"Come on inside," Ginny said to Hope. "Please, sit down on the sofa and tell us what's going on."

Hope carried her suitcase to the sofa and sat down.

"I can't stay at home anymore," she announced. "My parents are pressuring me to go to an out-of-town home for unwed mothers and then give the baby up for adoption after it's born." She sniffled. "They won't let me marry Neil because he isn't a Christian."

Lili sat down on the sofa beside he.

"But he's your baby's father!"

"That doesn't matter to them," said Hope. "They said I committed a sin and now I have to pay the consequences, and if I marry Neil, that will be another sin."

"Oh, I don't think that's true at all!" Ginny rushed to embrace her guest. "If you and Neil love each other, you should marry and raise your child together."

"That's what Neil and I think too, but my Mom...my Mom..."

Anguished, Hope began to sob heavily. Ginny and Lili comforted her.

"Of course you can stay with us for as long as you want," Ginny assured the frightened girl. At the same time, her eyes met Matthias's. They were both thinking the same thing. What would they do when the Browns arrived and demanded their daughter back?

As it turned out, they didn't have long to wait, as Mr. and Mrs. Brown showed up right after breakfast, demanding their daughter.

"I'm not going to that out-of-town crisis pregnancy center," Hope stated defiantly.

"Yes, you are," Mr. Brown growled. He advanced toward his daughter, who backed into the kitchen, staring at him with big, terrified eyes. Unsure what to do, Matthias stood aside watching helplessly as Mr. Brown grabbed his daughter's arm and pulled her toward him. Mrs. Brown grabbed Hope's other arm, and together, they dragged their daughter out to their car.

After they were gone, Matthias shook his head.

"That's so wrong."

"There's nothing we can do," said Ginny. "Until she's eighteen, she has no say over anything. When will she be eighteen, Lili?"

"In August."

"The baby will be just about here by then. I hope Neil will stand by her and wait until she can make her own choices."

Matthias embraced his wife.

"I hope so, too."


Lily worried about her friend for several days afterwards. How was Hope faring at the crisis pregnancy center? Was she being mistreated?

A couple of weeks later, a car pulled up in front of Matthias and Ginny's house. Lili recognized it as belonging to Hope's older sister, Faith.

Hope was carrying a suitcase and smiling as she walked along beside her sister.

"Come on inside," said Ginny, pulling the door open. "What happened?"

"Faith came and rescued me from Our Mother's Home," Hope explained.

"I told them at the front desk I was her sister and she was coming to live with me," said Faith. "Luckily, they believed me."

"But you still live with your parents," Lili pointed out.

Faith winked at her.

"The people at Our Mother's Home don't know that. See, this way she can stay here until she's eighteen and our parents will think she's still at Our Mother's Home."

Lili gasped.

"Do you really think that will work? What if she's out in public and her parents see her?"

"That's just the chance I'll have to take," said Hope. "I'll stick mostly to my doctor's appointments and trips to the drugstore and things like that. Faith took me to buy a wig on the way here."

"Sounds like you've thought of everything," Ginny remarked. "It's such as shame your parents are the way they are."

She and Matthias exchanged glances. She stepped toward him, and he pulled her close and held her.


Lili graduated high school with her friends that May. Hope remained inside the Brimmer house with Faith as company. Not even Faith and Hope's younger sister, Grace, knew about the arrangement. It was too great a risk. Grace, who was in ninth grade, might accidentally let the wrong word slip.

After the ceremony, Matthias and Ginny took the family out to dinner at a nice restaurant while Faith cooked hot dogs and bought potato chips for Hope so she wouldn't have to eat lunch alone.

When the Brimmers returned home, Hope asked Lili how the ceremony had gone.

"It was great!" said Lili. "The principal made his speech, the valedictorian made hers, and then we all got out diplomas. After the last person, we call threw our caps into the air."

Hope's eyes filled with tears.

"I wish I could have been there."

"I wish you could have, too." If only her parents weren't being so unreasonable, Lili thought to herself. "Did you have anything for lunch? I brought a doggy bag home in case you didn't."

"Faith cooked hot dogs and we had potato chips to go along with them," said Hope. "She's a great big sister. I don't know what I'd do without her."

The two sisters embraced.

"I'm so glad you two have each other," said Ginny.

"So am I," Lili echoed. She knew her friend would be all right.