Thank you so much for your nice, encouraging comments and a big big thank you to my beta Molly! You're the best!

Chapter 2

Going home was usually something people enjoyed. Della was used spending a great deal of her time in an office and in courtrooms. She was surrounded by crime and mostly a great deal of desperation. Coming home had always meant finding peace. She loved to visit her brother and her aunt and maybe she even appreciated them more, because the time they spent together was so precious. Yes, she loved going home, although she wouldn't want to move from Los Angeles for anything in the world.

Today going home felt like torture. Maybe her view on `home' would change forever after she had entered Aunt Mae's house. The same house she had lived in since her young teenage days and had left when she had been around the age of twenty to live in a big city full of strangers.

Della stopped her rented car and climbed out. It was cold, very cold and as expected the heavy clouds filled with the first snow of the year were stuck over the mountains, threatening the spot she still called home.

It was late, almost 10 p.m., and she was just happy she made it before the storm had arrived.

She exhaled and went up the small staircase leading to the narrow porch and knocked at the door. With her arms crossed over chest to protect herself from the cold wind, she waited for her aunt to open the door.

"There you are!" Mae yelled, relieved, and pulled Della into the house. Mae had always been an energetic woman. For a small, fragile looking person, she had a lot of strength and Della guessed again that she had inherited a lot of her aunt's genes.

"How are you?" Della asked after the women had broken the tight embrace.

"Better, now that you're here!" Mae said and took Della's hand. "You can't imagine what your brother's is going through. He's a mess!"

"I can imagine it." Della slipped out of her jacket and let Mae take care of it.

"Ian can get your suitcase when he's back. Sit down, dear. I'll make us tea!"

Mae vanished into the kitchen and Della turned. The living room was small and cosy. A fire flickered in the little fireplace in the corner of the room and filled it with the soft smell of wood. The furniture hadn't changed since she had left the house and she loved it.

"Where's Ian?" Della asked loudly.

"With a friend. They're out cutting wood."

"I see."

"He should be back soon."

Mae returned with a tray filled with two cups and a sandwich. "You must be hungry!"

"Actually, I'm not," Della said.

"You look thin."

"I'm fine, Aunt Mae." She got annoyed. It was the same procedure as every time she returned home.

"I know one has to look fancy when you work for such a well-known attorney, but don't exaggerate it, Dear! He won't have use of you when you're sick."

"I'm not sick."

"I'll get the tea. Why don't you sit down?"

That was a good question. Della sat down and stared at the fire. She noticed how tired she felt and yawned.

"You know," Mae started when she returned with the teapot. "I wonder why you didn't bring Mr. Mason… he could help us."

"Perry?" Della asked surprised. "How could he help us?"

"Well, isn't he a lawyer?"

"He is…"

"Or is it that he's still angry with you?"

"He isn't angry with me," Della snapped. "I wish you would stop telling me how stupid it was to help Janet."

"It was stupid," Mae repeated Della's words. "I just wonder if he's still trusting you." Mae offered Della a cup, but she didn't take it. The older woman shrugged and put the cup on the table.

"Stop it," Della said, her voice toneless. "It's over and I didn't bring Mr. Mason along because it isn't necessary. You said there's no doubt it's him."

"Oh it is him. It's Richard, but we still don't know what he wants." Mae sank into her rocking chair next to the fireplace and sipped her tea.

"How does he look like?" Della asked into the silence.

"More or less like he did all those years ago. Just much more expensive. He has a woman with him. Twenty years younger to say the least." Mae's voice was supposed to sound cold and unaffected, but Della heard a hint of fear in her aunt's voice. She wasn't as cool as she pretended to be.

"Where is he now?"

"The Inn."

"I see."

"Ian doesn't want us to see him. He said we should wait until he has enough and leaves town."

"And why am I here?"

Mae had no time to answer the question, because the front door opened and two men came in. One was Ian. Della's tall, dark-haired and well-trained brother. The other was Ian's oldest friend, Ben Levin. He smiled at Della, but said nothing while the siblings met in the middle of the room to greet each other with a long embrace.

"Sis!" Ian stepped back and checked his sister's appearance. "You look great… a bit thin, don't you think so, Aunt Mae?"

Della rolled her eyes, but Mae chuckled: "I told her so. What do you think Ben? Shouldn't a woman look a bit more…" she searched for the right words.

"I think Della looks great," Ben said without leaving a doubt about his opinion. "Hi Della. How are you? "

"Hi Ben," she greeted back and smiled at him.

"I brought Ben because Aunt Mae promised us some food and a beer if we would get the wood to the house before the big snow comes!" Ian explained.

"We made it in time," Ben said and Mae left her rocking chair.

"I'm on my way to the kitchen. Sit down, please."

The men removed their jackets and joined Della in front of the fireplace.

"I guess she told you what happened?" Ian asked, as he sat down.

"Yes."

"So it takes a family crisis to make you come home," Ian concluded a bit stiff.

"It's not that I'm sitting in L.A. all year thinking about excuses for not coming home, Ian." Della answered offended.

"Maybe not, but there's more in life than work, Sis."

"Let's don't go there," Della said sternly. The last thing she needed was another discussion about her work in Los Angeles. The subject would lead to Perry, because he was what her work was about, and the thought of Perry would lead to Laura. A bad circle, at least today.

"Deal," Ian nodded. "Ben and I saw him this afternoon. He wants to stay. Is looking for houses."

"Do you think anyone will sell him one?" Della asked.

"The town has changed, Della," Ben explained and for the first time she really looked at him. His blue eyes and his calmness reminded her a bit of Perry. She lowered her eyes. "A lot of new blood is living here. No one cares for old stories."

"The story isn't that old," she retorted.

"Now, but he has money. A lot, if you ask me." Ian shrugged.

"Money isn't everything," Della reminded him.

"No, sis, but it might help him to settle back in here."

Ian was right and she knew it. She felt sorry for Mae and her brother. After all she could leave this 'Xanadu' of a town sooner or later and return to her normal life. But what about them?

PD

Perry sat in his living room. A glass of bourbon graced his coffee table and next to it laid Della's letter. He hadn't forgotten about it. But he hadn't read it either. Paul had hit a nerve when he had mentioned something was wrong between him and Della since she had helped Janet Brent to flee and had risked going to jail herself. He couldn't put his finger on it, but things had shifted between them. And now this. She left town and gave Paul a letter. He feared the contents, if he was honest. What if she had put her resignation into the envelope? What if she wanted to start a new life far away from him and his cases? What if the rift between them was deeper than he had realized, because he had been too busy to notice she had changed?

He sighed and took the envelope. He opened it with his index finger, unfolded the paper and started reading…

~tbc~