"More eggs, Megan?" Mae Scott offered sweetly.

"No, thank you, Mrs. Scott. I'm full."

"Are you sure, dear?"

"Leave the girl alone, Mae", Royal scoffed. "For goodness sakes. She already ate enough for ten people this morning. Don't try to fatten her up."

It was breakfast time at the Scott home. Just days before the big wedding, the family and friends were beginning to file in to town.

"Maybe we should save some for Nate. Speaking of, my grandson sure is sleeping late this morning. The groom to be must be pooped."

"He didn't come home last night", Megan said quietly.

"What?" Dan spoke up.

"He didn't come home", she repeated. "He uh…went out for a drive yesterday afternoon but he never came back."

"Goodness", Mae said. "Oh my. Should we call the police? Danny?"

"Girl, you should have said something before now", Royal admonished. "You know that boy has a few screws loose. He could be wrapped around a tree somewhere by now."

"I'll call his cell phone", Dan said sternly.

"Don't bother", Meg spoke. "I already tried."

"What's the point of having a cell phone if you don't turn it on?"

"I didn't say it was off. It rang and rang before going to voice mail. That means he had a chance to look at the Caller ID…and choose not to answer it when he saw the name."

"Oh nonsense", Royal snorted.

Deb looked away, picking at her pancakes as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. She didn't speak a word.

"Let me call Lucas. Maybe my good son knows where his idiot and delinquent brother is", Dan stood.

"Don't bother, Dad", came a voice from the doorway.

Nathan.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in", Royal shook his head. "Boy, you look like walking death eating on a cracker."

"Thanks for the love, Grandpa. Meg, can I see you for a minute? Please? In private?"

She stood silently and followed him to the bedroom they usually shared and shut the door behind him.

"Where were you last night, Nathan? Or let me guess? Just out?"

"We need to talk."

"Damn right, we do. Nathan, I'm sick of this. What is happening to you? I…"

"Megan, are you pregnant?"

She recoiled in shock, stunned that he knew her little secret.

"Nate…"

"Answer me and don't lie."

"Who…who told you?"

"Does it matter? The point is, you didn't."

Meg closed her eyes.

"I wanted to. I tried to. It was on the tip of my tongue a thousand times."

"Yet you never breathed a word. Why? How could you keep something like that from me?"

"Because I didn't know how you would react. I don't know anything these days. At times I feel like I don't even know you anymore."

"That's bullshit!"

"Is it? You come and go when you please without so much as a word or a courtesy phone call to let me know you're okay. You yell at me all the time and maybe I'm supposed to be thankful for that because when you're not screaming, you're ignoring me. You're moody and bitter and distant. You have a shot of Scotch before you brush your teeth in the morning and you don't stop drinking until it's time to go to bed, or pass out as I should say because that's what you do."

"Meg…"

"You've been different ever since…"

"The Dominican?"

"Ever since her."

He closed his eyes.

"Megan, look…"

"No. I'm not stupid, okay? I may have come from a protective, conservative family and maybe I went to private schools and stayed in my own clique of equally sheltered girlfriends. I haven't had a lot of life experience or lots of boyfriends or the wild weekends away at Spring Break but I'm not a fool, Nathan. Except for the one I've been letting you make out of me."

"It's not like that."

"Oh? Then what is it like?"

"I don't know. It's dramatic and complicated and…"

"Damn right. It's tearing me apart. And you expect me to bring a baby into all this? Nathan…"

"What do you want from me, Meg?"

"All I've ever wanted…just you. I love you, Nathan but I'm not sure if you love me anymore. If you ever did."

"That's nonsense."

"Is it?" she began to cry. "Are you…are you still in love with her?"

Nathan took a deep breath. He knew that question would come. It was inevitable. And on the long drive home, he'd had plenty of time to ponder his answer. He had made decisions, choices that would forever affect his future. All of a sudden, it was hard to look back on what Dan had done with disdain so many years ago. Now father and son had something in common. They both did what was right and what was needed, not necessarily wanted. They had to make the best out of a sticky situation. They did what they had to do.

"No", he said without an iota of emotion.

"Why? Why should I believe you?"

"Because it's me. Because I love you. Because we're getting married in a few days and we're having a kid together, Megan."

She laughed bitterly.

"Oh I see the gimmick. Poor Meg gets herself knocked up and ruins Nate's plans but he's going to do the right thing and gallantly come back to save the day and raise a family. I've heard that story before. Spare me. I don't need your pity or your nobility."

"It's not a story! I love you, Meg! You know that."

"You have a real shitty way of showing it."

"I've been through a lot, okay? You weren't there? Going through that whole tsunami…I still have nightmares. It was horrible…"

"I'm sure it was but I wouldn't know because every time I ask you to share with me, you shut down and pull away even further. I know you're hurting. I know you were scared. But we're supposed to be a team. If you love me and we're going to make a life together, then be scared with me, hurt with me. Whatever but we do it together."

"I know. I'm sorry. Meg, I'm trying, alright? I just don't know how to do things sometimes. I don't know how to be that stand up guy."

"Then you need to learn. Grow up, Nate. I need that stand up guy. I need you to be a man. I need you to be a husband…a father."

"I will be. That's why I'm here. That's why I came back. I did a lot of thinking last night. I know I messed up. But I know where I need to be."

"Need to be…or want to be?"

"Both", he whispered.

More tears fell.

"How do I know you're not here just because of the baby?"

"You just have to trust me again. We have to trust each other. I'm sorry I hurt you but I'm here to make it right."

He tried to touch her but she moved away, still crying and unconvinced. But his hand nervously found a place on her middle and the touched the core that housed the child they had conceived. Megan tried to push his hand away but he wouldn't move it. Instead he grabbed hers and held it to his. She lost her battle and lowered her head onto his sobbing. It broke his heart to hear her pain…the pain that he had caused her.

"Nathan, I love you. Why are you doing this to me?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…"

He could feel his own tears coming.

"I can't keep going through this. You can't keep hurting me."

"No more pain", he promised, kissing her forehead. "No more pain."

His lips grazed her forehead, then her cheeks and finally her lips. She kissed back, wet tears trickling into mouths. He kept kissing her and caressing her gently, trying to ease her fears…and his own. Crying quietly, Megan did not protest when he slipped the robe from her body and removed her bedclothes. He removed his own and made love to her. They held onto each other for dear life as he gently moved in and out of her body, kissing her sweet tears away. Finally they finished and held each other, feeling safe in the other person's arms. The storm had passed…or at least for the moment.

"I love you", she said, feeling his body relax as his soft snore began to set in.

Both were exhausted and could barely keep their eyes open. Megan gave way to sleep first, followed quickly by Nathan. He buried his face in her hair as the slumber took over.

"I love you, too…Haley."