“He said that you deserved better than a girl who…” She left the rest unsaid, but I already knew how it ended. It hit me like a punch straight to the ribs, knocking the air from my lungs. I already knew the ending to that sentence. My family was traditional. Strict and sometimes unforgiving. My father, especially. Marriage preceded pregnancy under any circumstance. In our village, an unmarried, pregnant girl would have been disowned, sent away, a walking disgrace. A stain on the family’s honor.
