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the
kitchen until she leaned against the counter next to her. Mia glanced over at
her and asked, “Did you find it?”
    “Yeah,”
she said. “And I found these too.”
    Gripped
in her sister’s palm were Mia’s prenatal vitamins and the pamphlet she had
taken from Dr. Ellis’ office. Mia dropped the ceramic plate into the sink and
grabbed for the items her sister held. Leah snatched them back.
    “Give
those to me,” Mia said in a tight whisper as she advanced toward her sister.
Her anger intensified at the mischievous smile on Leah’s face. Her sister pulled
back the mini booklet and read the front cover.
    “Pregnancy.
How to keep you and your baby healthy and happy.” Leah looked over at her,
wide-eyed. Her sister’s smirk was one of shocked amusement. “You can’t be… Are
you… Oh wow, this is just too good! Little Miss Goody-goody here is having a
baby!”
    “Shut
up!” Mia rushed to her sister, wrestling the items from her tight grasp.
    Their
mother burst into the kitchen. They immediately pulled away. “What is going on
in here? Mia, turn off that faucet. Now what the hell is wrong with you two?”
    “Nothing,
Mama,” Leah said, grinning. “Mia was just about to tell you that you’re gonna
be a grandma.”
    Silence
filled the kitchen as her mother and sister stared at her.
    Mia
leaned against the sink, the air rushing out of her. She looked at her sister,
too astonished to speak. Leah shrugged. They had never been close. Their
personalities had just been too different for them to ever be as close as she
would have liked, but Mia never expected such vindictiveness from her sister.
    Instead
of the disappointment she had expected to see on her mother’s face, there was a
sort of stunned disbelief. At her mother’s dazed, unwavering stare Mia glanced
away, her shoulders slumped. At least now her secret was out.
    “Mia,
is that true?”
    Mia
closed her eyes, wanting to be anywhere but there at that moment. “Yes,” she
whispered.
    Her
mother said nothing, but Leah wasn’t quite finished with her persecution.
    “Can
you believe this, Mama,” she said, breaking the thick silence. “All this time—”
    “You
can go now, Leah.”
    “But
Ma—”
    “I
said go .”
    Leah dropped
the medicine bottle and pamphlet on the counter and stormed out of the kitchen.
    Once
alone, her mother filled a pot with hot water and walked to the stove.
    “I was
going to tell you myself,” Mia finally said. “That’s why I came home. I wanted
to tell you in person.”
    Her
mother gave no indication she heard her as she concentrated on peeling and
crushing the large gingerroot.
    “Mama,
say something.”
    Her
mother dropped the contents into the boiling pot before turning to face her.
“Mia, what I have to say doesn’t matter. What I think doesn’t matter either.
What matters now is that baby you’re carrying.”
    Mia
looked down at her hands. “You’re disappointed, aren’t you?”
    Her
mother sighed. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t. But I was in your
situation at your age. My only hope was that you and Leah wouldn’t follow in my
footsteps.”
    Tears
blurred Mia’s vision. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
    Her
mother softened and pulled her into a gentle hug. “I know, baby. But now, your
life isn’t yours anymore. Everything you do from now on has to be for that
baby.”
    Mia
knew that but having her mother say it gave it a finality that terrified her.
    Her
mother went to the cabinet and took down two mugs. “When is the baby due?”
    “January,”
Mia whispered. She watched as her mother poured the pale yellow liquid into
them. Mia took the small, steaming cup her mother handed her and sat down at
the small kitchen table. She cradled the warm mug, the heat soothing her cold,
stiff fingers.
    “So
what’s your plan?” her mother finally asked, sliding into the seat across from
her.
    Mia
looked up. “What do you mean? I plan to raise it, of course.”
    Her
mother’s dark