The Earring

Book 3 Part 1

After listening to women telling of the bungie-like emotional after effects of abortion, Faith was not ready to read a journal whose first line read: "I was blessed when it came to pregnancy." Somehow the normalcy of her mother's experience seemed surreal when compared to the anguish the women in Kyra's group described.

At the meeting Faith felt like a voyeur peaking in the windows of the soul. The women invited her in, hoping her book would help others to count the emotional cost before making a decision to abort. They told of excised corners of their hearts, empty holes where the love for a child should've been. They admitted to selfishness in the decision-making process. They openly mourned the children who would never see the light of day.

Through it all, Kyra was gentle and encouraging. She offered hope but without platitudes or disparagement. She told them of God's great love and second chances, but she didn't tell them that their pain would be magically gone. It was something that evidently would ease with time but probably never be banished.

"It's better that the ache never goes away," one woman said softly. "The pain makes me more forgiving in all areas of life. It reminds me that no one is perfect."

The room was like a womb of forgiveness and hope. Faith's guilt at being there nearly overwhelmed her. She felt dirty when exposed to the honesty of the participants. She wished she had a pencil and paper so she could feverishly take notes, anything to distract from her shame at intruding. Her welcome, though, had been on the condition that she neither take notes nor record the session. The women wanted her to understand their pain and take away the sensory image not the individual details.

For the remaining two days of her holiday, Faith wrote feverishly. She couldn't betray the trust of Kyra's group.

"I may have gone with impure motives," Faith told herself, "but if the result is a book, I didn't really defraud them."

"Then tell Kyra," her conscience advised.

Before driving home, Faith called Kyra and invited her to lunch. She was working and would only have a 30-minute break, so Faith took subs to her. Face-to-face with Kyra, Faith was unable to obey the nagging voice that insisted on transparency. Instead she thanked Kyra and told her how helpful the group had been.

"Before I went with you, I had no compassion for those who aborted their children," Faith said. "I stood in judgment without any redeeming love. I still believe abortion is wrong, but I can now separate the sin from the sinner. Am I making any sense?"

"Perfect sense," Kyra said. "I think we all pick a sin or sins that we think are so heinous that the perpetrators are unforgivable. For me it's pedophiles. I'm not sure I can separate the sin of pedophilia from the person committing the act."

Faith shuddered. "Yeah. When I saw a report about a mother who offered forgiveness to the man who raped and killed her seven-year-old daughter, I practically shouted at the TV, 'Are you insane?'"

"Keep in touch, Angelica," Kyra said as she walked Faith to her car. "I want to read that book when it's finished."

As she drove home, Faith knew that she would give Aaron another chance. She wasn't yet ready to meet him at the altar, but she was prepared to delay the wedding while they worked through the trust issue. Still, when she got home, she decided to wait to call him. She needed to distance herself from Kyra and the group before she talked to him.

"Mama's journal should do it," Faith said aloud.

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VACUUMED

"Like an earring swallowed by a greedy vacuum cleaner, a marriage must guard against the nitty-gritty of daily existence burying it in the grime of life."