Angel Unawares

Our Father's House

"Welcome to Our Father's House. My name is Linda Curtis." The woman was about fifty, with perfectly coiffed brown hair and a heavily made up face. "The Lord placed a burden in our hearts to care for young women in your situation. We'll provide you with a safe place to stay, nutritious meals, and medical care, and then after your baby's born, we'll find loving adoptive parents for it. Unless, of course, you and your boyfriend are planning to get married."

Taken aback, Amber gasped. She hadn't considered putting her baby up for adoption; she hadn't really considered what to do about her pregnancy at all.

"Is that an option?" asked Linda.

"Danny's not my boyfriend," Amber told her. "It was my step dad who got me pregnant. He...forced me to have s*x with him."

"I'm so very sorry that happened to you, dear." Linda seemed neither shocked nor saddened. "But you have to remember that, regardless of how it was conceived, your baby is innocent, and God loves him or her just as much as He loves you."

"I hadn't really thought about that," Amber replied. "After my step dad hung himself in prison, my Mom blamed me for it and kicked me out of the house. I was on my way to California to try to find my sister when I met up with Danny and he brought me here."

"The Lord must have sent him to guide your steps," said Linda. "Here at Our Father's House, you'll be safe and well provided for, but we expect you to do your part as well."

Amber was confused.

"You'll be expected to commit your life to Christ, if you haven't already done so," Linda explained. "Church is every Sunday morning at ten, and Bible study is every Friday evening at seven. The only excuse for missing either is illness, documented by a physician."

Amber glanced doubtfully at Danny. "Maybe I should have hitch hiked to California to look for Jade, after all."

"If you'd done that, you would have been picked up by a psychotic serial killer who would have raped and murdered you," Danny replied. "Everything's going to be all right, Amber. Trust me."

"Will I ever see you again?" Suddenly she felt desperate not to lose him again.

"I'll come to you as soon as you need me again."

Amber was in her room reading a Judy Blume novel when Jade burst in, crying hard. "There's been a terrible accident!" she sobbed. "Dekker was driving drunk and smashed his car into a tree. They don't know whether or not he'll live, and Danny's d-dead!"

It went through Amber like an electric shock. For a moment, she simply couldn't believe it. Why, Danny had been over only the previous weekend, talking and laughing and very much alive. Yet several days later, she stared at his pale, still face lying in his casket and was forced to admit that it was indeed true.

Jade sobbed copiously at the funeral, and for awhile afterwards, she seemed to completely withdraw from her friends and family, even her two besties, Jessa and Darcy. Until a new boy, Gideon DeMarcus, moved into town. It didn't happen right away, but gradually, over time, the old Jade returned.

But what about Danny? Amber wanted to ask. How could her sister have so easily forgotten all about the boy who'd loved her?

One day Amber went to visit Danny's grave, taking with her one of the many sketches he'd drawn for her. Despite their four-year age difference, he'd never once treated her like the annoying younger sister who was always in the way. He'd always been very kind and patient instead, always treating her with respect. Then suddenly he was gone, and a chapter of Amber's life was over forever. Or so she'd thought.

After Danny had left, Linda took Amber to her new sleeping quarters. The room was small but looked comfortable. The walls were painted a pale yellow, and several framed Bible verses in cross stitch adorned the wall. It contained two single beds with fluffy quilts. A blonde girl lay on one bed, reading the Bible. She looked up when the door opened.

"Paisley, this is your new roommate, Amber," Linda told her. "Amber, this is Paisley."

"Hi!" Paisley smiled, revealing her braces.

"Hi," Amber replied shyly, setting her suitcase down on the empty bed.

"How old are you?" asked Paisley.

"Sixteen."

"I'm seventeen, but I'll be eighteen before my baby's born," Paisley replied. "I say 'my' baby, but really it belongs to the couple who are going to adopt it."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know them personally. They're clients of John and Linda's. They pay an adoption fee, and John and Linda match them with a birth mother."

"When I first found out I was pregnant, I was so scared," Paisley continued. "My boyfriend dumped me right away. I was planning to have an abortion, but Linda showed me this horrible video about what really happens during an abortion. It just made me sick! She also gave me tons of information on fetal development, and that made me realize that abortion was the taking of an innocent life, that my baby has at least as much of a right to live as I do."

"But how can you do that?" asked Amber. "How can you just give your baby to two complete strangers to raise?"

"A child needs two parents," Paisley said emphatically. "John and Linda carefully screen all their clients to make sure they're God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians, so I know my baby's going to a good home. Aren't you going to do the same thing?"

"I haven't even thought about what I want to do yet," Amber admitted.

"Well, you'd better decide soon!" Paisley exclaimed. "You don't want your baby to just languish in foster care for months and months."

Exhausted by the day's events, Amber fell asleep almost immediately that night.

The Friday night Bible study was a new experience for Amber, as her family had never been particularly religious. It opened with a prayer led by Amy, one of the other pregnant girls staying at the home, and was followed by a passage from the Bible read by Nicole, another of the group.

After the study was over, Linda had the girls go around in a circle and share 'what Jesus had done in their lives that week.' Most were stories of good health reports and family reconciliations. When her turn came, Amber had no idea what to say. "Um...I recently met up with a friend whom I thought I'd never see again," she finally said.

"Praise the Lord!" Linda exclaimed, and the other girls cheered.

Amber was sitting in church one morning when it happened. First she felt a terrible cramp in her abdomen, worse than any menstrual cramps she'd ever felt, and then there was a sudden gush of warmth between her legs. She looked down at herself and gasped when she saw that she was bleeding, heavily.