Not My Daughter

overwhelmingly approve.'

'Then this editorial will be a blip.'

'A blip that every single person in town will see. Second to the front page headline, this is what people read. Have you heard from any of the board?'

'Zimmerman called me yesterday, but that was before this.'

'This will not hurt property values,' Susan declared, knowing Thomas Zimmerman's priorities only too well.

'I hope not.'

'How can it? We're talking three girls in a town of eighteen thousand people.'

'With a school principal who is the mother of one of those girls. See, that's the tricky part.'

Susan didn't want to argue the point again. 'So what do we do? The school is my first priority. I have to keep my focus here. You're higher up. Can you reach out to the broader community?'

He could write a letter to the editor. He could lobby on her behalf with the likes of Carl Morgan and Duncan Haith. As superintendent of schools, he had the ear of other community leaders.

'Tell you what,' he said genially. 'The Leadership Team isn't scheduled to meet for another week. I'll call everyone together tomorrow morning. You can answer their questions directly.'

It wasn't quite what Susan had in mind. But she wasn't in a position to demand more.

Sunny was on the phone in her tiny office at the back of PC Home Goods, putting in an order with a loquacious candle supplier, when the paper arrived. While the man chatted on, she skimmed through to the editorial page.

The supplier rambled on, but she heard none of it, until there was a louder, 'Mrs. Barros? Are you there?'

Sunny cleared her throat. 'I am, Chad. I'm sorry. Something's come up. Can we finish this later?' She quickly hung up and, heart in her throat, reread the editorial. Then she picked up the phone and called her husband.

'Have you seen the Gazette?' she asked in a voice that shook.

'No. Sunny, I'm with someone here.'

'Read the editorial.'

'As soon as I can.'

'Soon. Call me back.' She hung up and waited. The digital clock on the shelf changed the half hour, then the hour, but the phone didn't ring. Soft bells jingled when the door of the store opened, but she had two saleswomen on the floor to handle customers. She couldn't face anyone who might have seen the Gazette.

When the clock registered another half hour, she pulled out her cell phone. She didn't want this call on the company line.

Her parents lived one time zone away, making it nine o'clock there, and even then her mother sounded groggy.

'If I've woken you, I am not sorry,' Sunny began. 'It isn't my fault if you and Dad watch old movies all night. And it isn't my fault that my daughter is pregnant. But that's what the paper suggests.'

'What paper?'

'The local one-the Gazette-what other one would I care about? This paper reaches every person in town for free, so it's not like I can even unsubscribe. It isn't bad enough that my own daughter betrayed me or that my best friend Susan aired my dirty laundry in school all week, but now it's in print. I'll definitely sue the editor in chief for printing this.'

'The Zaganack Gazette?' Delilah sounded distracted.

'You think this is funny, Mother? I do not. I had a good reputation before this, but now it's shot.' She read aloud. ''These girls claim they acted alone. But did they? Their mothers failed to teach. Failed to supervise. Failed to-''

''Set an example,'' Delilah spoke with her. 'Excuse me, Sunshine, but I do not see mention of mothers in this diatribe.'

'Because I've only read you a tiny part.'

'No, no. I have the whole thing on my screen right now, and I only see the word mother once.'

'People is a euphemism for mothers. He's directing this at my friends and me.'

'Mostly at Susan, but he doesn't mention her name either.'

'Like anyone in town wouldn't guess? You don't seem to understand. I have trouble looking at my daughter, my husband has trouble looking at me, and wherever I go people stare. This is everything I've fought not to go through. Now we'll have to move.'

'Rubbish,' said Delilah.

'I'm not like you, Mother. You thrive on controversy. I find it Humiliating with a capital H.'

'That's because you're Timid with a capital T. You have a fine daughter, who will do a fine job raising her child-and, for the record, your father and I weren't up last night watching old movies. He was up late tracking computer hackers, which is what he does for the government, which doesn't think we're anywhere near as embarrassing as you do.'

Sunny knew that the government would think twice if her parents showed up for the annual White House Easter egg hunt dressed as rabbits. But she hadn't called to argue.

'Fine,' she said. 'But please, next time you talk with Jessica, do not encourage her. She did this for you.'

'Wrong, Sunshine. She did it for you. When are you going to open your Eyes with a capital E?'

Kate was at the barn when one of her assistants brought the Gazette in from the parking lot. She wouldn't normally read it here, but she knew it might have an article on the girls, and besides, there was a lull at work. Though she had started dyeing Vernal Tide, March Madness, and Spring Eclipse in each of five yarn weights-bulky, worsted, sport, fingering, and lace-Susan hadn't worked out the last two formulas. Nor had they gotten feedback from the others on the three they did have.

Saturdays had not been as productive as they needed to be. She and Susan were distracted and seemed to knit more than dye. Pam seemed totally disinterested and was clearly having second thoughts about giving PC Wool a push in the catalogue. And if Sunny was planning a special promotion at PC Home Goods, she hadn't mentioned it in days.

All of it was upsetting, but nowhere near as much as the public attention her daughter had garnered that week. Mary Kate claimed she was fine, but when Kate's friends asked about Jacob, she didn't know what to say. Her heart broke when she realized that the two of them might have permanently split. Oh, Jacob would take responsibility for the baby. He would support it once he could. He would negotiate an agreeable arrangement for visitation, even custody. But this wasn't an ideal way to bring a child into the world.

Slipping the Gazette from its plastic sleeve, she opened it on the worktable and skimmed through. She was starting to think they had dodged the bullet when she saw the editorial.

Her first thought was to call Susan. But Susan's phone would be ringing off the hook.

Her next thought was to call Sunny. But Sunny would be bouncing off the wall.

Her third thought was to call Will, but he was growing frustrated with Kate's anger, and what she needed was a target.

So she called Pam. 'Have you seen the Gazette?'

'Just now. Tanner called.'

'Was there no way he could stop this? His cousin is the publisher, and the publisher is George Abbott's boss.'

'Tanner isn't involved in running the paper,' Pam said coolly. 'He didn't know this was coming. Besides, there's a problem with the website, so he's been preoccupied.'

'A problem that affects PC Wool?' Kate asked. This was her livelihood.

'No.'

That was a relief. With production falling behind schedule, the last thing they needed was a problem with sales. 'So why did George Abbott write this? Do you think he represents the mainstream of