Chapter 36

Neville woke in the middle of the night from a nightmare about his father coming home and not finding them in the house. In desperation Mac told him that she would be sure to tell whoever bought the house where they were moving to. The children had all been told to keep the news a secret because Mac and AJ wanted to have a party to tell everyone at the same time. If all went well it might even take place in the new house.

Mac had fallen in love with the third house the realtor had shown them and after AJ checked the basement to be sure it was dry, they made an offer on the two story, six bedroom, Victorian house only two blocks from where AJ currently lived. Mac's house sold the next day for her full asking price. Both were pleased that two-thirds of their housing situation was settled before they left for Hawaii.

The children were doing an excellent job of keeping the secret at school it seemed, but both AJ and Mac felt that the biggest challenge would be at Rosie Galindez' thirteenth birthday party. It was on the Wednesday before the Saturday that they were to leave for Hawaii. Rosie hadn't wanted her party on the weekend; she wanted it on her actual birthday. So Mac and AJ dropped the children off with one last warning to keep the secret.

This was a party for just children, Harriett had informed everyone, so they were particularly worried at not being there to prevent a leak. They were the most concerned with Neville because for the last several days he had been sullen and withdrawn. Once he had realized that he was not able to change his mother's mind with temper tantrums, he had started to give her the cold silent treatment. It was amazing that a four year old could pull it off, but this was hurting Mac more that the outbursts had done. The last two nights she had cried herself to sleep in AJ's arms.

The party was in full swing when Harriett noticed Neville sitting alone in a corner of the room on the floor. All the other children were playing a game in the middle of the room and he was sitting there staring off into space. Squatting down next to him she asked, "Neville what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he replied sullenly.

Knowing this wasn't true, she said, "Sweetie you're over here all alone. I know something is wrong."

"Nope," was his short answer.

"You can tell me," Harriett assured him.

"No, I can't. It's a secret!" he snapped.

"Oh well then you shouldn't tell unless it's something I can help with," Harriett said even though she was dying to know what was going on.

"Mommy told me not to tell, but Daddy's sure going to be REALLY mad at her when he gets home!"

"Sweetie, your Daddy is dead, but I'm sure he would never be 'really' mad at your Mommy."

"He will when he comes home and finds her married to Uncle AJ!"

Allison and Mackenzie were just a few feet away and heard what Neville blurted out. Both of them turned to glare at him and Mackenzie said, "You weren't supposed to tell!"

Harriett sat there with her mouth hanging open, not sure what to do. She knew that Vic was right now trying to rescue the two agents that he thought might be Clay and Taya, but how could she say anything when they weren't sure that it was really them? Let alone Vic had faith in her that she would never reveal anything about a mission until it was over and sometimes not even then. But then again how could she let these two, who were both her close friends, marry if there was a chance that their previous spouses were alive? She would just have to have a talk with AJ and Mac when they came to pick up the children. Surely she could get some information out of one or the other of them.

To be continued…