Not completely open, he noted. The screened back porch was latticed for privacy, with rolling blinds to keep out the rain
and a double skylight to let in the moon. Bright cushions covered two chairs and a hammock, bleached by the silver light. The
breeze carried the scent of pine and stirred the wind chimes dangling in one corner.
Elizabeth set the bottle on the floor and sat sideways in the hammock like a mermaid caught in a net. The sag in the
webbing forced her to lay back, legs parted, toes barely touching the floor. Deprived of support, she looked softer, looser, off
balance. His predatory instincts sharpened, edged by an odd tenderness.
He sipped his wine, watching her over the rim. “Your parents disapproved of your husband?”
She hesitated. “Yes.”
“But he is dead.”
“Emily is his daughter.”
He did not understand. “She has your eyes.”
“She has her father‟s name. His skin color.” She took a gulp of wine. “To my father, Zack looks like a freak and Emily
looks like the gardener‟s daughter.”
Comprehension gave way swiftly to rage. “Your father is an ass.”
“Yes, he is.” There was no bitterness in her voice, only a weary acceptance. “But he is their grandfather.”
“Your husband must have family.”
“In Puerto Rico. I take the children to San Juan to visit once a year, but it‟s not enough.” She stared into her wineglass.
“Zack seemed to be doing all right for a while, but the last year or two he‟s been so angry. Withdrawn. He can‟t focus. His
grades have dropped. His sleep patterns have changed. I have to nag him to shower.” She looked up, and the distress in her
eyes made him want to kill something for her. “I‟m worried he‟s doing drugs.”
“Not drugs,” Morgan said.
“What else could it be?”
The Change, he thought. The timing was right. Like puberty itself, the Change would affect every aspect of the boy‟s
development and feel completely beyond his control. On Sanctuary, adolescents were guided through the Change by an
experienced warden. Ignorant and alone, Zachary would be helpless to understand or mitigate the compulsion that seized his
body.
Poor little bastard. No wonder he hid in his room and avoided the touch of water.
“His therapist didn‟t think it was drugs either.” Elizabeth struggled to sit up, cradling her glass in her hands. “But therapy
wasn‟t helping. I thought the move up here—new friends, new environment, a fresh start—might do him some good. Emily,
too. She‟s more resilient than Zack, more open, more eager to please. But she hasn‟t been truly happy in, oh, way too long.
They both need something so much.” She pressed the fingers of one hand to her temples. “And whatever it is, I can‟t give it to
them.”
She was wrong, Morgan thought. Even without understanding her son‟s true nature, Elizabeth had given him the tools to
survive.
She was strong enough not to need his comfort. Not to need him. But it annoyed him she gave herself so little credit.
“You underestimate yourself,” he said. “And your children. You have been giving to them since they were born. They can
be who they are, they can be angry or scared or miserable in your presence, because they know you will be there for them.
Will always be there for them.”
As no one else had been, he realized. Certainly not him.
“Even when they leave you, they will take your example with them,” he said. “Your strength. Your compassion. Your
determination to do what is right. They could not ask for a better teacher, Elizabeth. Or a better mother.”
“Oh.” Sudden moisture swam in her eyes. “Thank you.”
Something sharp lodged in his chest. He had not intended to make her cry. “Do not thank me.”
She blotted her eyes with her fingertips. “Sorry. I‟m not usually this emotional.”
“Neither am I.” The admission made him uneasy. He set down his wineglass, ill-prepared to deal with her tears or his own
reaction to them. “Elizabeth . . .”
She shook her head. “I didn‟t mean to dump my problems on you.”
“Do not apologize.” He sat beside her in the hammock and felt her weight roll warm against his thigh. His blood surged at
the contact. “You should talk to me. I am Zachary‟s father,” he said, and the words this time had new meaning.