Kylie sighed deeply. Again, that was the last thing she wanted to hear. “She broke her promise to me, Lena. We’ve had a lot of talks. She had promised me that she would let me know when she was interested in boys.”
“And had she come and told you about Marcus, then what? Would you have given her your blessings or locked her up for the rest of her life? Girls like boys, Kylie. That’s natural. And you’ve had so many talks with Tiffy that she probably knows your speech by heart. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you’re laying things on a little too thick? Tiffy is a good kid, yet you’re judging her by the way you lived your life, by your own past mistakes. It’s important to you that she ‘be good’ because you don’t think that you were.”
Kylie’s eyes began filling with tears. “I only want what’s best for her, Lena. I made a foolish and stupid mistake once and I’ll do anything within my power to keep her from making the same one.”
Lena got up, came around the table and hugged her friend. “I know. Tiffy is going to be fine. I’ll be here to help you any way that I can. You know that. I just don’t want you to build this brick wall between you and her. That same kind of wall your mother built with you.”
Kylie wiped away a tear from her cheek. Although she and her mother had a fairly decent relationship now, Kylie would never forget when Olivia Hagan had let down her only daughter by upholding her belief that by getting pregnant out of wedlock, Kylie had committed the worst possible sin.
“I’ll never let that happen,” Kylie vowed quietly.
CHAPTER TWO
“THAT’S THE CRISIS you called this meeting for?” Sebastian Steele asked, turning away from the window and looking across the office at his brother with both amazement and amusement on his face.
Chance glared first at Sebastian, and then at his other two brothers, Morgan and Donovan. They were sitting in front of his desk and looking at him with the same expressions. “Your nephew is putting a pretty face before his studies and that doesn’t add up to a crisis to any of you?”
When all three chimed the word no simultaneously, Chance knew talking to them had been a waste of his time.
At the age of thirty-six, Chance was the oldest of the group. Next was Sebastian, fondly called Bas, who was thirty-four. Morgan was thirty-two, and Donovan was thirty. Of the four, Chance was the only one who had ever been married. Bas was presently engaged, but the other two claimed they enjoyed their bachelor status too much to settle down anytime soon.
“Look, Chance,” Morgan said as he stood up. “It’s normal for boys Marcus’s age to like girls. So what’s the problem?”
Chance rolled his eyes heavenward. “The problem is that the girl is only fifteen and they were planning to cut school together and—”
“No,” Sebastian interrupted. “They planned to cut a couple of classes, not school. There is a difference.”
“And he of all people should know,” Donovan said, grinning. “Considering the number of times he used to play hooky. I understand they still have a desk in Mr. Potter’s math class that says, ‘Sebastian Steele never sat here.’”
“I don’t find any of this amusing,” Chance said.
Morgan wiped the grin off his face. “Then maybe you should, before you alienate your son.”
“How about chilling here, Chance,” Sebastian interjected. “You act as if Marcus committed some god-awful sin. We know the promise you made to Cyndi, but there is more to life for a teenager than hitting the books. He’s a good kid. He makes good grades. Marcus is going to go to college in a couple of years, we all know that. One girl isn’t going to stop him.”
“You haven’t seen this girl.”
Morgan raised a brow. “Have you?”
“No, but I’ve seen her mother, and if the daughter looks anything like the mother then I’m in trouble.”