An Unexpected Child

When prominent pro-life advocate Marlena Vessel is sexually assaulted at a Washington D.C. conference, she makes a choice that will define the next seventeen years of her life: she decides to carry the pregnancy to term. What she doesn't expect is how profoundly this decision will challenge everything she believes about family, forgiveness, and what it truly means to protect a child.As Marlena builds a life with steady, devoted Kellard and raises her son Christian, she constructs careful walls around their family's origin story. When the past she's carefully buried threatens to destroy the family she's built, she must choose between the control she's always craved and the freedom her son desperately needs. Marlena must confront the fundamental questions that have shaped her career: What does it mean to protect life? How do we separate the circumstances of conception from the value of the child? And when does protecting someone become a prison that harms the very person you're trying to save? An Unexpected Child is a nuanced exploration of trauma, resilience, and the complex ways we build families. Read more