Painting by Vicente Romero Redondo.

The thought of going through the pregnancy alone frightened me. The thought of being a single mom scared me. But, I asked God that if I was meant to do at least one great deed in my life, let it be me being a mother.                                                                                                

— Belle

Seeing those two red strips ominously appearing on the white panel of the testing stick is nothing short of cataclysmic. I then knew it wouldn’t be a smooth ride henceforth. Being pregnant at seventeen wasn’t exactly a fairy tale — though it seems like the vogue nowadays, you know, teen pregnancy…