Hi Dopers, there’s this story I’ve had the ending to in my brain but I can’t remember the actual story at all! I’m hoping one of you can help me out, though I have only a vague recollection of it, unfortunately.
In the story there’s a girl who might be mentally fragile? I don’t think she’s mentally deficient, but there’s something about her that isn’t entirely typical. There’s also a much older man who is close friends with her and, I think, a bit of a mentor. I believe most of the story is from his POV (it’s third person). The girl gets pregnant somehow (not from the older man, who doesn’t think of her romantically – I think from someone her own age),
She goes to the older man, very worried, and he thinks something like, if her family were told, “They would take it away from her, and they mustn’t do that, not to [girl’s name].” (That’s not a direct quote, but it’s close to that. I tried doing google searches on variations of that and found nothing.)
Then it cuts directly to the last scene, which takes place a number of years later, and might (?) be from the POV of the man who got her pregnant, I’m not sure about that, but definitely the POV is a third character (not the girl or the older man) – and that person sees kids (I think multiple kids) running around, and it becomes clear, without anything being said directly, that the older man has married her and adopted her kid (the oldest kid the POV character sees being the one in question). The story ends on that realization, which is not stated explicitly. (I want to say I was in late grade school or early high school when I read it, and was rather proud of myself for catching it, even though it would be obvious to an adult.)
Gosh, rereading that I know it isn’t much to go on! I just remember that one quote and having all the feelings about that line, for some reason.
I want to say that I read it maybe in the 90’s (though the story itself has a much older “feel” in my brain), and the vast majority of the stories I read then were SF, so that’s why I say this story might be too – but there’s nothing I remember about it that’s explicitly SF-ian (it’s possible it took place in an apocalyptic landscape, but maybe not). It might also be by an author known for SF but not SF itself (e.g., Zenna Henderson, although what I remember in my head isn’t stylistically Henderson-like).
Thanks!
