Violetta Craft's Arc

Chapter 53 of 65

Monday morning Violetta woke before the alarm with her stomach churning. She made it to the bathroom just in time. She knelt on the tile and pressed her forehead to the cool porcelain until the wave passed. Graduation was a week away. She had a cap and gown hanging in the closet and a speech she still needed to practice. She could not be sick. Jordie found her rinsing her mouth at the sink. He stood in the doorway in a t-shirt and jeans, his dark hair still flat from the pillow. He watched her for a second, then handed her a glass of water without asking what was wrong. "Bad eggs," she said. "We didn't have eggs." She drank the water. Her hand shook. Jordie's blue eyes narrowed the way they did when he already knew the answer to something. "Vi." "Don't." "When was your last period?" She set the glass down too hard. She counted back. She counted again. The number came out wrong both times. Jordie drove to the drugstore before she could argue. He was back in fifteen minutes with a paper bag. He set it on the counter and walked into the kitchen to give her the bathroom. Elowen babbled from the high chair. The coffee maker hissed. Violetta took the test into the bathroom and locked the door. She read the box twice. She followed the steps. She set the strip flat on the edge of the sink and stared at the timer on her phone. Two minutes. One line came up first, green and steady. Then the second window filled in, pink and clear. Positive. She sat down on the closed lid of the toilet and did not move. She was seventeen. She had a one-year-old down the hall. She had a graduation gown in a garment bag and a senior showcase medal in a drawer. She had the studio downtown with a sketch on the wall she had barely started. She opened the door. Jordie was in the hallway with Elowen on his hip. He looked at her face and his shoulders dropped. "Okay," he said. "Okay?" "Okay. We do it again. Better this time." She did not laugh. She did not cry. She took Elowen from him and held her close and smelled her hair. "I walk across that stage Friday," she said. "I finish school. Then we tell people." "Then we tell people," he said. She carried Elowen to the kitchen and made her toast. Her hand was steady now. The strip stayed on the bathroom sink where she left it. She would throw it away later. First she had a speech to practice and a week to get through without anyone guessing. The blue gown at the studio would have to wait longer than Monday.