statue. And he wouldn’t look at her. He just stood there, scratching the dome of his scalp. When she was younger, she thought he had scratched away his hair like an eraser on the tip of a pencil. She waited for him to speak, but when he wouldn’t, she asked him the one thing she cared about in that moment.
“How is Christopher?” she asked.
“He’s in a coma,” her father said. “He might die, Mary Katherine.”
All the guilt she had ever experienced was a dry run leading up to that moment. Mary Katherine’s face flushed with shame. Her eyes brimmed, and her voice quivered.
“I’m sorry, Dad. It’s all my faul—”
“What the hell were you doing on the road at two in the morning?” he asked, cutting her off.
Her father’s voice sounded different to her. She had never seen him this angry. Mary Katherine was silent. She looked at her mother.
“Don’t look at her. Look at me. What were you doing, Mary Katherine?”
Mary Katherine looked into her father’s eyes. She was terrified.
“I went to church,” she said.
The minute the words left her mouth, her stomach began to churn. She wasn’t lying. She did go to church. But only after buying three pregnancy tests. Only after peeing on three sticks. Only after testing positive three times. Father. Son. Holy Ghost.
“You went to pray?” her mother said, her eyes softening.
“Yes, Mom,” Mary Katherine said.
“About what?” her father asked.
“Excuse me?” Mary Katherine stalled.
Her father stared at her. His rage only growing.
“You knew the family was going to midnight mass tonight, but you just had to sneak the car out at two in the morning to go to church to pray?”
“Yes, Dad.”
“ABOUT WHAT?” he said.
Mary Katherine was a deer in the headlights.
“Um…”
“PRAYING. ABOUT. WHAT?” her father repeated.
Mary Katherine turned to her mother.
“Honey, please. What were you praying for?” her mother asked softly.
“Mommy…” Mary Katherine said, suddenly feeling about ten years younger than she was. “I don’t know how this happened. I must have done something wrong, but I don’t know what it is. Maybe I thought it because to think it is to do it, but I didn’t know it could work that way, Mom. I swear to you I didn’t.”
“Just tell me what you were praying for, honey. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out together,” her mother said.
Tears began to swell in Mary Katherine’s eyes. Her father grabbed her hand.
“STOP STALLING AND ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!” her father yelled. “WHAT WERE YOU PRAYING ABOUT?!”
“Daddy, I’m pregnant.”
With the truth came the tears. Her mother held her as she sobbed. For a moment, Mary Katherine thought that maybe it would be okay. Her mother would still love her. She could still get into Notre Dame. She could get a great job and pay her father back and help Christopher recover. She promised them she would. Because her mother forgave her. Because when she deserved nothing, she was given love.
“When did you and Doug start having sex?”
Mary Katherine looked up and saw her father. He was so disappointed.
“When did you and Doug start having sex?” he repeated.
“We didn’t.”
“What? You’re sleeping with other people?”
“No, Dad.”
“Then, who is the father?” he asked.
Mary Katherine was silent. Her mother held her hand softly.
“Who is the father, honey?” she asked.
“I don’t know, Mom,” Mary Katherine said.
“You don’t know? How many have there been?!” her father asked.
“None.”
“What are you talking about?!” he said.
“I’ve never had sex.”
“Then, how are you pregnant?”
Mary Katherine could not stand the look in his eyes. The confusion holding the rage back like fingers in a dam.
“I don’t know. That’s what I said. I don’t know what’s happening.”
“Tell me who the father is!” he said.
Mary Katherine turned back to her mother.
“There is no father. That’s what I’m saying. I don’t understand what I did. Please help me, Mom.”
“It’s okay, honey. You don’t have to protect anyone. Just tell us who the father is,” her mother said kindly.
“Mom…there is no father. It’s an immaculate conception.”
Mary Katherine turned just as her father slapped her across her face.
“You stop this blasphemy right now! Who did you sleep with?”
“No one, Daddy,” she cried.
“Who’s the father?”
“I’m a virgin.”
“MARY KATHERINE! WHO’S THE FUCKING FATHER?!”
Mary Katherine braced herself, but her father didn’t hit her again. He just gave her a look of utter contempt and walked into the hallway, seething. Mary Katherine fell into her mother’s arms and sobbed so deeply that it took her a few seconds to realize something horrible.