Ch 3

"Yo, love birds, you're humiliating us," Dan said while sticking a finger down his throat. Dan liked Jake a lot, but he didn't want to see his sister wrapped around the guy. Gross.

Someone bumped into them and said over his shoulder, "get a room!"

Jake pulled away from Amy's lips and fixed his gaze on her. She returned the look just as fierce.

"I missed you," Amy said.

"I missed you more," Jake said releasing her and she slid to the ground. They turned to walk after Atticus and Dan, Jake slipping his arm around Amy's waist while shouldering his bag on the opposite side. Amy wound her hand around his back and hooked her first two fingers into his back pocket. She rested her head on his shoulder and let his warmth fill her up.

"I want to get cannoli," Atticus said out loud running for the nearest vendor.

"Oh man, fried clams for me," Dan said taking off after him.

Amy and Jake hung back, arms around each other's' waists. Jake leaned over and kissed her hair breathing in her shampoo smell.

Amy looked up at him. "I can't believe you're standing here. We get to live 50 minutes away from each other this whole year. We get to see each other all the time."

His movie-star smile shined back at her. "Well, I figured it was time for us to give this relationship a real chance. We have a lot of catching up to do." He gave her a quick squeeze.

Atticus and Dan came back carrying their fried goodness with looks of deep satisfaction on their faces.

"Let's go home." Amy said and lead the way to the car.

Amy drove them back to Attleboro and during the entire hour and a half ride, Jake and Amy played with each other's hands in the front seat while Dan and Atticus played and goofed around in the back. It made Amy smile to see them be kids with each other. Dan was 15 now and Amy had hoped he could still have a playful side to him. He had been through so much. Somehow, being around Atticus brought out the kid in him. Amy watched him in the rearview mirror and smiled.

When they got home, they ordered a pizza and all stretched out in the family room. Amy wanted to hear how things had gone in Indonesia with their father. Secretly, she wondered if Mark Rosenbloom's attitude toward them had changed at all. Surely, he couldn't hate them so much if both of his sons sang the Cahill's praises.

"So, we went with dad to Angkor Wat," a smile spreading on Jake's face remembering their visit to Angkor Wat a year before. "He was remarkably impressed by how we knew our way around."

"Yeah, and he was really impressed that we knew about the underground room at Ta Keo" Atticus interjected. "Even he didn't know about that."

Amy simply smiled, she loved being back together, all four of them. Of course, she loved Jake, but, she loved the four of them in a different way. They had done so much together and they knew each other so well. There was a level of trust amongst the four of them like that of a family. We're the Cahill-Rosenbloom family and we always will, Amy thought.

Dan must have had the same thoughts running through his head, "Does your dad still hate us as much as he did in Turkey?"

Amy and Dan exchanged one of their knowing glances. He knew Amy was worried about what Dr. Rosenbloom thought, especially if things kept going so well with Jake.

Atticus looked at Jake. Jake looked momentarily unsure, then confidence took over. "We're working on him. We were able to explain a lot of things to him, including about the guardianship from Astrid and about Damian Vesper being Dave Speminer."

Jake looked at Amy apologetically, as if to ask for forgiveness instead of permission. "He needed to know Ames."

Amy nodded. He did need to know. "How did he respond?" She asked.

"He was understandably upset, but he told me that he had his suspicions that Astrid was mixed up in something bigger than herself and that he never felt right about Dave. He wasn't thrilled that Att and I were there when Dave, well, imploded into his machine, but we explained how all the Cahills worked together to defeat the Vesper organization and none of it remains. We didn't tell him about Evan, Natalie or Isabel Kabra. No need to tell more than he needed to know."

"So, what's his view of Amy and me now?" Dan asked.

"He's lukewarm," Atticus said. "He's glad mom's killer has been served justice, but…" Atticus trailed off and looked at Jake.

"But, he thinks the Cahills are unhinged and dangerous." Jake said honestly, but with a cringe in his voice.

Dan added, "He's not wrong," thinking about Nathaniel Hawthorne, whom all the Cahill younger generation had defeated earlier this summer. Amy was back in charge of the Cahill family but had decided to limit her term to 4 years. Then someone else had to take over.

"We'll just have to win him over with time," Amy said with determination. "I'd think we were unhinged too if I knew about the Vespers, Pierce's slanders and anything else he may have caught wind of lately."

Jake looked resolute, "now that we're home, his stress level is bound to be lower, and he's decided to come home more and be a visiting lecturer. It'll give us time to introduce you to him slowly."