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things my father said did not stick with me, well, most … but one thing I will always remember.
    We were all set to leave town two days after graduation, and I had sat on the porch talking with my parents.
    My mother was sad and emotional, and my father was already on his second whiskey. He never did well when he saw my mother upset. Hurting her was the last thing I wanted to do.
    “Leaving tomorrow, Trevor?” he asked although he knew damn well I was.
    “Yes …” I responded.
    “Is there anything I can say to change your mind or wake you up from this mistake you are making?” he sternly said.
    I looked over at Mom and saw the fear in her eyes of where this was going to lead.
    “I am not changing my mind. I love Leah. How many times do we have to go over this?”
    “Son … it is not the same love your mother and I have. This is not a relationship that is going to last for years and be filled with happiness and all you think it will be.”
    “How do you know? Why are you so sure?” I snapped back.
    “Because I am. A father knows these things.”
    I grunted and folded my arms over my chest settling in to listen to what else he was going to say.
    “Why are you so hell-bent on preventing this?”
    “I don’t want you to ruin your life. There is still time to fix this … You can stay here, or you can go to whatever college you want … You can still make something of yourself.”
    “I am making something of myself. I am going to be a father. I will find a job and make a good living. Just like you did. You made this place, so why can’t I make a place for myself.”
    “Because I don’t trust this. I think something is going on, but I can’t pin it down.”
    Mom spoke up. “Trevor, why do you have to leave? Can't you stay here and raise the baby so that we can see you and help you, so you can still—”
    “No, Mom, this is our plan.”
    “Whose plan?” Dad asked.
    “OUR plan,” I confirmed.
    “I just want you to know that your mother and I think you are making the biggest mistake of your life and are very disappointed … Ever since you met her, you don’t think of yourself. Of what you can do, of your dreams.”
    “You mean your dreams?” I asked.
    “What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”
    “You are upset and pissed I’m leaving because you wanted me to take over the stables. You wanted me to take over the family business and—”
    “Yes, I had always hoped that, but even if you didn’t, I would be fine with that. I don’t want you throwing your life away for a whor—”
    I knew whatever he said after that would no longer be heard.
    I would regret that moment—that time when I could have said something. I could have said so many things, but I didn’t want to disrespect my father. To hear him say that about the girl I loved who was pregnant with my baby killed me. I would never forgive him.
    “Son, that is not what he meant,” Mom said trying to do damage control.
    I went to my truck and got in peeling out, trying to get away from my home. The place I had never been so lost at. And I needed to see Leah. I needed her to reassure me that we would be okay, and we were doing the right thing.

Four
    Ryann
    My aunt Jackie, one of the few people I had let in my life, is a big advocator for animal rights, specifically horses. She had spent her years rescuing and rehabilitating them. Jackie was a horse trainer and had worked her entire life on the land tending to them.  Her hands were rougher than most men, her skin the texture of leather. She had short brown hair that was under a cowboy hat at all hours and hardly ever styled. She wore zero makeup other than the ChapStick she kept in her pocket at all times. The only thing missing from her country boy mantra was tobacco in her lip.
    She is a tough-ass woman, so I knew when Mom called me to meet them at St. Luke’s ER, something must have really been wrong.  And I was right. “I am here to see Jackie Payne,” I tell the clerk at the