Author's Note: Here is the last chapter. Thank you for your patience. I hope that you have enjoyed this story. It took a turn different than I had expected. Thanks for your slam dunk beta job, Cindy, Tania and Molly! I could not have finished this story without them.

Chapter 8

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"Lee, look who's here," Amanda said as she returned to the dining room with their visitor.

Lee looked questioningly towards Amanda, who smiled.

"Everyone, this is Billy Melrose who hired me to work at the Agency," Amanda explained. "Mother, you should remember him, you've met him a few times before and Joe, you know Mr. Melrose."

Amanda thought she heard her mother groan, but when she looked towards her, Dotty offered them a polite smile. Amanda wondered whether she was still having bad feelings towards Mr. Melrose since the Stemwinder incident several months ago.

"Sure, come on in, join the party," Amanda heard her mother mutter as she stood up but was pleasantly surprised when she heard her say, "Hi, Mr. Melrose."

"Hi, I'm sorry to intrude," Billy began, "but I thought that I might be able to help shed some light on things for Amanda and Lee."

"Well, if you could, we would certainly appreciate it," Amanda's mother said sharply.

"Good to see you again, though I'm sorry for the circumstances. Please feel free to sit back down." Once everyone was seated, Billy began off by saying, "You see, in our business, you have to be so careful. I've known Lee here for more than ten years and Amanda, well I don't need to tell you about her. But both of them are two of the finest people I have ever met and they just wanted to make sure they were keeping Amanda's family safe. That has always been Lee's main concern." He paused for a moment. "To be fair to Lee, he didn't even want Amanda to work with the agency at first, just wanted her to help with that one thing, but the two of them worked so well together and she was so good at what she does best—"

"And what exactly is that?" Dotty asked the boys chiming in as well.

"And that was to use her instincts and her common sense to help solve a problem." Billy continued, ignoring the interruption.

"Yeah, Amanda has common sense and a good use of her instincts," Dotty said proudly.

"So good even that instead of just being Lee's assistant, she is now in training to be a-"

"Wow! So Mom is a spy?" Philip beamed, cutting in.

Billy smiled warmly at him, "Well, we don't like to use the word spy. We like to use the word agent."

There were several more minutes of questions when finally everything from what kind of car they got to ride in, how exactly someone could become an agent, and what type of food they ate when out on a job. And how would the family be kept safe till finally, Billy thought they'd been given enough information and said, "Again, as I'm sure you are aware, Amanda would never intentionally do anything to hurt anyone."

"Yes, that's true," Dotty said quietly, then asked, "okay, so I get the part about the jobs but what I want to know is when were you going to tell us about your marriage?" Dotty said, looking directly at Amanda.

"Well," Lee spoke up, "to be honest with you; we had not thought it out that far."

"Yeah, Lee's right."

"Did they tell you about their marriage?" Dotty asked, turning towards Billy.

"No, they didn't tell me to be honest with you; I wasn't too happy with them about it either."

"Sir, I—"

"We've been through that already," Billy said, holding up one hand.

"Mother, Lee and I didn't think things through. We were planning on telling you soon, but we just hadn't worked out when."

"And once Carrie and Joe got married, we realized that we wanted it to happen now instead of waiting longer," Lee added.

Everyone around the room was quiet.

Billy took that as his cue to leave. "Well, I don't want to outstay my welcome. But if you have any questions, let me know."

No one had any questions, so Billy went on and said, "You can always let Amanda and Lee know if you have other questions or concerns later."

***SMK***

Amanda and Lee walked Billy to the door and stepped outside. They then thanked him for his help, leaving Dotty with the boys and giving them a chance to talk. A few minutes later, as Amanda and Lee were heading back inside, Joe and Carrie met them at the door.

"Hey, we are gonna head on home now," Joe said.

"We'll call you later," Carrie said quietly.

"But I think everything will be okay," Joe said.

"Thank you both so much for your help," Lee said, shaking Joe's hand before he hugged Carrie.

"You are welcome," Joe commented.

***SMK***

Amanda and Lee headed back into the dining room and stood and looked expectantly towards Dotty and the boys.

After a moment, Amanda asked, "Okay, so we've told you everything. Are we forgiven?"

"Yeah, boys, are we forgiven?" Lee asked hesitantly.

"Amanda," Dotty began hesitantly, "we are glad that everything is out in the open and we will get through this, but it will take some time for us to work through everything. You know how much I hate lying."

Amanda nodded and looked glumly at Lee.

"But with that said, of course, you're forgiven," Dotty said. "You're my only child and I love you."

"Thank God!" Amanda said, tears in her eyes as she turned towards the boys. "We forgive you, Mom!" They said in unison as they ran towards their mother, who promptly gave them hugs and kisses, her mother coming over as well.

"We forgive you too, Lee!" Dotty said, pulling him into a welcoming hug as well.

After a time, Amanda wiped her tears and they all pulled a little apart; Dotty said, "But Amanda and Lee, from now on, we want the truth, the whole truth. If we know what is going on, then we can help keep ourselves safe."

"We do realize that now," Amanda said with a short laugh.

"Now that everything is all out in the open, what are we going to do about your wedding?"

"Mother, what do you mean?"

"I mean, that now that things are out in the open, I plan on giving you the biggest wedding. We can say you had a civil wedding and had planned on a big affair all along but just were too busy. Or," Dotty rambled, "we don't have to tell anyone the real date at all but-"

"I don't think that's necessary."

"Well, Amanda, you can make it up to me by letting me give you a wedding, a 'real' wedding.

"But, Mother-"

"Amanda, it's okay—"Lee chimed in. He figured if throwing them a big wedding would get them out of the dog house, why not?

"Lee, welcome to the family. I take it now you will be staying here. The boys can go over with you tonight and help you bring some things over. If you go now, then later we can sit down and start talking about the wedding and later we can all have dinner together as a family. I'm gonna go and clean out some space in the bathroom and Amanda; you'll need to clean out a drawer in the bedroom." Dotty said, then turned to Philip and Jamie. "First, boys, come with me and see if you can help me find some boxes for some of the stuff we'll need to move."

"Yes, Grandma," they said together, following her down the hall.

"Well, Sweetheart, welcome to the family!" Amanda said, giving Lee a broad smile.

Lee returned her smile, then pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

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The end.

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