Girl, Forgotten (Andrea Oliver 2)

The admission seemed to make him angrier. “Let me tell you this, young lady. You’d better work on a different lie to tell your father. I can tell from my exam that you’ve been sexually active for a very long time. You failed the two-finger test. There’s a looseness that I would only expect to see in a married woman.”

Emily’s hand went to her chest. Had it happened more than once? Had someone been breaking into her room at night while she slept?

She tried, “I didn’t—”

“You most certainly did.” He dropped the clipboard on the counter. “Think very carefully about what you’re planning to do next. Do you have the character to accept the blame for your actions or are you going to destroy some poor young man’s future because you couldn’t keep your knees together?”

Emily was crying too hard to answer him.

“That’s what I thought.” He glanced at his watch again. “Nurse Brickel, do the bloodwork to confirm what we already know is the truth. This girl is six weeks into her first trimester. Miss Vaughn, I will give you exactly one hour to tell your father what you’ve been up to before I call and tell him myself.”

Emily felt her mouth working, but she couldn’t form words.

Her father?

He would kill her.

“You heard me.” Dr. Schroeder looked at her one last time, his head shaking in disgust. “One hour.”

Mrs. Brickel gently closed the door behind Dr. Schroeder. Her lips were pursed. She used to make Emily and Melody cookies back when they were little and Emily’s mother was working late at the office.

Now, Mrs. Brickel said, “Emily.”

Emily stuttered out a sob. She couldn’t take another verbal lashing. She already felt as if someone had put a knife in her chest. How would she face her father? What would he do to her? She’d been whipped so hard after she’d made a C in geography last year that the belt had left a scar on the back of her thighs.

“Emily, look at me.” Mrs. Brickel held Emily’s hand tightly. “The exam didn’t tell the doctor anything about how many times you’ve been sexually active. He can only tell that your hymen is broken. That’s it.”

Emily was shocked. “He said—”

“He’s lying,” Mrs. Brickel said. “He’s trying to shame you. But whatever happened, you are not a bad person. You had sex with someone. That’s all you did. It might feel like it’s the end of the world now, but it’s not. You will get through this. Women always do.”

Emily gulped down another sob. She did not want to be a woman. And she especially did not want to face her father. Then it would be the end of the world. He wouldn’t let her go to college. He might not let her finish school. She would be stuck in the house with only Gram to keep her company and then Gram would be gone and there would be nothing.

What was she going to do?

“Sweetie, look at me.” Mrs. Brickel wrapped her hands around Emily’s arms. “I’m not going to lie to you. We both know this is going to be hard, but I know that you’re strong enough to get through it. You are such an amazing girl.”

“I don’t …” Emily’s mind was racing. She felt trapped. Her life was slipping away and there was nothing she could do about it. “What do you think my father will do?”

Mrs. Brickel’s lips pursed again. “We’ll see if the sanctity of Franklin Vaughn’s politics holds up against the sanctity of his country club membership.”

Emily shook her head. She didn’t know what that meant.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” Mrs. Brickel tightened her hold on Emily’s arms. “Is it an option to talk to the father?”

The father?

“Emily, I know it’s not ideal, but if you have feelings for this boy, you’re not too young to get married.”

Married?

“But if you don’t want to, there are other options.”

“What options?” Emily felt the question burst out of her. She was seized by panic. “What am I going to do? How am I going to get through this? I don’t know who the—the father—I don’t know who it is! I told the doctor—I told you—I said I don’t know what happened. I promise you, honestly, I don’t know because I took something and—yes, I took it, but I didn’t know what would happen and I can’t—I can’t tell my father. He’ll kill me, Mrs. Brickel. I know that sounds like I’m being hysterical but he—he’ll—”

Emily cringed at the sound of her crazy voice bouncing around the room. Her heart was a snare drum. Sweat poured off her body. The nausea had returned. Her skin felt weird, like it had vibrated away from the bone. Nothing belonged to her anymore. Dr. Schroeder’s appalled look had said it all. Emily had ceased being Emily. She was a transgressor. She was an other. Her hand went to her stomach—to that thing that someone had put inside of her.

Who?