Free She Had No Choice by Debra Burroughs

and she would be forced to stop working. Once the baby came, she would need to stay home to care for him or her.
    As humiliated as she was, she knew before long her condition would be known to everyone who saw her. When her pregnancy became public, the shame and ridicule would be painful. Before others found out, she decided to finally confide in her cousin, Olivia. One afternoon, before she left for the restaurant, she found Olivia sitting in the garden reading.
    “ Hi, Olivia. I’m leaving for work in a little while. Can we talk?”
    “ Yes, yes. Sit down.” Olivia replied, as she laid her book down on her lap. She looked at Sofía’s face and could see something was troubling her. “Is anything wrong?”
    “ Yes, very wrong, so very wrong. I don’t even know where to start. I’m so ashamed, Olivia.” The words poured out as she shook her head.
    “ Calm down, Sofía. Just start at the beginning.”              
    Sofía shared with her cousin what had been going on the past few months with Enrique and how she now found herself expecting Enrique’s baby. Olivia was stunned. This was not the young woman she thought she knew. A pregnant, unmarried woman brought considerable shame on her family, especially a family with money and standing in the community. But, she loved her cousin and was filled with pity for her. Olivia resolved to try to help Sofía as best she could.
    “ Let’s move your things into Mama’s room,” Olivia offered. “Then, when the baby comes you’ll have plenty of room for a crib. You can stay with me until the baby is born. After that, we’ll see what can be arranged.”
    Olivia truly loved her cousin like a sister, and she felt sorry for Sofía’s plight. But she couldn’t help Sofía for the long term. Olivia had been dating Alejandro for more than a year, and they were engaged to be married soon. Alejandro always liked Sofía, but he wanted Olivia to come and live with him in the home he built for them. Consuela’s house would be passed down to Olivia’s brother, Roberto, so he could marry and raise his family there. When Olivia married, Sofía would be forced to find another home for her baby and herself.
    For the next few months, Sofía worked at the restaurant and saved up as much money as she could. She worried every day about where she and her baby would go. “What will become of us?” she wondered.
    One afternoon, Sofía arrived at the restaurant to start work and found there was a new waitress the owner had just hired. Her name was Rosa Gonzalez. She was about Sofía’s age and also unmarried. She and Sofía became fast friends and spent their free time most days sharing stories of their lives and their hopes for the future.
    A few days later, before the dinner crowd began arriving, Sofía and Rosa were cleaning off all the tables and chairs before the rush. They were chatting about their lives and Sofía opened up about her relationship with Enrique. She told Rosa how she met him, how she fell in love with him, and that she now found herself pregnant and alone. She didn’t want to burden Rosa, but it felt good to have a friend she could pour her heart out to.
    “ Enrique was so handsome, Rosa. He flirted with me every time he came to the restaurant. I was flattered. No man had ever given me such compliments, and then he asked me to go out with him. At first I said no because he made me nervous.”
    “ Why would you be nervous?”
    “ I never went on a date before. What if he didn’t like me after we went out?”
    “ That’s silly,” Rosa said as she continued wiping down another table.
    “ I figured he could have any girl he wanted, why would he want me? But he kept asking and asking, so I finally gave in and said yes.” Sofía wiped down another chair.
    “ Sit down, Sofía, I’ll finish the rest of the tables. You need to rest your feet before people start coming in for supper.”
    “ All right.” She pulled out a clean chair and sat