Free The Sisterhood by Helen Bryan

night before into tiny shreds, then flushed themdown her toilet. Afterward she stood sobbing in a scalding shower, scrubbing and scrubbing at her body until the water ran cold. Numbly she pulled on her clothes, and went to face her parents.
    At the breakfast table the Walkers were reading the Sunday papers before church. Virgil said, “You coming down with something, honey? You don’t look too good.”
    Menina wanted to scream the truth, but made an effort and confined herself to crumbling a piece of toast with shaking hands, her engagement ring conspicuously absent. “Theo and I broke up.”
    There was a shocked silence.
    “Broke up! How could you break up?” wailed Sarah-Lynn, while Virgil put an arm around her shoulders.
    “What happened?” he asked.
    Menina stammered out that Theo didn’t understand what was important to her, then trailed off into silence, tearing a paper napkin to shreds under the table.
    “I still don’t understand!” said Sarah-Lynn incredulously.
    “Mama,
please
…” Menina croaked hoarsely.
    “Well, what’s everybody going to think?”
    Menina hadn’t thought she had any tears left, but now it seemed that she did. Virgil hugged her tighter and poured her a cup of coffee. “Drink this,” he said.
    The telephone rang. Virgil answered and mouthed, “Theo,” muffling the receiver in his shoulder. Menina’s hand holding the coffee cup started to shake, and coffee spilled everywhere. She shook her head and fled back to her room. She refused to talk on the telephone or see Theo later when Virgil knocked at her bedroom door to say he was at the front door, wearing a sorry expression.
    “Make him leave, Daddy! Please!”
    Minutes later Virgil came back and closed the bedroom door behind him. “You want to tell your mother and me what’s going on? This isn’t like you.”
    “I don’t want to see him. Ever.”
    Virgil looked at her shrewdly. “Are you pregnant? Honey, it’s not the end of the world. So what if you two have a baby less than nine months after the wedding? We always wanted to be grandparents; a little sooner is fine with us.”
    Menina stared at him in horror.
Pregnant?
She hadn’t thought about that horrible possibility! Had Theo
wanted
to get her pregnant?
    “No!” Menina exclaimed, crossing her fingers and praying that was true.
    “I’ll try and calm your mother down,” said Virgil after a minute.
    Theo kept calling but Menina refused to speak to him. Pauline Bonner called Sarah-Lynn, mother to mother, trying to find out what the trouble was. She understood there had been an argument, but Theo wouldn’t tell her anything. She hoped “the children” would work things out soon.
    Alerted by her mother that something was wrong at the Walkers’, Becky cut her Monday classes and drove back to Laurel Run. Menina was lying on the bed in her darkened room with the curtains closed at midday. Becky walked over a sea of used tissues on the carpet to the bed. “Menina?”
    “Go ’way, I’m sleeping,” was the answer, in the kind of croaky voice hours of solid crying brought on.
    Becky pulled open the curtains and brought her a glass of water from the bathroom. “You can run but you can’t hide, Child of Light. Drink this and talk to me.”
    Menina sat up and Becky smothered an exclamation of dismay. Menina looked awful—hair tangled, big shadows under her eyes, and a haggard expression Becky had never seen before. She flinched when Becky hugged her but wouldn’t say what was wrong, just that she and Theo weren’t getting married.
    “Oh Menina! Was that Theo’s idea?”
    “No.”
    “Is it another girl?”
    “No.”
    “His mother? She’s a bossy bitch.”
    “Not her.”
    “Well, um…is he gay? Sometimes men don’t realize it themselves—”
    “No,” said Menina stonily. “Don’t talk about it.”
    “Are you pregnant? Really that’s not such a big deal these…”
    Menina moaned and buried her face in the pillow. “NO!”
    “Did he give