Blossom Street Brides (Blossom Street #10)(46)

“What did the doctor say?” Lauren asked.

“Nothing new. The home test was accurate. Katie is indeed pregnant.”

Lauren pressed her hand over Elisa’s and gave her a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

Gathering up her resolve, Elisa squared her shoulders and continued, “My little girl is pregnant, and she’s blissfully happy about it. Can you imagine? From all outward appearances she’s overjoyed about this baby who’s about to ruin her life.

“I don’t know, Lauren, I honestly don’t know what’s happened to my intelligent, beautiful daughter. I swear to you that young man has brainwashed her. She isn’t thinking clearly. Katie is no more suited to being a farmer’s wife than Donald Trump is to cleaning toilets. I give this relationship another month before Katie wakes up and realizes what a terrible mistake she’s making. And by then it will be too late.”

Too late to do away with the pregnancy is what Elisa meant.

“You were her age when you found out you were pregnant with her,” Lauren reminded her friend.

“This is different.”

“Oh?”

“The world has changed since I was her age. Katie has opportunities that weren’t available to me, and she’s throwing them away. These days it’s so much harder to support a family. When Garry and I discovered I was pregnant there were expectations for us to marry. It isn’t like that any longer; women no longer feel the need to find a husband when they’re still in college. Look at you.”

“Me?” Lauren repeated.

“Many women wait to marry until they are thirty or older. If Katie decides to marry Dietrich now, she’ll live to regret it. If she wants to have this baby, then fine, come home and we’ll raise this child together or put it up for adoption. It would be a kindness to give this baby to a loving home. But Katie marrying Dietrich could well be the biggest mistake of her life.”

“Were you able to meet Dietrich’s parents?” This was one excuse Elisa had used to convince Garry she should make this trip across the state. Elisa was convinced the Friedmans shared her concern for their son. She had counted on them being reasonable people who would be against Katie and Dietrich marrying as much as she was.

“Just my luck, they were out of town at some onion-growing convention or some rally having to do with growing Walla Walla sweet onions.” She looked up at the ceiling, as if calling upon God’s assistance in this dreadful situation.

“How did it go with Dietrich?” Lauren asked. Part of Elisa’s plan was to “talk sense” into Katie’s young man.

“Badly. Even worse than you can imagine.”

This entire trip sounded like it had been disastrous.

“Katie refused to let me speak to Dietrich without her being there. He’s a decent enough kid. I don’t have anything against him,” Elisa said, “well, other than the fact he doesn’t seem to understand the concept of birth control. His parents, either, apparently. I learned Dietrich is the oldest boy in a family of eight children. Don’t these people realize there’s a population problem?”

Now was probably not the best time to remind Elisa that birth control was a shared responsibility. Katie played an equal role in this pregnancy.

“I was polite and kept my cool with Dietrich,” Elisa continued evenly. “I simply asked him a few questions, which Katie insisted on answering until Dietrich stopped her. He claims to love Katie, and he loves their baby. He feels the responsible action is for them to marry. That was when I lost it.”

Lauren had seen Elisa lose her cool more than once, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

“And now Katie’s no longer speaking to you.”

“Unfortunately, she took exception to a few of the words I chose to call Dietrich.”

“Did you apologize later after you’d had a chance to cool down?” Elisa had a quick trigger, but once she blew off steam she generally had a fast recovery.

“I sent them both a text with a mea culpa.”

Lauren knew none of this had been easy for Elisa. “Did you hear back from Katie?”

Her employer reached for a fresh tissue and held it against her eyes. “Katie’s due home for the summer in two weeks, and she let me know that she won’t be coming back to Seattle.”

This explained why Elisa was so upset. “Katie’s staying in Pullman? Does she have a job for the summer?”

“She’s going home with Dietrich … As for a job, I can only assume she’ll be working in the fields.”

Lauren hugged her friend and let Elisa cry on her shoulder. This entire situation was turning into a huge ordeal. Although she wanted to comfort her, Lauren wished Elisa had listened to Katie and Dietrich instead of trying to make their decision for them. She seemed to think she could steamroll them into doing what she thought best, and clearly that hadn’t worked.

“Getting away for a few days will do us both a world of good,” Lauren said, hoping that was the truth.

“Away?” Elisa lifted her head from Lauren’s shoulder. “We’re going away?”

“The gem convention is in a couple weeks, remember?”

“Right. It slipped my mind. You’re coming with me.”

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

“I hope your weekend went well,” Elisa said, composing herself and changing the subject from the sensitive area of her daughter’s situation.