Chapter 8

Kendra accompanied Phillip up to the front door and into the house, where they were immediately swarmed by a nine-year-old miniature of Lee Stetson and a seven-year-old edition of Amanda. Before either of them could bombard Kendra with questions, Phillip held up his hands and said, "Bobby, Emily, this is my friend Ms. Kendra Davis. Say hello and shake hands."

They did as their adored oldest brother instructed just as Amanda and Lee came through from the kitchen.

"Hello again, Kendra," Amanda said. "My mother called to let us know that you and Phillip were going out for pizza together; thanks for stopping by and saying hello."

"We didn't go for pizza, Mom; Kendra's dad came up from Fort Monroe today and he was cooking burgers on the grill, so we just ate there. We took a drive into D.C. to walk around on the Mall a bit, but we got to talking about our families and she volunteered to come back and meet everyone."

"Brave woman," Lee said. "Nice to see you again, Kendra, and I must say your taste in women is improving, Phillip."

"I almost blew it the first moment I spoke to her, but she's remarkably patient," Phillip admitted.

"Always a plus when dealing with the men in this family," Amanda agreed.

Kendra laughed. "Hello again, Mrs. Stetson, Mr. Stetson. It's nice to meet you, Bobby and Emily. Did you know that you and I know some of the same people, besides the people right here?"

"We do?" Emily asked.

"Yes, we do. Do you know Ms. Davis, at the school?"

"Sure, everybody knows Ms. Davis. Wait a minute – are you her sister?" Bobby asked

Everybody started laughing. "What's so funny?" Bobby asked.

"You just paid Ms. Davis a very nice compliment, Son," Lee said. "She's Ms. Kendra's mother, not her sister."

"Oh. How is that a com…. I get it!"

"I will be sure to tell my mother that you think she's young enough to be my sister, Bobby," Kendra said.

"I like Ms. Davis too," Emily, named for Lee and Amanda's dear friend Emily Farnsworth, said. "She's not my teacher, but she's really nice, but Mom says she won't be coming back this year 'cuz she's not feeling well. Is she going to be all right?"

"We sure hope so; she has something that makes her tired really fast, so she needs rest and special medicine, you see."

"Leeanne's going to teach in her place, but I can't call her "Leeanne" at school even though she's my sister," Emily said. "I have to say, 'Ms. McCracken'."

"That's right, Emmy," Amanda said. "Come in and sit down; can I get you something to drink?"

"I'll get them, Mom," Phillip said. "Tea, water or soda, Kendra?"

"Oh, just water, thanks, Phillip."

They sat down on the couch and Emmy immediately snuggled up to Kendra. "I like you. You're nice," she said.

"Well, thank you."

"Have you known Phillip a long time?"

"We met last summer at the Thornton Foundation meetings, and again this morning."

"How is your mother, Kendra?" Amanda asked.

"She has good days and bad days, but her doctors are hopeful that the treatment will help. My dad will be here while I'm at Station One, which is a big load off my mind. He's got twenty-five years in and he's ready to retire, so he's going to put his papers in and move back up here."

"That's good. If he hadn't been able to do that and you needed to delay joining us, you could always wait to the next rotation, though; we couldn't pay you, but you wouldn't have to start the process all over again," Amanda said.

"No, ma'am, I don't think that will be necessary."

"Lee, Kendra's father is Colonel Matthew Lee Davis," Phillip said. "He said that the two of you met about fifteen years ago."

"Yes, I remember Major Davis," Lee said shortly.

"Yes, Dad said you had, and that thanks to his attitude, it hadn't been a positive experience," Kendra said. "He was at the house when I got home today, much to my surprise; he and I haven't been close since he walked out on my mom seven years ago, but I think things are getting better."

"I wasn't sure what to expect, but we got along pretty well," Phillip said. "I thought he'd be grilling me along with the burgers, but he didn't. We talked about some of the places they'd lived, mainly. He mentioned that Kendra was born in the army hospital in Nuremberg, so I told him about our trip to Munich in '84 and how much I liked the Glockenspiel, and he told me about visiting East Berlin before the Wall came down. They had to take a bus tour, pass through Checkpoint Charlie, the whole bit."

"That was while we were living in Heidelberg. I went to middle school there," Kendra said.

"Heidelberg is a beautiful city," Lee agreed. "Amanda's seen Munich and Salzburg, but we've never had a chance to visit Heidelberg. When were you there?"

"From 1984 to 1987."

"An interesting time to be there."

"Yes, it was, although Daddy says that the mid-seventies, when we were constantly expecting the Soviets to come over the Fulda Gap, were even more interesting. Mom remembers going to a special briefing where they told all the families what would happen if the Cold War went hot, and to be prepared to leave on very short notice. I was just a baby, so I don't remember any of that, of course."

"Lee, since Kendra's father is named Matthew Davis and your father was Matthew Davis Stetson, do you think there's any family connection?" Amanda asked.

"It's unlikely, Manda. No offense, Kendra, but if we were related, I think I would have known about it by now."

"I imagine so, Mr. Stetson, and it is a very common name."

"We just wanted to stop by and say hello, Lee," Phillip said, wisely not pursuing the subject of a possible family connection since Lee had dismissed the idea so quickly. "And since it's bedtime for the kids, we'll be going now."

"I'll see you at the Agency on Wednesday morning, Kendra," Amanda said.

"Yes, ma'am; I'm going to get Daddy to bring me in so I don't have to take public transportation at six in the morning."

"I can come and get you, Kendra," Phillip said. "That will get me to the office at seven, and that's a good time to start work, before the phones start ringing off the wall and everything gets busy."

Lee and Amanda shared a 'Is this our son, who used to sleep until noon?' glance, but said nothing. Kendra, guessing what they were thinking, just smiled.

"That would be great, Phillip; that way, Daddy can stay with Mom. It was nice meeting you, Bobby and Emily; I'll see you after I get back from Station One."

"Bye, Ms. Kendra; good luck at Station One," Bobby said.

"Thank you, Bobby. Good night, Emmy."

Emmy wanted a hug, which Kendra gladly gave her, and she and Phillip left the house.

As they stepped out into the sultry early June night, Phillip reached for her hand as they walked back to his car. As soon as he backed out of his parents' driveway and put the car in drive, he reached for her hand again.

"I'd hoped that Lee might be willing to explore the possibility that our two families – well, his and yours, technically – are related," he said.

"My father made a very negative impression on him, Phillip. He's not going to want to rush out and claim kinship with the Davis family, I don't think."

"Mom will work on him. You should hear some of the stories about how she got him to bury the hatchet with his uncle; until she came along, they only saw each other about once every two or three years, and that was just fine with both of them."

"That's really sad."

"Yeah, but when Amanda King Stetson decides that somebody is going to learn to appreciate his or her family, she makes it happen. See, my grandma comes from a big family up in Vermont, and even though my Aunt Lillian used to drive us nuts when she'd come to visit when we were kids, we learned to appreciate the value of family."

"That's something I miss; I have my Grandma and Grandpa Davis, of course, but Mom's parents were killed in that horrible plane crash in the Canary Islands in 1977. I was so young I don't remember them at all, but I remember that Mom cried for days."

"I'm so sorry. I was eight when my Grandpa Carl, Mom's father, died, but he had a heart condition and it wasn't unexpected; neither was Grandpa Curt's death. Am I taking you back to your apartment or over to your mom's house?'

"How about a side trip over to your grandma's house, unless you think it's too late?"

"Not at all, and she'd love it. Maplewood Drive it is. "