On the Morning Tide

Mya's POV:

Leland and I ran into each other several times over the next few weeks. One lazy Saturday he knocks on my door. "Howdy neighbor." I say with a laugh as he walks into my house. "Crazy" he says under his breath, laughing. I think at times it amused me that he still didn't know who my father was. I knew eventually I would have to tell him.

"You're starting to show" he says with a smile looking down at my stomach. I instinctively ran a hand across my stomach and turned sideways so he could see. "I know, Im... scared" I say quietly. "Don't be scared, you're stronger than that." He says, squeezing my shoulder. "Thats what you keep telling me..."

He hops up on top of my kitchen counter and I hand him a glass of tea. "This is very...sweet." he says tasting it. "But its good." He says reassuring me. "I'm a southern girl, we love sweet tea. Get used to it." I say, hitting him in the leg.

"So tell my why you're scared?" He asks suddenly, staring me directly in the eyes. I was a little caught off guard, but I knew he was trying to ease my mind. "I'm scared because...I haven't told my father yet. I don't want him to be disappointed in me. And I don't know if I can do this on my own..." I tell him, a tear slipping down my cheek. I quickly wipe it away. "I'm sorry." I say, turning and running up my stairs.

I hear him following behind me. "Mya...wait." He says following me into my bathroom. "Listen... I know we've only known each other for a little while, but I know that no one could be disappointed in you. Trust me...its just not possible." he tells me as I wipe my face off.

"I hope you're right Leland.. I really do. I mean, I just moved back and now this..." I say, letting it slip that Ive lived here before. I don't know if he caught it or not, but he didn't say anything. "Sorry...I'm just emotional today...baby and all." I say laughing.

"Well...how about I try to cheer you up... Ive got a favor to ask, since you do owe me and all..." he says rambling on. I raise my eyebrow silently asking him what it was. "Ive got a fight tonight and Im really nervous because I haven't boxed in a really really long time... so I wanted to know if you would go with me... for support?"

"Since I owe you one and all..." I say smiling. "Sure, I'll go. Pick me up when you're ready." I tell him. He pushes himself off the bathroom counter and gives me hug. "See you later then." He says before walking out the door.

No sooner does Leland close the door, I pick up the phone to let my dad know I would be at the fight tonight. I knew that Leland would probably introduce me to him, so I didn't want my dad to say anything.

~~~~~~

The fight was going great, it seemed to be going in Leland's favor. I stood off to the side, away from the crowd watching him taking a few blows here and there. It didn't take long for him to knock him opponent out. The crowd went wild, many of them rushing into the ring. I clapped and screamed along with them. I caught his eye and he waved before the crowd took him over. I felt a hand on my back and turned to see my father. "Hi daddy."

He smiles briefly before saying "So, when were you going to tell me you were pregnant?" I felt the panic take over. "How did-"

"Leland." he says, interrupting me. "Leland? How the hell did he come to tell you that?" I asked wondering.

"He was telling me earlier that he was worried about his cute neighbor Mya that he was bringing to the fight because she was pregnant and afraid to tell her father..." he says crossing his arms. "I thought you would be disappointed in me." I tell him, lowering my head and kicking the ground around my feet.

"You know I would never be disappointed in anything you did. I might be surprised, but never disappointed. In fact, I'm happier than I have been in a long time!" He says to me. I throw my hands around his neck, I didn't care if Leland saw me, he would have to learn eventually that Sonny was my father. "We'll talk more about it tomorrow." He says kissing me on the cheek. "Thanks dad, I love you... I better go find Leland and congratulate him." I tell my dad before walking away.

An hour or so later, the crowd had dwindled down and Leland and I made our way to his truck. "I think you're going to have a black eye in the morning." I say lightly touching the skin under his eye. He flinches and says "Yeah...but I'm tough." We both laugh and I tell him I'll drive, he was a little too pumped up on adrenaline to drive. He recalled every moment of the fight to me as we drove along the highway. "You were great tonight." I tell him as we get out of the truck at his house. "Thank you, I was really nervous. I'm glad you went with me." he says walking me over to my house.

"Me too. But theres something I want to tell you-" I try saying, but he covers my lips with his, placing a hard kiss on my mouth. It didn't last long, but it was full of passion. He pulls back and looks at me. "I'm sorry" he says looking down. "You just... you looked so beautiful standing there in the moon light." I look up, seeing the full moon above our heads and smile. "You don't have to apologize." I say, taking him by the hand. "Come in, I want to talk to you for a minute."

We walk through the door and into the kitchen, where we always seemed to gather. "I totally interrupted you, what is it that you wanted to tell me?" he asks, leaning against the counter. I take a deep breath. "I haven't been completely honest with you...about everything." I tell him. He crosses his arms preparing for what might come. I back a few feet away from him and open my mouth to tell him the truth, but he stops me. "Tell me, Myana Westbrook, what haven't you been honest about?"

I gasp in shock. How long had he known? "You knew I was Sonny's daughter? When did you find out? And why didn't you say anything?" I ask all at once.

He laughs and walks toward me. "Tonight. I was telling Sonny about my neighbor being pregnant and he broke out into this huge smile, which I thought was odd at the time. Then I saw you talking to him and then you hugged him and it hit me. The southern accent, because you moved with your mother after they divorced and you said earlier that you had just gotten back and you had to tell your dad you were pregnant...Myana Luna Westbrook...Its been so long since you moved, it was no wonder I didn't recognize you. But why didn't you tell me?"

"Because...You were such a prick when I was a little girl. I thought you hated me. You always made fun of me and you called me fat and ugly...it hurt Leland. So when I came back and I found out you were living next door; I thought I could start over. I wanted you to know me for who I was now, not who I was when I was thirteen, I guess..."

"Mya, I never hated you. Never. I was just young and stupid and hardheaded. You were this little girl that always hung around. But Ive changed. Ive been married and I have two boys. We're different people now, and I like who we've become." he says walking toward me. "Me too." I say as he approaches. "Can we start over?" I ask him. "I think we already have." He tells me as he hugs me.

Leland's POV:

Mya was five months into her pregnancy when the Ex decided to push his luck again. It was 2:00 in the morning and I had just gotten in from a long day at work. I stepped out of my shower and started getting dressed for bed when my phone rang. I picked it up thinking it must be my father. "Hello." I said yawning. "Leland." I heard Mya whisper. "I think JJ just broke into my house...Im scared..." She says crying. I didn't bother to say anything I just hung the phone up and ran.

I called the police as I ran, I didn't know if she had yet or not, I didn't want to chance it. I slowly pushed her front door open and glanced around, I saw him moving slowly up the stairs toward her bedroom. I crept quietly up the stairs and waited until he opened the door and stepped in behind him. "Dont move motherf**ker." I say harshly as I stand behind him. He turned quickly and swung at me. I gave him one good hit in return and he was lying unconscious on the floor.

A moment later I heard the sirens outside her house. I called Mya and she came out of hiding in her closet. Looking around to see if everything was okay. "Its okay baby, he's out." I tell her, putting an arm around her shoulder. She looks down at him and scoots a little closer to me. A second later two police officers enter her bedroom and laugh when they see him lying on the floor. "Thanks Leland." Officer Smith says as he kicks the guy in the leg before cuffing him.

"Mya would like to press charges against him and have his ass shipped back to the mainland." I tell the officers as they pull out their paperwork. They nod in agreement and I walk Mya out of the room as her Ex is handcuffed and take off to j ail.

I lead her out into the kitchen and pour her a glass of water as I hear the police shut her front door. "Ive never been so scared in my life." She says sipping the water. "For once I had to think about more than just myself." She tells me.

She rubs a hand across her stomach, smiling as she thought about the baby growing inside her. I couldn't help but smile with her. I wanted to reach out and rub her rounding belly, but I stopped myself. I loved children, babies especially. Coming from such a large family, it was hard not to love them.

I yawned and took her empty glass from her. "You hair is still wet, did you just get out of the shower?" she asks me. I shook my head yes. "I just got home from work. Ive had a long day." I reply.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you hadn't been to bed yet... I shouldn't have called, but I knew you could get here faster than the police." She says walking toward her couch. I was touched that she trusted me in this kind of situation. She lays down across the couch as I sit down in the big chair next to it. "Thank you for saving me, once again." she saying closing her eyes. "I'm always up for saving a damsel in distress." I say laughing and yawning again.

"In a strange way I'm glad it was just him breaking in, you know? Maybe I should get an alarm or something...with the baby coming in a few months." She says rolling over to lay on her side. She glances at me before throwing me a blanket that was previously laying across the back of the couch. "We'll figure something out." I say closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.

I woke with a start a few hours later, the sound of a ringing phone brought me to life. I reached into my pocket opening my eyes seeing that it was my father calling. I glanced at the couch noticing Mya was no where in sight. "Hey Dad" I said stretching and standing up. I half listened to what he said as I watched her standing outside, watching the morning tide roll in.

"Alright, Bye Dad." I say walking outside to stand next to Mya. She turns and looks at me. "Good Morning Sunshine." She says and hands me her coffee cup. I take sip and make a face. "Whats with you and the sugar?" I ask handing it back to her. "Baby" she says smiling and pointing to her stomach.

Before I could stop myself my hands were on her stomach. "Hi baby." I say softly to the growing child. She smiles down at me and the baby kicks. "It kicked!" We both say at the same time and laugh. "Thats the first time the baby has kicked...My baby likes you." She says happily.

She held my hands in place, moving them around her little round stomach. "I'm trying to get her to kick again." She says smiling up at me. "You're convinced its a girl?" I ask. "Last week you decided it was definitely going to be a boy..."

She pauses for a moment. "Yeah... well, that was last week." she says letting go of my hands. "Besides, I get to find out for sure tomorrow." she tells me with a huge smile.

"Good. I'm ready to find out for sure...I cant buy the baby anything until we know." I tell her with a smile and a wink. "And just what are you going to buy her, her first pair of handcuffs?" She asks.

"Don't tempt me..." I say, walking back into the house. "Will you go with me tomorrow. To find out what the baby is?" She asks, following closely behind me. I took a moment to answer, thinking about what this might mean. "I have to fly over to my dad's. What time is the appointment?" I ask.

"I think its at 4:30. If you cant make it, I understand." she says sadly. "You know what, I'll be there. Promise I'll make it back in time." I say giving her a hug. The baby kicks again. Mya looks at me and smiles. "She's happy too." I say letting her go and walking toward the door.

"I better get going then. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon."