Well, I think respondent DFord explained what happened pretty well. Evidently the sender texted me a link, which I needed to finger tap in order to see the photos.
I also discovered a work-around. I merely sent the pictures to a folder in my Brave browser, where they can be easily located as long as I'm on the Internet. It's not the ideal situation, but it will work.
A side benefit would be that I'm not filling my photo gallery on my phone with too many pictures. I'm still waiting for my acceptance on Facebook. When that happens, I'll follow the suggestions mentioned by you other respondents. Thanks to everyone for your assistance. :)