"Did I hear my name?" Sandy asked, entering the foyer to find the entire Camden clan hovering.
"What have you done now?" Ruthie yelled at her. "To think I was feeling sorry for you! I knew that you came here just to cause trouble!"
"I haven't done anything! And I don't need you to feel sorry for me," Sandy yelled back. She turned to Simon, tears glistening in her eyes. "I tried, Simon. I really did, but your family is unforgiving!"
"We're not unforgiving when forgiveness is deserved!" Lucy shouted at Sandy. Kevin put a hand on his wife's shoulder, knowing how she could be when she got fired up. "Well I'm sorry, but someone should be honest around here. Sandy, you lied to Martin to try to trap him into a relationship! He's a senior in high school! What could he have possibly offered you? And you," Lucy said, swinging around to face Martin. "You claim to care about Ruthie, but then you're hanging around with the girl you were sleeping with a few months ago!"
"They were never sleeping together! It was a one time thing!" Simon stated.
"And that makes it okay?" Matt asked. "Sounds to me like both Martin and Sandy are to blame. Martin didn't even talk to her afterwards."
"I…" Martin tried to step in.
"Stay out of this!" Eric said, pointing at Martin.
"But he is in this," Mac pointed out.
"It's all her fault!" Meredith exclaimed. "Sandy should never have come here!"
Suddenly, in the midst of all of the arguing and lack of sense going on, there was a loud whistle. Everyone turned to look at Martin, two fingers stuck in his mouth.
"Thank you," he said quietly. He turned to Ruthie, whose face had fallen. He put a finger under her chin and lifted her face until their eyes met. "After everything that happened, or didn't happen, with Sandy, I really started to evaluate my life. I've always thought I wanted to be a pro ball player and I'm not entirely giving up that dream. But I do have other ambitions too. And then there's you. I've never met a person who can make me feel the way you make me feel. When I finally got around to filling out my college applications, the thought of having to leave you, made it impossible. (I almost missed most of my deadlines.) So I talked to a few people in the guidance office and they helped me to realize that a year or two at Glen Oak college wouldn't hurt my chances of a pro career, if that's what I eventually still want. When you graduate, we can decide where we both want to go, together."
Ruthie was smiling again. "So there's nothing between you and Sandy?"
Martin looked over at Sandy. He shook his head. "Just unfinished business, like forgiveness. But that will come, eventually."
Simon put an arm around Sandy, who was clearly touched that Martin had listened to their conversation and really taken some useful knowledge away from it.
"So there was no elaborate plot to seduce Ruthie?" Matt asked, suddenly.
Sarah hit Matt. "You really know how to ruin a moment, don't you?"
Matt shrugged and looked over at Simon and then at his father. They were both looking at their shoes.
"I think this may be my fault," Mac confessed.
"Your fault?" Martin asked. "How?"
Mac blushed. "I may have mentioned something about a secret for Ruthie to Reverend Camden."
Martin's shook his head. "Thanks a lot, Mac."
"Hey, how was I supposed to know they'd jump to all of these conclusions?" Mac defended.
Kevin stepped up to Mac and whispered, "Welcome to the world of Camden life, where everything always has to be more complicated than it really is."
Eric stepped forward and offered his hand to Martin. "I'm sorry, Martin. I should have trusted you. You've given me no reason not to." He turned to his youngest daughter, looking so grown-up in her beautiful dress, and smiled. "I guess I just hate the fact that you're growing up and you don't need me anymore."
Ruthie smiled back at her father and hugged him. "You're my dad. I'll always need you. And thanks for looking out for me."