Sentence:  Or you could hope the parachute would n't open just so you could say you saw it not open , not because you meant any harm to Starkey Poe in his suit of red underwear , but mainly because you were tired of being an old maid - a thing which cannot admit when it thinks it might be pregnant , but must <WSD>stand</WSD> the dizzy feeling all alone and go on like everything is all right instead of being able to say to somebody in a normal voice : `` I think I 'm pregnant '' . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  put up with something or somebody unpleasant