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"How long has this been going on?" asked Adam, becoming concerned.

"For a few months," replied Chad, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Do you know what they're fighting about?" he questioned, unwilling to think the worst.

"They think I don't know, but I do," answered the boy, his voice quivering with fear. "Dad had an affair, and I don't think it's his first one."

The words fell like lead on Adam's ears. Chad looked to his uncle, who was stunned speechless. This was the first Adam had ever heard about this, but then, he had been on tour for six months, and then had the added distraction of the wedding and honeymoon.

"An affair," he muttered under his breath. "I can't believe it!"

"Dad told Mom that he's a changed man, and Mom said she wished she could believe him," related Chad, tears streaming down his face.

Adam knelt down on the floor and hugged his nephew.

"How could he do this to Mom?" wept the boy.

"A better question is, how could he do this to God?" sighed the uncle, deeply disturbed by what Chad had just told him.

"I'm scared, Uncle Adam!" Chad cried.

"Does Mike know?" asked Adam, as Chad sobbed into his shoulder.

"I don't think so," replied the boy.

"God will help us," soothed Adam, trying to find the right words to calm his nephew's fears. "Keep your faith and confidence in God, for when something like this happens, it isn't God who failed-- it's man. 'The just LORD is in the midst thereof; He will NOT do iniquity: every morning doth He bring His judgment to light, He faileth not.' [Zephaniah 3:5] God hasn't forsaken us, Chad. Depend on it!"

After the boy had calmed down, Adam went outside and saw Thomas talking to Charlie in the distance. Thomas waved to him, but Adam only stared back. Thomas' face fell as Adam went to the pickup Kevin had rented for their use, and drove off without a word.

As the truck traveled down the paved road back to Twin Yucca, Adam tried to reason away Chad's fears. Maybe the boy had been mistaken! Maybe things weren't as bad as they looked. But deep in his heart, Adam had the sinking feeling that it was true. It explained all those long trips, extended conventions, and infrequent appearances back home. Surely, Thomas hadn't been running around as far back as that!

With a heavy heart, Adam pulled into Shirley's driveway and got out of the truck. Going in unannounced, Adam found his sister in the kitchen, holding a cup of coffee, her eyes red with having spent the night in tears. When she saw him standing in the kitchen doorway, she looked at him in wonderment.

"That's strange," she mused, "I was just about to call you. It's as if you were reading my thoughts. There's something... something I want to talk to you about. It's about Thomas."

"Sis," said Adam, in a sober voice, "I just had a talk with Chad."

"What about?" she asked, her face becoming more troubled.

"Chad says you and Thomas have been fighting because he had an affair," repeated Adam.

Shirley gasped in horror.

"How did he know?!" she cried.

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