"Next stop should be a meet up with family, don't you think?" Jane asked, as they rounded the corner toward the grandstand (which was sporting a large banner touting the feats of the Strongman).
"Absolutely!" Lisbon cheerily replied, hoping to cover the simmering anxiety she felt in her core.
Not fooled, he pulled her aside for a moment, engulfing her in his arms, whispering encouragement and love. "They are going to love you and I together, Teresa. This will be great - you'll see!"
She still wasn't sure, but she loved how sure he was about it.
They made their way to the backstage area, where Jane had a few words with some of the carnies outside. A moment later, one - who Lisbon thought might be a lion tamer - went inside to get Pete & Sam. It didn't take long for both of them to run outside and pounce on Jane with an enthusiastic group hug. When they noticed Lisbon nearby, they looked puzzled.
"Did Danny get himself into trouble again? Or has there been a crime committed on-site?" Sam inquired. Lisbon noted that Sam's tone was more curious than angry or accusatory - that was a relief.
Jane laughed at the question though, and explained that couldn't be further from the truth for their visit. "Not at all, Sam - though if Danny's around I'd love to catch up with him, brother to brother," he grinned. "Teresa and I have been traveling a lot together lately. You might remember hearing me say that, if anyone could convince me to move on and love again, it would be Lisbon?" Sam and Pete both had surprised, but overjoyed expressions on their faces - anticipating what he might say next.
"Well, as it turns out, she and I have found our way into each other's arms. We are officially a couple!"
He beamed with love and pride as he reached his arm out for her. When her eyes found his, all the nerves disappeared, and walking over to wrap her arm around his waist seemed so natural that she didn't care what Pete & Sam might think after all.
But it turned out that Jane was right. All of her worries had been for nothing.
Lisbon had barely gotten her arm around Jane when hollers from both Sam & Pete echoed through the carnival - shouting thanks and joy that their boy, Paddy, had found love again. Before she knew what was happening, she found herself being enthusiastically pulled into a second group hug with Jane and his carny family. She was more relieved than she had even realized she would be, and she relaxed into the hug gratefully.
They spent much of the day showing Teresa around the carnival - Jane chiming in with stories now and then - and defending himself when Pete or Sam told one he was embarrassed by (much to Lisbon's amusement). It was kind of nice to have them all there, talking her through the different parts of the traveling menagerie Jane had called home for so many years.
She thrilled at watching the acrobats and trapeze artists but winced as she watched (or tried not to watch) the contortionists (Jane found her reaction to be hilarious).
He was more carefree and happy than she had ever seen him - buoyed by his old friends and energized by seeing her enjoy the tempered chaos of the scene.
After awhile, she remembered Daisy. "Is the elephant still here?" She asked, hopefully. Before anyone had a chance to answer, Daisy trumpeted from not too far away - causing Lisbon to jump a little, laughing with startled excitement.
"I see that girl is speaking for herself these days!" Sam joked, taking Lisbon by the hand and walking towards the pachyderm. Lisbon waved to Jane with a shoulder shrug, and was comforted to see the happy smile on him as he waved back, shoulders shaking with laughter.
The elephant habitat was just a few steps away, and before she knew it, Lisbon was feeding Daisy apples again - without a care in the world.
"You've got a nurturing spirit, Teresa," Sam noticed, "I see why Paddy seems so light, this time around. He doesn't believe in miracles much, but I do - and I think that the way you both stumbled into each other's lives was absolutely a miracle."
Teresa was intensely moved by Sam's words, and began to cry - clinging to Daisy's trunk for balance.
Concerned, Sam ran to her side and held her shoulders. "I'm so sorry, dear, I didn't mean to upset you!" She said, with a mortified look.
But Lisbon hugged Sam so tightly then, and calmed herself enough to explain.
"You didn't upset me at all Sam! It's just that I've been worried how you and Pete might react to me and Patrick being together - I know that cops aren't your favorite people - and I've worried how his friends who knew Angela would take it that he'd moved forward in life. What you said just now brought me such relief that I couldn't control the waterworks."
She laughed at herself a little, then continued,
"I'm so sorry to have worried you, but I'm the opposite of upset! I'm overjoyed that you think our meeting was a miracle - I couldn't agree more about that! And I appreciate the comment about nurturing - I pretty much raised my 3 brothers after my mom died, and after my dad started hitting the bottle (and his sons), in response. So maybe that fostered those instincts in me?"
"Oh, girl - I definitely could see that being the case!" Sam replied, with gentle pressure on Lisbons arms. "And you're correct that carnies and cops generally don't get along, but Patrick was so very lost when Angela & Charlotte were killed. We worried he may never get past it. He was a man in need of rescue! So maybe it took a cop with an overdeveloped sense of nurturing to pull him back to the land of the living?" She shrugged.
Teresa smiled then, and reached out to Sam for a thankful hug. "I wish I had known them - Angela & Charlotte, I mean. I feel like I'm related to them somehow."
"I love the way you think!" Sam squealed, "Here, I've got something that might help." Lisbon looked on, curiously, as Sam ran out of the tent calling out "Be right back, Teresa!"
In a few minutes, she reappeared - carrying a book of some sort. Two books, actually!
"Here! This small one is an old program from the carnival back then. Here's a lovely pic of her - and you're gonna love the ones of Paddy, too!"
Lisbon's eyes grew wide, and her smile went ear to ear.
"And this other one is… well… it's special. You are free to keep it, but please treat it with great care. Alex - that is, Paddy's father - left it with us when he went solo with his show. It's sort of a family photo album & scrapbook. There are just a couple pics of him & Angie together, but lots of them both individually as kids. Sadly this was before Charlotte's time, but maybe you will get a sense of who Angela was - and who the two of them were together, from these pages?"
Teresa stood, stunned - completely overwhelmed at these profoundly meaningful gifts from Sam. She started to say words of thanks, but found herself in tears once more. She had been so surprised by the welcome she'd been extended by Jane's family. She certainly hadn't expected how openly they had accepted her. Finally, she got control of herself and spoke:
"I am so deeply moved that you would gift these precious memories to me, Sam. I can't begin to explain how much it means to be accepted by you & Pete - especially with such wide open arms. I am so in love with Patrick, and its a relief to know we have your support. I did actually try, once, to live without him - was considering marrying another man - but I just couldn't do it. I loved him too much to let him go."
"You considered what now?" Sam laughed "you should know better than to try to run from the 'Jane charm'" she joked.
"Oh I learned my lesson - don't worry! Ended up nearly having a panic attack, and traveling thousands of miles to track him down & tell him how wrong I'd been. It's just that I'd waited for a decade or more, and when he didn't make a move, I started to think that he never would… that he didn't see me that way… that he'd never love me the way I'd grown to love him. Thank God I came to my senses in time to force his hand!"
"Thank God, indeed!" Sam said, hands to heaven, before handing the books to Lisbon, with a motherly hug.
"Hey Sam," Teresa said, as she turned to leave, "should I keep these to myself do you think? I mean, is there anything in them that he might find upsetting?"
Sam smiled a big smile and laughed, "Honey - I brought this up with Paddy earlier today, after he told us what you'd said about them feeling like family. He was overjoyed at the thought, and He Can. Not. Wait. To go through them with you, page by page! You may never get through them what with all the storytelling he's bound to do in the process!" Both of the women shared a cackling belly laugh at that!
Then Lisbon started to the Airstream to safely pack away her newest and most-loved treasures.