"Shouldn't you be at work?" Dotty asked when she spotted her daughter sitting on the couch.
Amanda smiled and shook her head. After a month of being led on a merry chase by Green, the hunt was over. At the Agency, they should be in the process of finishing his interrogation. Then, Lee and a few other agents would be taking him over to the airport to catch his ride out of the United States. Guilt nagged at her. Duty demanded that she should be there, but Billy and Lee both had insisted that she take the day off. She was not needed to hound Green or to see him off their home turf.
"No, we got the film done last night. Needs a few more minor cuts, but Lee said he would handle those," Amanda answered. Lying about what she did for a living came so easy to her now.
"Really?" Dotty's excitement screamed out from that one word. The smile on her face warmed Amanda's heart. She had had so little time for her family lately. What little she had had, she spent with the boys.
"Yes, really," Amanda answered with a laugh. "I thought I would help you finish up the spring cleaning. I know you and the boys have done most of it, but I really wanted to help."
Dotty brought over to steaming cups of coffee. Amanda moaned as she wrapped her hands around the mug. Lately, she had been quickly drinking her coffee as she finished getting ready. To be able to sit around and sip it was a luxury.
"You work too hard, Amanda," Dotty said as she sat next to her on the couch.
"I know, Mother, but I really like the work," she answered. At least she could be truthful about that part.
Dotty looked at her for several seconds. She studied Amanda, as if seeking an answer to unasked question. "Yes, I know. I can see how much you love it. I just wish you didn't have to work so hard."
"It should be calmed down again. Most of our deadlines are being met, and I think Lee and I should be having less workload," Amanda shared after taking a sip of her coffee.
"Good, it will be nice having more of you around--and Lee, of course." Amanda noticed that her mother's gaze was remaining on her own coffee, as if she were a tealeaf reader. Or a coffee ground reader, she thought. She barely hid her smile.
"We are looking forward to spending more time here," she admitted. "We are going out to dinner and a movie tonight."
"You should eat dinner here with us," Dotty said, finally looking up from her coffee. "I know the boys would love having you both here, and I would, too."
Amanda played with her necklace, knowing it was true. She had not even considered the idea until Dotty mentioned it. She sighed. When she had been married to Joe, she had learned that it was hard being a wife and a mother. At least then, the roles had partially overlapped. Unfortunately, being a wife to Lee often seemed to be in conflict with her role as mother.
"You're right. I'll call Lee and ask him to come over for dinner." She shook her head. "I don't know why I didn't think of it. He's been wanting to see the boys."
"Yes, he has. He called them last night." Dotty stood up from the couch and walked over to look out the French doors.
Amanda tried to remember Lee calling the boys. They had been so busy with everything finally coming together about Green. "He did?"
"Yes, Amanda, he did." Her mother was silent for a few heartbeats. "He has been in better contact with your family recently than you have. He's taking the boys out to the ballgame Saturday."
Amanda winced as she remembered Lee talking about the idea with her several weeks before. He had been busy building his relationship with the boys and Dotty. She had been aware of it, but she had been too busy focusing on her job recently. She wanted to show everyone that she was more than a housewife who had ridden Lee's coattails. Maybe she had been trying too hard.
"I know. I'm sorry," she admitted. Why had she been so oblivious to her sons, her husband, and her mother?
Dotty smiled. "I'm sorry, too. Lee told us you were up for a promotion, and that you were really working hard. The boys understood. I did, too. Or thought I did. I just miss having you around."
Amanda looked around her home, seeing subtle changes to it that she had not noticed. Pictures had been moved. Some more had been added. Life had continued in the King household, even with the lack of her participation. Jamie's report card had been tacked on the refrigerator for her to see last night; a note saying that Philip had to pay an overdue library fine before receiving his was right next to it. "I miss being around."
Dotty turned her attention back to the view outside the doors. "It's what I'm going to miss the most when you and Lee get married."
"What?" Amanda stood up and walked over to where Dotty was standing.
Dotty held up her hand. "Don't bother denying that it is getting serious. I know better. I know you better. He's the one."
Amanda grinned and looked down at her feet. "Yeah, he's very special. I'm not talking about the getting married part. I think Lee and I will one day. But why would you miss spending time with me if we did?"
Dotty took her last drink of coffee before answering. "Amanda, Lee's not going to want your mother around when he moves in here."
Her eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Why not?"
"Why not?" Dotty laughed. "Amanda, he's not going to want his mother-in-law living with him when he gets married, and I don't blame him. I suffered through it myself, and I loved her. I couldn't stand living with her."
She could vaguely remember her Grandmother West living with them when she was younger. It had only been six months or so while her new home was being built. The old family home had been burned to the ground by a Christmas tree fire. She remembered finding her mother crying a few months later, and the whispered arguments that her parents had tried so hard to hide from her. Grandmother West had disagreed with many of Dotty's habits when it came to housekeeping, and she had shared many suggestions. It had not been a happy time for anyone in the West Household.
"While we've never discussed it, I do think Lee would be happy for you to keep living with us. You've been a great help with the boys, and he knows it. And he likes having a mother around, I think. He likes spoiling you," Amanda said, remembering the bottle of expensive perfume and the dozen roses Dotty had received for Mother's Day.
Dotty's smile told Amanda that she was thinking about last Mother's Day, too. "He does do that."
"Well, he's never had a mother of his own to spoil--"
"What do you mean?" Dotty stopped in the middle of walking back to the couch. She turned to look back at her daughter.
Amanda stopped walking, too. "I thought you knew?" Dotty shook her head. "Lee lost both his parents in a car accident when he was a little boy. He grew up with his uncle, a Colonel in the Air Force."
Dotty sank down onto the couch. "You never told me. I knew he didn't have any family that he usually spent Christmas with, but--"
Amanda shook her head, realizing how little she had shared about her relationship with Lee. It was hard to differentiate between the personal and the professional. Keeping secrets was getting to be a bad habit of hers. "I've never really told you about Lee have I?"
Silence filled the room. Then, finally, "No, you haven't. I know you are crazy about him. I know he's crazy about you. I know he's a good man, and I know you work with him. Most of that I know from watching you two together."
Amanda reached out her hand for Dotty's empty coffee mug. "Why don't I go pour us some more coffee? Then, we can sit back and talk until we go over to Aunt Katherine's. I called her earlier, and she said it would be fine for me to join you for lunch--if that is okay with you?"
Dotty smiled and handed over her cup. "Sounds good to me."
"Me, too."
****
"That chicken casserole was wonderful, Aunt Katherine! You are going to have to give me the recipe," a much-too-full Amanda said as she helped clear the table.
"Oh, yes," Dotty agreed. "That was wonderful, Katherine."
"Oh, you are going to die when you see how simple it is," Katherine told them as she pulled out a tray from a half-unpacked box that was sitting on the counter.
Dotty and Amanda both laughed. "No, I won't," Dotty replied as she set her pile into the sink. "I know how little you like to cook."
Aunt Katherine's laugh acknowledged the truth of the statement. "And how poorly I do it!"
"I didn't say that," Dotty started to protest.
Katherine shook her head. "You didn't have, too! That brother of mine always made sure I knew how bad I was at cooking."
Dotty stood up straight. "Carl didn't!"
Katherine laughed as she turned on the coffee pot. "Oh, Dotty, you know how brothers love to torment their younger siblings."
Amanda laughed as she walked passed them. "Mother, you learned that from watching the boys!"
She turned around to look when there was no answering laughter. Dotty and Katherine both had an odd look on their face, but then her mother laughed. "Yes, but I learned about sibling torment from home!"
Katherine turned away before Amanda could ask her about the strange look on her face. "Why don't you two go into the den while I make us some coffee?"
Dotty shook her head. "I remember the last cup of coffee I had from you. I'll make the coffee. Amanda, go and have a seat. It's your day off."
She started to protest and then noticed the stubborn set to her mother's mouth. It would be easier to do what she was told; if she fought it, she would still lose and end up sitting in the den waiting for the coffee to be made. Sometimes it was just easier to skip the battle.
"Ignore the mess!" Aunt Katherine called out after her. Looking around the immaculate room, she wondered what mess her aunt had been referring to and decided that the three boxes neatly piled in the corner must be it. Amanda thought of her own house. The spring-cleaning was almost done. After lunch, she and Dotty would finish the few remaining items. She had been little help to Dotty and the boys this year. They had basically done it all without her. It made her sad for a moment, but she knew it was a part of the life she had chosen to live.
Glancing down at the boxes, she spotted the edge of a photo album lying in it. She had never seen it before. She had never been to her aunt's home before today. Even when they had visited Germany, they had not seen Aunt Katherine. She had been out of the country during their entire visit. Her work with imports and exports kept her traveling most of the time. Generally, Aunt Katherine had to contact them.
Amanda reached down and pulled out the photo album that was on top. It was the oldest one from the look of the binder. It showed the most wear. Smiling, Amanda opened the album. Her smile grew larger when she saw that the first picture of her father. She reached up to gently trace over his familiar grin. She missed his smile almost more than anything else. When her dad had smiled, everything had been right in her world.
She almost laughed when she noticed he was wearing a leather jacket and sitting on a motorcycle. She could vaguely remember him wearing blue jeans, but that had been on rare occasions. He had been a suit and tie man. Dressing down had been slacks and a button shirt.
Amanda realized how little she knew about her dad, but she knew him so well. The man he was had influenced the woman she was today. He had been a hands-on father. He loved her, and he always took the time to show her. However, there was so much she did not know. Looking down at the picture, she decided to ask her Aunt Katherine some questions. It would be fun to hear stories about him as a child. Dotty seldom talked about him. She had hardly mentioned his name since his death. The few times she had over the years had been special to Amanda.
Slowly flipping through the worn pages, she found wedding pictures. They were the same ones she had found in a box a month before, but they were whole. No jagged edges from someone being ripped from them. She studied the man standing beside her father, trying to find the reason Dotty would have felt such anger towards the man. He looked as if he were a kind man. The smile on his face was genuine and huge. Of course, it did not have a cigarette--a cigarette?
"Doctor Smyth?" she heard herself saying.
"How do you know that name?" Amanda started at the anger in her mother's voice. She turned to see horror on Aunt Katherine's face and a cold rage that she had never seen before on Dotty's. "How do you know him, Amanda?" Dotty demanded. Amanda, for one of the few times in her life, found herself speechless.
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