Acquiring Trouble

screen and pushed up her window. Morgan looked into her room and was relieved to see the door shut, but with the window now open she could hear more of her parents' argument.
    She climbed in through the window and grabbed her large duffle bag and backpack. Morgan lifted the lamp in her room and pulled out the tight wad of money she had been saving and tossed it into her backpack along with her personal items. She grabbed a bunch of clothes and tossed them into her bag. She froze when she heard her father's voice rise.
    "No, I don't t hink I was too harsh on her. She's a jezebel, just like her mother."
    "Please, don't take my mistake out on her. Take it out on me, don't make her go."
    It was the first time her mother had stood up for her to her father. But why was he calling her mother names? Her mother was the most passive creature she'd ever seen —n ot like her, that's for sure.
    "She's the product of your sin with another man. She bares his mark and she bares your loose behavior. I won’t have her darken my doorway one more time. She will not ruin the happiness of my true daughter any longer. She is banished from this family and I’ll tell her so when she dares to show her face again."
    With the slam of a door she heard her father leave.  She finished throwing her clothes into her bag and quietly walked to the formal living room. Her mother stood, broken and crying in the middle of the empty room.
    "Mom?" s he asked in a way that conveyed all the emotions rolling through her.
    "You heard?" Her mother bowed her head and with a deep breath looked up at Morgan. "I can tell you did."
    "Is it true? Is Dad not my father?" Morgan managed to whisper.
    "Yes, it's true. He agreed to raise you and be your father , in return I was to stay his wife and never tell anyone the truth. Although, anyone who looks at you should be able to tell you're not his. You look nothing like him or Pam. But, your father just told everyone you were the spitting image of his grandmother and everyone thought that was so special." She shook her head in disbelief.
    "Who's my real father? When? How? I don't understand?"
    "We were at a conference nineteen years ago. There was this man, he was there with his wife. We fell in love and it just happen ed. We started an affair. A fter one week of knowing each other, we knew we were soul mates.
    “ We parted at the conference and stayed in touch. He was from Cincinnati and we talked on the phone every week. H e told me he was going to leave his wife and I decided to take Pam and divorce your father." Her mother started shaking and Morgan wrapped her arms around her. She was so frail. It was as if life had beaten her sp i rit down.
    "So, why didn't you leave him?"
    "I did," she said quietly. Her eyes glazed over as she went back to that time. "I had the car loaded, Pam was in the car seat and we were preparing to go to Lexington to file divorce papers. I had found out I was pregnant that morning. The phone rang. I thought it was him and I couldn't wait to tell him about you. Instead of it being him , i t was his brother-in-law, informing me that my love had been in a car accident. He had died and his wife wanted to invite us to his funeral."
    Morgan's heart ached for her mother and a father she would never know. There was also relief. Relief that the man who had either ignored or berated her wasn’t her father. Relief that she wouldn’t end up like him.
    "Your father found out. He threatened to tell the whole town about me and kick me out without a dime…and, and that he’d take Pam from me. If I stayed with him and never mentioned it again, he’d raise my child as his own and I’d get to see both of my children grow up instead of just one. I had to stay. I couldn't risk losing either of you."  
    "Come with me, Mom." Morgan grasped her hands.
    "Where?"
    "I have a full scholarship to Georgetown University. Grab a bag, we'll go together."
    Her mother took her hand in hers and squeezed it. Silent tears fell from her cheeks. " It’s too late for that. I've made my bed, now I must lie in it. But it's not too late for you. Go and live. You're so bright and talented and I am so proud of you."
    Morgan collapsed into her mother's arms and cried. Her mother loved her. All this time, she was just trying to give her a life. She had just discovered her mother, how could she leave?
    "I can't leave now. Not with learning all thi s. I feel like I just found you. H ow can I leave you now?"
    "You must, baby. He