#carter smith

Think about it. Carter is stated to be in his mid-to-late 30s (so presumably 35-39), and considering how few people believe Shelby, I’m going to assume that his wife isn’t that much younger than him, if she’s younger at all. By that age it’s considered a geriatric pregnancy. This is their first child, as we can tell by Shelby’s line where she states “you’re gonna be such great parents.” At the risk of stereotyping, most Southern Baptist Christian couples living in the rural Appalachian South are not waiting until their mid-to-late 30s to have kids. Especially if they’re seen as such a role model couple that they’re doing wonderful joint testimonies together. And that’s without Beth calling the pregnancy “the best news ever,” and excitedly announcing it to Shelby five minutes after her return. That, to me, implies that people in the community are invested in Carter and his wife having kids, and I don’t think it’s just because they like them. Take all of that into consideration, and I think there’s a clear implication that the Smiths have been having fertility issues and that it is known across the community, if never outright discussed.

And there’s so much to dissect there. It makes everything so much worse and more heartbreaking for Mrs. Smith, first of all, if all of this is happening when she was finally able to get pregnant. If the baby is due in July, then it was probably conceived in October when he was abusing Shelby, making her about five months along. Maybe she’s had miscarriages before and this is the longest a pregnancy has ever lasted, again making everything worse. Maybe this contributes to people not believing Shelby, the idea that she’s tearing a beautiful relationship apart right when they’ve finally gotten what they desperately wished and worked and prayed for. Maybe that’s part of the implication when Carter tells Beth that his wife doesn’t believe him. Fertility issues can strain the healthiest and happiest of marriages - it’s certainly a convenient excuse to tell vulnerable naïve teenage girls why you’ve fallen out of love with your wife and fallen for them instead. Maybe that story’s even true to a certain extent. Maybe the fertility issues are on Carter’s end, so he’s less concerned about one of his victims getting pregnant.