CHAPTER 18
Beth didn’t notice Bryce until he was right beside her, his arm sliding around her waist.
“What happened?”
His voice was calm, but there was a sharp edge beneath it. He had arrived just in time to see Jackie pointing at Beth before storming off, the tension in the room so thick it felt suffocating.
Beth just shook her head. “I—I don’t know.”
She turned to him with wide, tear-filled eyes… lost.
Whatever had just happened—had cut deep.
Pastor Steve ushered them into Beth’s now empty Sunday school room, shutting the door behind them to give them privacy.
Bryce drew her into a hug, and she clung to him. Tami stepped up, placing a gentle hand on Beth’s back.
“Honey, I am so sorry. That was completely uncalled for. They had no right to speak to you that way,” she said, her voice warm and reassuring.
Bryce needed answers, and he needed them now. He looked to Pastor Steve.
The slight lift of the older man’s shoulder told him he was just as in the dark. That left Lynn.
“Regina George showed up to church today and set her sights on Beth,” Lynn quipped.
Bryce scowled. The Ambroses looked confused.
“Ya know, the Queen Bee of the Plastics? Mean Girls?”
It took every ounce of self-control not to snap at his sister-in-law.
“Lynn… please. Just tell me what happened.”
The anger in his voice—the love behind it—was enough to make Lynn uncharacteristically sober.
“They publicly shamed her, Bryce,” Lynn said flatly. “I’d bet money they don’t actually know why you got married, but that didn’t stop them from making sure everyone heard their version.
They told Beth she wasn’t welcome at church until she ‘got her act right with God’—after they announced to the entire room that she’s pregnant.”
Bryce stiffened, his grip tightening ever so slightly around Beth.
“Elizabeth, look at me.”
His voice was so soft, so tender, that the other three instinctively looked away.
He cupped her cheek gently. “Sweetheart,” he said, searching her expression. “Did you take another pregnancy test?”
Beth just stared at him, unfocused, unseeing.
Leaning in, Bryce brushed a kiss to her forehead before whispering in her ear, “Baby, you’re in shock. Come back to me.”
Then, moving his lips to hers, he pressed a soft kiss on her lips.
With a hiccup, Beth melted against him, his touch grounding her in a way nothing else ever had.
“No,” she whispered. “I haven’t taken any tests since the first one I told you about,” she hiccupped again. “I don’t know why they’d think I was pregnant.”
Lynn’s heart began to race. Watching the way Bryce handled her sister, the tenderness, the care—she knew Beth didn’t need her protection anymore. She had a much bigger, much more intimidating bodyguard now.
Suddenly, being cooped up in this room was suffocating.
“Oh, geez, Beth. You are so naive,” Lynn blurted out.
Beth flinched, but Lynn was already pacing. “Those women don’t know anything. They just assumed because you got married quickly, you must be pregnant.” Her agitation was evident as she moved toward the door.
“Lynn, wait—” Beth reached for her, but Lynn didn’t stop.
“Whatever. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she muttered, storming out.
Beth made to follow, but Bryce’s voice stopped her.
“Let her go.”
Bryce’s jaw tightened. “What they did is not acceptable.”
“It’s not,” Pastor Steve agreed, his voice edged with quiet pain. “If you’ll allow me, I’d like to address it this morning from the pulpit.”
Beth hesitated, her throat tight. She could still feel the weight of the stares, the lingering whispers pressing in on her like a suffocating fog.
The church—her church—had always been her safe haven.
These walls had held her in every season of life, a place where she was known, loved, and encouraged. A place where she had belonged.
Until today.
The humiliation cut deeper than anything she had ever experienced. She had never been the subject of gossip, never seen people she admired and trusted turn on her so quickly, so viciously. She had always believed the best of them.
She believed they would support her, stand by her, correct her in love if she ever stumbled. But this?
This wasn’t love.
Her whole world felt like it had cracked wide open.
“Beth,” Bryce said softly, his fingers brushing against hers. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want me to take you home?”
“No,” Beth admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. She exhaled slowly, shaking her head as if trying to physically clear the weight of it all.
It hit her then—this new, unfamiliar pull to escape.
To shut it all out and run. She hadn’t noticed it before, but then again, she’d faced so little emotional pain in her life.
Maybe it had always been there, just lying dormant.
But today, with Bryce beside her—his steady presence grounding her in a way she hadn’t expected—staying felt like the braver choice.
“But running isn’t the answer,” she said, steadier now. “I came here to hear the last sermon in the series on David. I don’t want to face them, but I refuse to hide in shame.”
Bryce’s grip tightened, anchoring her further. “I’m proud of you.”
So was she. At least, she wanted to be.
But right now, all she felt was shattered.
As Pastor Steve and Tami stepped away, giving them a moment of space, Beth stood in the quiet and let the shock begin to settle.
The initial sting was still there—sharp, raw, aching—but something else was creeping in beneath it.
A deeper kind of hurt. One that wouldn’t fade as easily as humiliation.
Is this what Lynn sees?
The question slammed into her, uninvited and unshakable.
She had spent years defending the church against Lynn’s skepticism.
Every time her sister rolled her eyes at the mention of a Bible study or dismissed a sermon as just another way for Christians to feel superior, Beth had argued back: “That’s not fair.
That’s not what church is about. That’s not who we are. ”
But today?
Today, she wasn’t so sure.
Jackie’s voice still rang in her ears, smug and self-righteous: “You might want to think about taking some time away from the church as you attempt to get your life back in order with the Word of God.”
The words hurt, but what stung even worse was the way she had said them. As if Beth were nothing more than a stain to be scrubbed away.
Beth clenched her fists, remembering Lynn’s graduation party—how towards the end of the night Beth found Lynn behind the garage, eye make-up running down her freckled cheeks, furious.
She said the church ladies had pulled her aside at her own graduation party, of all places, and warned her she’d be pregnant, homeless, and addicted to drugs before she was twenty.
Beth had suggested that maybe Lynn misunderstood what they were saying. Perhaps they were just trying to caution her that without giving her life to Jesus those things could happen.
But she had also—shamefully—believed it was just Lynn being Lynn. That her sister was blowing it out of proportion, twisting it to fit her anti-church narrative.
She could still hear Lynn’s bitter laugh.
“Oh, Bethy. You still think these people love like Jesus, don’t you? You really think they care, but what do you think will happen if you do something they don’t like?”.
Beth had argued. Of course they cared. Of course they loved like Jesus.
She had been so sure.
But now?
Now she stood in the same shoes Lynn had worn years ago, and it wasn’t just painful—it was devastating.
Beth had always assumed the church would be her safe place. That, no matter what, these were the people who would stand beside her, love her, support her.
But today, they had humiliated her. Rejected her.
They had shamed her and she had never felt so lost.
Her faith in God hadn’t wavered. He was still good. Still merciful. Still, everything she needed.
But it was as though her eyes had been opened to a reality she had never seen before, and she didn’t know what to do with it.
Bryce shifted beside her, ending her reminiscing. “Ready?” he asked, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
She wasn’t. But with a slow breath, she straightened her shoulders and nodded.
Bryce never let go of her hand as he led her toward the sanctuary. The song service was nearly over by the time they slipped in through the side door, stopping at the row where her parents sat.
Donald was at the piano, as he was most Sundays. Bryce had Beth precede him, making sure she was safely nestled between him and her mother.
Sue looked up, offering Bryce a warm smile before turning her gaze to Beth. The concern on her face was immediate.
Without a word, she reached over and took Beth’s other hand, squeezing gently.