“Maybe not so grown-up, after all.” Eva laughed.
Anne threw her arms about Sara and then stepped back. “You came!”
Sara handed Anne the gifts. “One’s from my parents. One’s from me.”
“You didn’t have to—” Anne said, but anyone could see the delight on her face. She held Sara’s package up to the light, as if she could see through it, then she gave it a gentle shake. “I can’t wait to see what it is!”
In all the years Sara had bought Anne presents for her birthday, gifts tucked in the back of her closet, like homing devices, she had always bought quickly, impulsively, because it felt so painful. This time, though, she had spent weeks trying to figure out what to get Anne. She had prowled store after store in the city, and in the end she had bought Anne a perfect creamy pearl on a silver chain. She had loved imagining Anne opening it up, Sara carefully taking out the delicate chain and fastening it about her daughter’s neck. A necklace as small and slight as a whisper that could even tuck under a T-shirt so Anne might wear it everywhere, so she’d feel it brushing against her skin and always be reminded of Sara.
“You’re coming to the house after dinner, aren’t you?” Anne said to Sara. “I’ll open it there.”
“Of course I am.”
And then Anne was looking beyond Sara, over her head, and Sara turned to look, too, and there was Danny, coming toward them, lean and handsome in a dark suit, and beside him was Charlotte with a baby in her arms, her hair longer, a halo of curls. Joseph, in a little suit and red bow tie, toddling alongside.
“We’ll always be connected,”Danny had said to her when they were kids. “We’ll always know where the other is.” And in a way, he had been right. They would be connected, they would see each other, but now it wouldn’t be because of the two of them. It would be because of Anne. At Anne’s college graduation. At her wedding. Maybe, someday, at the birth of Anne’s own child.
A knot rose in her throat so quickly Sara swallowed hard to stop it. Dipping her head, she pretended she had to find something in her purse. She blinked hard, hopeful she wouldn’t cry, and riffled through her tiny purse, waiting until she could lift her head again.
Danny hugged Anne first, and then Anne flung one arm about Sara, too, and for a moment, Sara’s hand grazed Danny’s and their eyes met. “It’s good to see you, Sara,” he said. Neither one of them moved away. Not yet. Not until George walked over, beaming and proud, motioning everyone.
“Come on, everyone, sit! Sit!” he ordered. He pointed to places. There and there and there. “Sara, right over there!” he said, pulling out a chair for her and then Sara sat, and for another moment again, all of them were here, together.
READING GROUP GUIDE
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1. “Girls in Trouble” is a 1950s euphemism for pregnant and unmarried girls. But who really are the “girls in trouble” in this book, and why?
2. Anne uses writing to reshape and understand her life. Why are stories so important in this book? How are some of these stories misinterpreted?
3. Why do you think Leavitt turns various stereotypes about teenage pregnancy, adoption, and first love on their heads? How does this all figure into the themes of the novel?
4. “What might have been” is a theme throughout the book. How would things be different if Sara hadn’t gotten pregnant? If she and Danny had married young? If Eva and George had stayed in town?
5. Leavitt clearly believes in the permanence of first love, but do you really think Danny and Sara could have been happy together?
6. The definition of family in this book is ever changing. What makes a family? Which ones in the book are the most successful and why?
7. “Loss is like a pie,” Sara says. It may get smaller and gradually disappear but we’re always hungry for it. How is this true for each character in the novel?
8. The characters in the book do the wrong thing for what they feel is the right reason. Abby and Jack try to get Sara to forget and move on. Eva and George separate from Sara. Sara takes drastic action with her baby out of love. What else might these characters have done in these situations?
9. Why do you think Leavitt explored open adoption by getting inside the minds of so many different and diverse characters?
10. Leavitt has said that she is very much pro open adoption. Why then, did she present an open adoption situation that was less than ideal? What is she saying about what could have been done to make it a happier process for everyone involved?
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Girls in Trouble: A Novel Page 40
