"Why aren't you having breakfast with your parents?" Caroline asked as she reached for another pitcher of orange juice in the small cooler that was handily located beneath the bar.
Seated on one of the round stools, Jeannie leaned on the bar that, by law, she was not allowed to even approach at any other time of day, and in response to her grandmother's question, her eyes were drawn to the table in the corner where her parents sat across from one another, waiting for their breakfasts to be delivered by the attentive server.
"Shane came by so you could all have breakfast together as a family," Caroline continued.
"I know, but I thought they might enjoy some time alone together," Jeannie replied, then gave a happy sigh. "They look terrific together, don't they?"
Caroline poured two glasses of juice, then looked across the room at her daughter and her former son in law, who were engaged in conversation as they waited for their breakfasts to be delivered to their table. She returned the pitcher to the refrigerator, then turned back to Jeannie, understanding precisely what the teen was up to. "Honey, I know what you're thinking. Stephanie's parents are together again, and you'd like it if your parents got back together, too."
"Is that so wrong?" Jeannie challenged, her eyes flashing with youthful resentment. "It's kind of what makes Stephanie and I such good friends, you know? We both grew up without a father. It's something we have in common. Now she has her father back, and the difference between us is that her dad is going to be living with her and Aunt Kayla as a family. I never thought my Dad was dead, like she did, but even so, I've never known a time when Mom and Dad were together. I hardly ever see him because he lives so far away. I don't like to fly," she added before her grandmother could suggest it. "It makes me feel kind of woozy."
"It isn't wrong to wish things were different," Caroline said, gently, ignoring the remark about flying. She wasn't too crazy about it herself. "Or to hope that they will be. I'll agree that they do look good together, but I just don't want you to be disappointed if it doesn't work out the way you want."
Jeannie sighed, shifting her eyes back to her parents. Cathy, one of the Pub's servers, delivered the breakfast orders to Kim and Shane's table and refilled their cups. "I know, but I really miss him, and it would be nice to be able to see them both every day. I just don't understand why they split up, especially when they seem to still like each other."
"They always did like each other, but sometimes that isn't enough to keep a marriage together," Caroline said cautiously, knowing that they were approaching a delicate subject that was not her place to discuss.
"It still isn't fair."
"No, it isn't fair," Caroline agreed, sympathetically. "Children are always the ones who suffer their parents' decisions, aren't they?"
"Yeah. It really sucks."
While Caroline delivered the orange juice to a table of customers, Jeannie watched her mother and father. They seemed to be getting along, and to the 15-almost-16 year old, that was a good start.
"So, why didn't Jeannie join us?" Shane asked as he buttered his waffles, noticing that their daughter seemed to be keeping her distance, although she was watching them very intently.
"She said she got up early this morning and was too hungry to wait for breakfast, so she went ahead and ate a bowl of cereal, but said she would probably join us a little later," Kim replied.
"I guess it didn't help that I was late."
"Maybe," Kim said, quietly, recalling the times during their marriage that his work had delayed him. Obviously, nothing had changed in that regard. Shifting her attention to her daughter, who was still watching from the counter, she did not miss the little smile that played around the girl's mouth, giving her a pretty good idea of what she was up to. Since Shane was apparently clueless about the girl's motive, Kim did not enlighten him. He would figure it out on his own.
"I was wondering if maybe we could all go out to supper tonight again," he said, picking up the syrup bottle to liberally sweeten his waffles. "I really enjoyed last night."
"So did I," she agreed with a smile, pleased with his attention, but unwilling to read too much into it. Most likely, this was family time for Jeannie, nothing more. "It's good for Jeannie to have some family time with both of us."
"I couldn't agree more," he replied cheerfully, then said, "I have to apologize for being late this morning. I wanted to be there when they opened the coffin they brought out of Steve's grave."
"Oh, that's right. You mentioned yesterday that Roman was getting a court order for that. They didn't waste any time, did they?"
"Roman wants to get to the bottom of this issue as quickly as possible. The judge was very agreeable after Roman explained the situation to him."
"So, what did you find out? If I'm allowed to ask," she added.
He looked up at her for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, I doubt if it'll be kept a secret for long, if at all. We had hoped the coffin would be empty, but tragically that was not the case. There was a body inside, presumably belonging to one Clifford Wilkins."
Kim stirred a small amount of cream into her coffee, then laid the spoon aside. She gave a small nod, indicating recognition of the name. "The mortician?" she asked.
Shane nodded. "I think we all had a pretty good idea that's what we would find, but there was always the chance that they paid him off to just leave town. His co-workers thought that's exactly what happened, since his apartment had been totally cleaned out, but exactly who did the cleaning out remains to be determined."
"You're thinking the killers cleaned it out to make it appear that he'd moved on."
"And no one would be looking for him. Roman is pretty disappointed. He was hoping to track Wilkins down to question him about anything he might know regarding Steve's kidnapping."
"Someone went to a lot of trouble to set all this up. He must have known more than they wanted to risk," Kim said, quietly. "Have you talked to Steve or Kayla yet this morning?"
"No, not yet. Bo is going by a little later to tell them about finding the mortician's body. I'll need to report that to the I.S.A. offices here, and I want to keep them away from the safe house as much as possible. I'm afraid my two agents were a bit hard on Steve when we were interviewing him, perhaps even a bit brutal, so I wanted to give them a little more time as a family before I go out this afternoon."
Kim frowned her disapproval. Like her daughter, she had few kind words to say about the I.S.A. It was they who had allowed her to believe that Shane was dead, which had directly led to an unintended affair and eventually to the ultimate breakup of her marriage. "Brutal? What did they do?"
He heard the note of bitterness in her voice that she did not bother to conceal. "Their line of questioning was one that was very uncomfortable for him, involving possible torture as punishment for trying to escape. They were a bit relentless, I'm afraid."
"Well, I can't say that surprises me," she responded with the same hostility he had heard before. "I hope you put a stop to it."
He nodded. "Yes, I did. It was clear that Steve was on the verge of shutting everything down."
"I don't blame him. That isn't something a person wants broadcast to the world."
"No, it isn't," he agreed in an amiable tone, disinclined to defend the I.S.A. or justify the line of questioning.
"Was Kayla there at the time? That couldn't have been easy for her to hear."
"No, she wasn't there. That was after she had gone with Bo and Hope to the funeral home. I'm sure he'll tell her in his own way. They have a lot of catching up to do. The baby daughter he remembers is now sixteen years old. That has to be a bit of a shock to the system."
"It's terrible what they did to him," she said, shaking her head in dismay. "I can't believe anyone could be so cruel."
"Well, cruelty seems commonplace with these people. They murdered that mortician, and given more time, I think they eventually would have killed Steve."
"Once they got what they were after?"
"Yes. The only reason he's alive today is that they need the information they think he knows. And in the meantime, they tried to wear him down and break his spirit by isolating him from everything in the outside world."
"It's amazing that he could endure that for so long and come through it with no psychological problems."
"Well, he seems reasonably fit in that area, but I guess time will tell."
"Kayla will take good care of him," Kim said, confidently. "She must be ecstatic, getting the love of her life back."
Shane watched her toss back her hair, then she laid down her spoon on the tabletop and reached for her coffee. She looked beautiful, almost to the point of distraction.
Seeing her again had brought those strong feelings, long buried, back to the surface. To deny them would be untruthful, but how did she feel about him? Was it possible, or even prudent, to expect that the love they had once shared could still be there, simmering, waiting to be stoked into a flame?
"I wish Jeannie and Andrew would come visit more often. I miss having a family," he said carefully. He did not want to look like an idiot if she was not interested, but perhaps he could test the water a bit, feel her out with seemingly innocent questions.
"Well, like Jeannie said last night, it's a long flight. They do miss you, though," she added.
He looked up expectantly, wondering if she might include herself in that statement, but she did not continue. Instead, she picked up her spoon and began working on the grapefruit again. With a soft sigh, he reached for the pepper shaker, which he tapped over his eggs. The truth was, he had hoped to hear her say how much she had missed him, but he understood that was asking too much. He knew it would have to be him to break down that invisible barrier they had built between them. She would not make herself that vulnerable.
"I'm very happy to see that your family is well," he said pleasantly, still holding the pepper shaker, even though he was finished with it.
Kim smiled. "Yes, we've been fortunate with having good health. Pop has been having some issues, but they're treatable. Mom and Pop have always been fond of you, and that didn't change after . . ." Her voice trailed, and she busied herself by rearranging her napkin on her lap. "After what happened," she finished.
He fumbled the pepper shaker, then placed it on the table. "Yes, well . . . I'm very fond of them too. The whole family, in fact."
A few more moments of uncomfortable silence settled over them, then he looked toward his daughter, who was wrapping napkins around the silverware in an effort to help her grandmother. It seemed obvious that she was deliberately staying away from the table, and he wondered suddenly if she had noticed the lingering attraction between her parents. Perhaps she was trying to play matchmaker.
"They grow up so fast," Shane said, sadly, then heaved a regretful sigh. "I wish I hadn't missed so much of their lives."
"Yes, they do grow up fast," Kim agreed.
Silence settled over the table again, but it wasn't the comfortable silence they sometimes shared during their marriage, the times when words were simply not necessary to convey a thought or a sentiment. If not for the noise from the busy pub, the silence between them would have been deafening. If he was going to find out her interest, he knew he was going to have to get it out in the open and deal with whatever ramifications it presented.
After a few moments of silence, he built up the courage to lay it on the table. "Look, Kim, I want to say that -"
He was interrupted by the ring tone of his cell phone. Silently cursing the interruption, he withdrew it from his lapel pocket and looked at the incoming call to verify the identity of the called, but it merely said: UNKNOWN. That was not uncommon among I.S.A. agents who would not want their identities known should the phone fall into the wrong hands, so he could not ignore the call.
"Sorry, but I'd better take this," he said to Kim. Pressing the button with his finger, he said, "Donovan."
There was a strangely ominous pause on the other end of the line, so long that for a moment, he thought it was a dead line. But then he heard muffled sounds, the creaking of a chair as someone sifted their weight to a more comfortable position, and the rustling of clothing.
"Who is this?" he asked.
"Well, well, well, Shane Donovan," said a mockingly familiar voice from his past, one he never expected to hear again until Steve had brought his mystery to him.
"Vaughn?" Shane asked, his startled eyes darting to Kim's, who had looked up in surprise. "How did you get this number?"
"I have my methods. You should know I have ways of getting the things I need. You also know what I want. By now, I'm sure Johnson told you pretty much everything he knows, which places me in a rather precarious situation. So, I had to up the ante a bit."
"What are you talking about?" Shane asked.
"I know Johnson won't give up the goods without incentive. In short, I have someone he'll want. Tell him I have his sister, Adrienne."
Shane flinched, visibly.
"Obviously, we would rather have taken the wife to assure compliance on his part, but I know how he feels about his little sister. Tell him she's alive and unharmed, for the moment, but I cannot guarantee for how long. We'll exchange her for Johnson. I'll give you some time to speak with him and discuss it and let him think about it, but there will be no negotiation. I'm sure he'll be willing to cooperate with her life on the line. I'll call you back in . . ." He paused to glance at his watch. "I'll call you back in one hour on this line."
The call was abruptly disconnected, and Shane lowered the phone, a pensive expression on his face. Again, he looked at the caller I.D., as if hoping for a different result, but once again it failed to provide the number Vaughn had used.
"That was Agent Vaughn?" Kim asked.
"Yes. He's more determined than we thought. He kidnapped Steve's sister, Adrienne. He wants to exchange her for Steve." He slid out of the booth, his breakfast forgotten. "I have to let Steve know what's going on."
"Would you mind if I go with you?" she asked, picking up her purse.
He hesitated. "I don't know . . ."
"Moral support for my sister."
"Yes, all right. Come on."
As they started for the door, Jeannie noticed with surprise that they were leaving. Abandoning her stool, she rushed after them. "Hey, where are you two going?"
"To the safe house -" Shane began.
"Cool! I'd like to see Stephanie."
"Not this time, Jeannie," he told her sternly. "Stay here with your grandparents and do not go outside without someone with you. On second thought, don't go outside at all. I want you to stay inside."
"Why? What's going on?" she asked. "Something's happened, hasn't it?"
"We'll explain when we get back," Kim told her. "Right now, we don't have time. Do as your father says, and we'll be back later."
Jeannie stood in the middle of the room wand watched as her parents went out the door together.