“I have to give her up.” She drew in a deep, rattling sigh. “Dr. Reeves and Mrs. Bellamy talked to me. If I kept the baby, I’d have to work to support her, but I don’t have anyone to watch her while I work. And I might not be able to find a job. People would question my—my virtue.”

“That’s not fair.” Clay’s fists clenched. “He forced himself on you.”

Leah rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling. “No one would ask how.”

Clay pounded his fists on top of each other. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t true. But she was right. All people would see would be an unwed mother.

She rubbed her forehead. “We’d have to live on charity, in poverty. I can’t—I won’t do that to her. Giving her up for adoption is her best chance.”

He had to start thinking like a physician, not a friend. “It is. It’s for the best.”

“I know. I know it is. But all I’ve ever wanted is a family, and now I have someone and I have to give her away.” She clapped her hand over her mouth and slammed her eyes shut.

Clay’s gut seized. Not fair. Not right. “I’m so sorry.”

Leah cupped her free hand over her belly and pulled in a long breath. “It’s for the best. Dr. Reeves told me of a home for unwed mothers. I’ll go there when I start to show and I—I lose my job.”

That too? Clay winced. She’d lose her job on top of everything else?

“After the baby is born, they’ll find a home for her.” Leah’s face twisted. “But what if they’re like the Joneses and beat her, or what if they can’t find a home and they—they put her in an orphanage?”

He ached for her distress. “I’m sure they’ll find a good home.”

“I’ll never see her again, just like my sisters. They said I wouldn’t want to see her, that she’d only remind me of that man, but I know she wouldn’t. I know I’ll love her. I’ll always love her.”

Clay’s chest collapsed. Leah already loved that child. The way she shielded her belly with her hand. The way she’d already decided it was a girl. Whether or not she ever saw her baby, she would always love her and she would always mourn.

Half a dozen platitudes flitted in his head, and he shot them all down. Time would never fully heal this wound. God would work some good out of this, but not the good Leah wanted.

She had to choose between giving up her baby and raising that baby in poverty and disgrace. No matter what she did, she’d lose her job and she’d probably lose her chance to attend library school.