“He had some of your stuff too, Maggie. He must have broken into your house to get it.”

“Stuff? What stuff?” She looked up at him.

“Um.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Underwear, bras, nightgowns.”

She groaned. It just kept getting worse. “He snatched my panties? Naked pictures of me? The whole town is going to hear about this. I’m going to have to move.”

“You’ll do no such thing! You have nothing to be ashamed of, Margaret!” Polly said sharply. “Honey, he’s the pervert. Why should you be embarrassed?”

“Are you kidding me? Jeez Louise! Not only does some freak totally violate me and my home but I’m going to look like a slut when this is all over. I’ll probably lose my job.”

“You look like no such thing, honey. How could you think so? He’s the one who fixated on you. People know you. No one who knows you could ever believe such a thing.”

Maggie scrubbed her hands over her face. “They’re going to see one guy that I dated taking pictures of me naked. And that I’ve dated two other men since, both brothers. You don’t think that makes me look a tad bit loose?” Just saying it made her want to dig a hole to crawl into.

“It makes you look like you have good taste! I’ll tell you one thing, Shane and Kyle are two of the five best looking men in this town. Why shouldn’t you have dated any of my boys?” Polly lowered her voice and pushed a curl out of Maggie’s face. “I’ve known you since kindergarten, Margaret Wright. You’re a good, honest, upstanding woman. There’s nothing loose about you.”

Kyle smiled at his mother over Maggie’s head. She’d already taken Maggie into their family as one of their own. Whether Maggie liked it or not, Polly had extended her family’s protection to her. No one would be making any cracks about Maggie in the presence of any Chase.

“What’s going to happen to Alex?” Maggie asked Shane, still red-faced but looking slightly less mortified.

“He’s being booked for vandalism. The window people will be out at your place first thing and if the cost of replacing the windows is over five hundred dollars we’ll charge him second degree. After the underwear thing, we’ll charge theft as well. I can’t say that we’ll be able to charge breaking and entering, depends on whether or not he admits to getting into your house to grab your stuff.”

Edward Chase entered the room and patted Maggie’s shoulder. “Hey, sugar. I sure wish our first meeting could be under better circumstances.” He smiled gently before sitting down at the table. “I’ve heard most of the story. If you can believe it, Alex called and asked me to represent him! I declined of course, conflict of interest for me. Anyway, he’s got Larry Dickerson from Riverton coming out. Larry’s a decent sort. I think you should go first thing and see Judge Benson and request a temporary order of protection against Alex. I’ll come with you. If you like, I can talk with the District Attorney and see if she’ll make an order of no contact part of any sentence Alex gets. It’s pretty standard in a case like this.”

“You’re all being so nice to me. I don’t know what to say, thank you doesn’t seem to be big enough.” Her face heated and tears threatened to return.

“Don’t say another word, Margaret. It’s what you do for the people you care about. Now, get that hot chocolate into you. Are you hungry? I can make you a sandwich.” Polly patted her shoulder.

“I’m hungry,” Matt said.

“Me too,” Marc echoed.

“Yeah, I could use a ham sandwich. Do we have any of that ham from dinner the other night left over?” Kyle asked.

“If we do, can I have extra mustard on mine?” Shane grinned.

Edward smiled at his wife and looked back at the tiny woman his sons had made part of their family. “I’ll go out into the garage and grab some milk from the big fridge.”

“I’m not hungry. I think I need to lie down. I have to be at work at nine.”

“I think you should call the principal and let her know what’s going on. Take a personal day. You have a busy morning ahead of you. You’ll have to see the judge and make a statement and press charges down at the station.”

“Good idea, Shane. Why don’t you call now?” Kyle asked her.

She sighed. “I’ll call from upstairs. I need to call my homeowner’s insurance agent and make a claim too.”

“I’ll walk you up,” Kyle said.

Maggie stood up and put a staying hand on his shoulder. “That’s all right. I know the way.” She looked at him and the rest of the family. “Thank you all so very much. Good night.”

Kyle kissed her hand and looked up into her face. “Good night, sugar. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She nodded and went up the stairs into the guest room and closed the door behind her.

She called Ellis Mason, the principal of Petal Senior High and told her what happened and that she’d be out for the rest of the week. Mason was shocked and sympathetic, urging Maggie to take all the time she needed to and to call if she needed any help.

She called her insurance company and put them in contact with the glass company and gave them the case number as well.

She dialed Liv’s number and dumped the whole story on her, sobbing.

“That perverted bastard!” Liv fumed. “Don’t worry about the pictures, chances are this won’t even go to trial. I’ll even forgive you for not telling me—your best friend since the third day of kindergarten—that you were dating Kyle. Are you sure you don’t want to stay here?”