A New York Times Bestselling Author, An Essence® Bestselling Author -- Growing up in Shreveport, Ruby Jean Upshaw is a girl who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. By fifteen, the preacher's daughter has developed a taste for fast men and cheap liquor. But when she discovers she's in the family way, Ruby's scared for the first time in her life. Hiding it, she gives birth at the home of Othella Mae Cartier, daughter of the town tramp, who talks Ruby into giving the child away.