Hidden Scars

Sometimes, the worst scars are those you cannot see.

For most of her seventeen years, Morgan Selby dreams of a better life. One without beatings and contemptuous words. College scholarships provide an opportunity. But her parents, who reluctantly allow her to leave, refuse to relinquish their hold. Phone calls, threats, and surprise visits fuel her with paralyzing fear.

When Chuck Mathews, her forbidden love, proposes and wants to marry right away, Morgan's hope fades with memories of her mother's cruel, unfounded accusation, "we know you've had sex", and her dad waving a gun with a promise, "I'll kill him". Besides, in Mississippi, the legal age for marriage is twenty-one. None of this detours Chuck. Not even when Morgan receives word her parents are having her watched. Will she ever be free? More important, how does she ever find the courage to face her parents and ask the one question--why?