"No."

"If I look in your sent texts or emails, I won't see any attachments with these pictures?"

"No, I promise."

"Austin, I'm your friend, but I'm also an adult. I appreciate that you've confided in me, but you've also put me in a very bad position. I know you don't want to get your friends in trouble, but you have to tell your mother. These kinds of things get out, and you have pictures on your phone that could get you in serious trouble. Give me your word as a young man that you'll do the right thing."

Austin's sigh was loud and long. "Oh, man, the s.h.i.t is gonna hit the fan." There was a moment of silence, then he said, "Okay, I promise. Will you be there when I do because she is gonna freak?"

"No, I won't," Jaclyn said as she stepped out of hiding. Jaclyn held out her hand, and Austin's face colored as he surrendered the phone. She looked at Morgan. "Have you seen the pictures?"

Morgan shook her head. "I didn't want to."

"I need to see how bad they are. I don't want to cause an uproar over a bra strap." Jaclyn's thumb moved over the screen. Her eyes widened for a moment before she closed them and put a hand on her stomach. She blew out a shaky breath and sat down. "Austin, I'm not mad at you. I was very relieved to hear that you didn't further circulate them."

"What are you gonna do?" he asked lowly.

Jaclyn swallowed hard. "I need to go talk to Rylee's mom. She's been a friend of mine for a long time. She'd do the same for me if it involved you."

Austin nodded with resolution on his face. "Am I gonna lose my phone?"

"No," Jaclyn said with a shake of her head, "but we're going to have to talk about this a lot tonight when I get back from Glenda's."

Morgan stood and collected her notebook. "I'll take a rain check on dinner. I have some groceries I need to eat before they go bad anyway."

"Austin, why don't you go up to the house and let me talk to Morgan for a minute?"

"Okay." He got up and looked at Morgan. "We'll get started tomorrow, I hope."

Morgan smiled and nodded. "If your mom says it's okay, I'll be waiting on you."

"I'm sorry about dinner," Jaclyn said regretfully when Austin walked out the door. "And I want to thank you for how you handled this situation. I heard most of the conversation you had with my son. I'd like to believe folks around here would've advised him to do the same, but maybe they wouldn't have to keep the kids from getting into trouble."

"I think I may've been channeling my dad," Morgan said with a slight smile. "He always laid out the facts and led me to make the right decision. I hope things go well with Rylee's mom."

"So do I. You never know how someone is going to react when confronted with something like this."

"Well, if you need to talk afterward, you know where I live."

Jaclyn smiled wanly. "Thank you."

A couple of hours later, Jaclyn dragged in, feeling drained. Glenda, also a single mother, took the news hard and cried when she looked at the photos on Austin's phone. Jaclyn hated to be the bearer of bad news, but had she been in Glenda's place, she would've wanted a parent to prepare her for what was going to come out eventually. Rylee and her sisters had not been home when she met with Glenda, and Jaclyn was grateful she didn't have to witness whatever conversation Glenda was going to have with her daughter.

The kitchen was spotless. Austin had eaten, then cleaned up. The chicken pot pie had been covered and left on top of the stove. Jaclyn found him showered and shooting hoops with a foam basketball in his room.

"Was Rylee's mom mad?"

Jaclyn sighed as she sat on his bed and kicked away a foul-smelling pair of sneakers. "She was devastated. Things like that not only anger a parent, they break their heart." Jaclyn pulled the phone from her pocket and set it on the bed. "I deleted the pictures after Glenda looked at them. Your phone is a very useful resource, that's why I got it for you. I can call and check on you when you're with friends, and you can call me when you need me. The negative side to that is it can also be used for things like you got today." Jaclyn ran her fingers through Austin's hair as he sat next to her. "I'm glad you confided in Morgan, and I'm glad she gave you the advice she did, but you know you could've come to me."

"I didn't want it to be a big deal."

"But it was and is. I think you knew that because you didn't forward the pictures. Rylee chose to share something intensely personal, but that doesn't mean it was right for you to do the same."

Austin's eyes were wide when he said, "But I didn't, I swear."

"I know you did the right thing. And, bud, this is not the last time you're going to have to make a decision that's not popular. I've raised you to know what's right and what's wrong, and sometimes that line gets blurred. But take a minute to stop and think about the consequences like you did today."

"I will."

"I did something that I'm not particularly proud of tonight," Jaclyn admitted. "I wasn't completely truthful with Glenda. I told her I looked at your phone and saw the pictures, so you wouldn't look like a tattletale."

"Thanks," Austin said with a smile.

Jaclyn didn't share in his enthusiasm. "It was a snap decision when Glenda asked me how I found out. I'm admitting this to you so you'll understand that even adults can slip up under pressure. I told Glenda the truth during our conversation because I had to be honest. You will make wrong decisions, too, but I expect you to correct that mistake, understand?"

Austin nodded. "Was she mad at me, too?"

"She said she respected you for telling an adult."

"Logan and Rylee are not gonna feel the same way."

Jaclyn smiled sadly. "Maybe not, but you didn't get them in trouble. They got into it on their own when they traded those photos." Jaclyn ran her hand down Austin's back. "I'm proud of you, though, if that makes you feel any better."

"It does," Austin said sincerely as he met her eye.

Jaclyn kissed him on the cheek. "Is there anything else you want to discuss with me?"

Austin shrugged. "No, ma'am."

Jaclyn stood. "I'm going to get ready for bed then."

Austin smiled up at her. "I love you."

"I love you, too, baby, more than I can possibly show."

Chapter Thirteen.

"I have news, big news," Brad said excitedly the next day when Morgan answered her phone. "Tonya's pregnant."

Morgan's knees nearly buckled as she stood at the kitchen sink. "What?"

"Three months, she didn't tell me. She'd been sick lately, and I thought it was a stomach virus. I really started hounding her about going to the doctor, and she told me. I'm gonna be a dad!"

Brad and Tonya had been trying to have children for years, but after a miscarriage, they'd given up. Morgan grinned, knowing that this news meant the world to Brad. "Oh, my G.o.d."

"We're gonna find out what it is as soon as we can. We want to know if we're planning for a girl or a boy. I don't care what it is, I'm gonna be a freaking dad! And you're gonna be an aunt. I made a baby, Morgan. I did that...well, Tonya, too, but I made a baby!"

"Aw, Brad, I'm so happy for you and Tonya. This is fantastic news."

"Dad's proud, I know he is. He's up there right now pumping his fist and Mom too. I just wish they would've been here to share in the excitement." Brad's tone wasn't somber when he said, "You will be, though. Aunt Morgan, it has a ring to it, doesn't it?"

"I could get used to being called that," she said with a laugh. "How's Tonya feeling?"

"A little pukish but on top of the world. She's already been to the doctor, and she says everything looks really good. Today, we're going shopping for new clothes, and I'm gonna buy like a case of orange juice because I heard that's good for the mom and baby. This is the very first time I've been excited about going to the mall with her."

Morgan swallowed down the ball of emotion welling in her throat. Of all the news she could've gotten, this was the best. "I'm so happy, little brother."

"Me too. You're the first person I've told. Now I have a few calls to make, oh, and a baby bed to shop for."

"Send me pictures of the stuff you buy."

"I will. Love you."

"Love you, too." Morgan set the phone down with a smile on her face. Brad's dream had finally come true, and if their father was watching like Brad believed he was, then Robert Cha.s.sion was cutting backflips. She stared out at the lake as she recalled a conversation they'd had.

"He's really upset, isn't he?" Morgan strolled around Brad's backyard with her dad. She knew that Tonya was devastated by the miscarriage. Brad was trying to be positive for Tonya's sake, but Morgan could tell that all he wanted to do was hide himself away in his misery.

Robert shuffled along, his expression grim. "When something like this happens to you, it's terrible, but to watch your baby suffer is just gut-wrenching. Their highs are your highs and the lows..." Robert sighed. "Sometimes, there's just no way to shield your children from heartbreak. It liked to have killed me when your mom died. I was brokenhearted, but you and Brad were so pitiful, you especially, because you understood more then. He was so little, all he knew was that she was gone. It was such a double whammy because I struggled with my own sense of loss, but yours tore me in two."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, no one should. Life just sucks sometimes, doesn't it?"

"It does." Robert sighed as he reached out for the picnic table and slowly lowered himself to the seat. "I remember the first time I saw you. They laid you in my arms, and I stared at your little face. It was the most terrifying moment of my life because I never dreamed how protective that I'd feel, vulnerable. You were so dependent on me, and it was humbling." He smiled. "But at the same time, I felt a love so strong. I loved your mother, but this was different, something so amazing."

Morgan reached over and took his hand. "You're a great dad."

Robert smiled wanly. "Not always, baby. When you started to grow from a little girl to a young woman, I made some stupid decisions. It's so hard to watch your daughter change like that, and in your most formative years, I wasn't there. I told myself that I was working so much to provide a future for you, but I was just keeping my distance. I let Mrs. Meyers, the lady who sat with y'all while I was at work, handle things I was uncomfortable with. I thought you needed more of a female influence, and I guess you did, but I lost something then, and I couldn't get it back. Y'all were in bed by the time I got in from work, and at that time, I only saw you on the weekends. With every one, you seemed to have grown so much that I barely knew you. As I look back on my life, that's one of my greatest regrets, and I'm so sorry."

"You did what you had to do. It's okay."

Robert shook his head. "It's never okay to turn your back on your kids, not for any reason. I need your forgiveness."

"There's nothing to for-"

"Morgan, I need you to accept my apology."

"Done," Morgan said and meant it.

Robert nodded. "Thank you. I know you think having kids is not in your future, but it could happen. You may meet a woman you want to build a life with and you may decide that you want babies of your own. You need to understand that you're gonna make plenty of mistakes, but learn from mine and don't follow the same path."

Morgan would never admit what she said next to anyone else but her father. "I think about it sometimes. I wonder what it'd be like to have kids of my own, but right now, I have to build my career so I can provide, and I'm not there yet."

"That's very respectable, but understand that life will pa.s.s you right by when you're making preparations. I truly admire your work ethic, baby. When you were sixteen and worked at that ice cream shop, you were so serious, so diligent, and I knew then that you'd always do well in life. I'm so proud of what you've accomplished, but I hope you'll take time for yourself. These visits seem to be the only time you take a break."

Morgan shrugged. "My job is demanding. If I slack off, there's always someone else waiting to step on me to get ahead."

"Are you happy?"

"Yeah." Morgan's response didn't sound as sincere as she would've liked, but with her father, she couldn't bluff her way through anything. They were too much alike for that. "It gets a little lonely sometimes," she said as she looked away. "I love Resa, but sometimes, I feel like we're just biding our time. I don't think she's the one."

Robert smiled and exhaled slowly. "It's good to hear you say that because I don't think she is, either. You two seem like you're in two different worlds." He jerked a thumb toward Brad's house. "Now those two are two peas in a pod. Sometimes I worry that they're too close. Your brother calls Tonya every day to find out what he should eat for lunch, but it works for them."

Morgan laughed. "I don't think I could live like that. I'm just too independent."

"What're you looking for in a woman?"

"Myself," Morgan said with a smile. "That sounds arrogant, doesn't it?"

"No."

Morgan looked at the blue sky above. "I want someone who finds humor in the silliest things. I need her to respect that I need my time alone, and I want her to want the same. I want to be able to admit my darkest secrets and know that she won't be threatened by them. She won't mind when I'm weak, and when she is, I'll be strong for her. I want a best friend, as well as a partner."

"You just described the relationship I had with your mother. They come once in a lifetime, you know? When you find that woman, you never let her go, you hear my horn?"

Morgan laughed. "I hear you honking."

"Relationships are never perfect. They take a lot of patience and understanding. If you're not willing to give that, don't expect that it'll be given to you." Robert sighed and squeezed Morgan's hand. "I could never say this enough, but I am so very proud of the woman you've become. You're not perfect, but G.o.d knows, you try. You just dive right in most of the time and give everything your all. I admire your tenacity, but I hope you remember that you also have to take care of yourself. Slow down every now and then and just enjoy the life you've been blessed with."

As Morgan thought back on that conversation, it warmed her to know that her father was truly proud of her. She knew he loved her, but sometimes, pride did not go hand in hand.

Chapter Fourteen.

"I added a few extra brackets to keep the case together, especially on the backing." Morgan pointed to a blue and white can sitting on the deck. "Your Aunt Maddie says this sealant will keep the wood watertight. We'll put a couple of coats on after we finish painting."

Austin ran his brush over the wood, paying special attention to the inside corners. "I was thinking that since you gave up the bookcase and bought all the paint and stuff, I should pay the entry fee. It's fifty dollars."

Morgan stopped what she was doing and looked at him. "You have that kind of money?"

Austin nodded, keeping his focus on his task. "I have sixty left over from this summer when I worked at the store."

"I don't want to deplete your savings."

Austin shrugged. "It's fair. You've already probably spent that much, and you made me your partner." He grinned. "I already paid it and turned in the form for Captain Morgan and her first mate Austin."

"Captain Morgan, that's funny."