly seated in a booth near the back, right beside the doors to the kitchen. Janet ordered two coffees before the waitress even handed them the menus. “I’m starving,” she said and began reading the selections. “To heck with my diet.”
    Dynah stared at the laminated menu. She and Ethan were supposed to have had dinner together tonight. Instead, they had sat arguing in that nice restaurant, never looking at the menus. She could still see the look on his face when she had told him she was pregnant. Horror. Revulsion.
    “Dynah?”
    She glanced up and saw that the waitress had returned and was ready to take her order. “A bowl of soup, please,” she said, putting the menu aside. The last thing she cared about was eating anything, but if she didn’t order something, Janet would be uncomfortable.
    “What kind would you like? Split pea, minestrone, beef barley, chicken noodle, or potato?”
    Dynah shrugged. “Beef barley, I guess.”
    “The minestrone is out of this world.”
    “All right. Minestrone.”
    “What kind of bread would you like with it?” the waitress said, pen still poised. “Rye, wheat, white, sour dough, or corn bread.”
    “Wheat, I suppose.”
    “The corn bread is great,” Janet said.
    “Corn bread then,” Dynah said with a weak smile. She could always give it to Janet.
    Janet closed her menu and handed it to the waitress. “I’ll have the hamburger deluxe with everything, fries instead of potato salad, and coleslaw. And I’d like a piece of chocolate-cream pie first.” She grinned. “If I wait, I might not have room for it later on.”
    The waitress laughed. “I’ll bring it right away.”
    Janet rested her arms on the table and leaned forward. “You don’t have to do what Ethan tells you, Dynah. It’s your decision.”
    “He wants me to have an abortion.”
    Janet’s eyes flickered. “But I thought . . .” She frowned. “Well, then, what’s the problem?”
    “I don’t know if I should.”
    “Of course you should,” Janet said quietly, her voice low and gentle. “What else can you do?”
    “Have the baby, I guess.”
    “And then what? Who’d want a baby conceived that way?