How do you think Laura's experiences factored in to her staying with and marrying Nick?

How do you think Laura's experiences with pregnancy and being shunned by her family factored in to her staying with and marrying Nick?

She definitely needed some support, even if it was the wrong kind. She needed to get away from her parents. She stayed because she saw so few options, typical of that era.

I agree with PinkLady. Laura felt helpless, insecure, and though she didn't have loving feelings for her parents, especially her mother, she still didn't want to admit that she had "messed up" again. I feel during this time period, women were expected to get married and stay married no matter what. Laura's "voice" had been denied for so long that she just couldn't see a different future.

It was almost inevitable that Laura marry someone quickly—she desperately needed to get away from her parents. The semblance of love between her and Nick was enough for her then. Very soon she was a loving and dedicated mother that helped her to live with the pain of losing Jamie. Her marriage wasn’t happy, but it was a compromise to have a stable home. The difficulties she had as a single mother attests to the high cost of divorcing.

A person with a child in that era probably thought her options would be limited. If the initial attraction had held, it could have been a happy ending.

I agree that she felt she just had to make it work. I stayed for 10 years with my second husband in part because I couldn’t keep making the same mistake.

She used Nick as a way to get away from her parents. She wasn't really thinking about what was going to happen once she left. Nick did present himself as a nice guy in the beginning.

At the beginning, marriage seemed the perfect answer to Laura's and Nic's situation. As the years went on and more babies, Laura didn't have a way out. She had no family to help and community resources were so few in those days.