Somebody's Baby

Joan McGrath is a Toronto Board of Education library consultant.

Christine Beeme, a 15-year-old high-school student, follows her first
bombshell announcement, “I think I’m going to have a baby,” with
two others: in spite of her parents’ wishes, she refuses to terminate
this unwanted pregnancy, and she intends to keep the baby.

Her mother, Nora, finds what she believed to be the solid world of her
marriage and family shaken to its roots by this calamitous event.
Reluctantly, she supports her determined daughter, but at the cost of
her relationship with Marty, her husband of 20 years. He is bitterly,
unforgivingly angry with Christine, and absolutely refuses to accept the
future presence of his grandchild in his home.

Told from Nora’s perspective, this story of making decisions and
living with them is somewhat slick and sensational, but it does convey
the pain and tragedy that ensue when one child gives birth to another.