She had no idea what time it was when she heard Rafe stir.

From what she could see, which wasn't much because she didn't want to open her eyes, the sun wasn't even up yet. "What time is it?" She asked quietly.

"Time for you to go back to sleep." She heard his sleepy reply.

Evelyn smiled and opened her eyes as she rolled onto her side to see Rafe on his back, his own eyes closed. "You didn't answer my question."

She saw his eyes open as he looked at her and smiled back. "It's too early for me to be up that's for sure." He looked over at the clock on Evelyn's nightstand, closed his eyes again and sighed. "Oh my god, four o'clock."

There was a soft knock at the door and when it opened, Thomas was on the other side. "Time's a wastin' son."

Rafe opened his eyes and yawned. "I'm comin'."

"Meet me downstairs in twenty minutes. Danny's already up and he's ready to go." Thomas informed him with a grin. "Unlike his daddy." And he closed the door.

"Tell me again why I'm doin' this?" He asked his wife.

"Tradition. And because your son has never been hunting with his father before."

He opened his eyes again and the look he gave Evelyn was dead serious. "I hate guns. I never gave them a second thought before I had to go to war and we were a hell of a lot luckier than those boys who had to fight on the ground were. We had our planes to do our fightin' for us, but after I came home from that raid I wouldn't have cared if I never saw another gun for the rest of my life."

He'd never told her that and she'd wager he'd never told his father either. "Then why do this?"

"You already said it, tradition. Besides, Danny's been lookin' forward to this for a long time and after everythin' that's happened to our family, I want somethin' normal."

Evelyn laughed softly before she put her arms around Rafe. "Going out in the pitch black to hunt for a bird you can't even see, that's normal?"

He put his arms around her. "You ain't bein' fair honey. I have to get up out of this nice warm bed and leave my beautiful wife to go stand out in the freezin' cold to find a damn turkey."

She smiled and whispered in his ear, "I'll make it all worth it tonight."

Rafe pulled away from her and he flushed. "Are you suggestin' what I think you are?" He was stunned.

"I'm not suggesting anything, I'm making you a promise." She told him as she looked into his eyes. "Be the wonderful father that you are and take our son out hunting and I'll be sure that you're glad you did."

His surprise had worn off enough that he grinned. "You amaze me Evelyn."

"How do I do that?" She asked.

"You've always been the shy one, even after all the years we've been married. But every once in awhile, you take the lead and surprise the hell out of me."

"A little mystery in a marriage is always a good thing Rafe McCawley. And a few surprises don't hurt either." He started to pull her to him and she shook her head. "Let's not start something we can't finish. You've got two hunters downstairs waiting for you."

He let her go and rolled onto his back. "They can hunt without me."

She sighed because her husband was such a big baby sometimes. "You don't want to disappoint your son, so get yourself out of this bed and get dressed."

He nodded and slowly sat up. "There better be some strong coffee down there." He commented as he threw the blankets back and put his feet on the floor. "Damn, it's cold!"

"Of course it is, it's almost December." Evelyn told him and she laughed.

Rafe turned to look at her to see her in his bed and did not want to leave her.

Evelyn saw the look in his eye and she knew if she stayed where she was, he wouldn't get downstairs. So she sat up and grabbed her bathrobe from the foot of the bed and got up. She cinched the belt and slipped her feet into her old, beat up fuzzy slippers. "Someone has to get out of this bed, so I guess it'll have to be me." She said with a smile. "Your mother is probably up too, so I'll go down and keep her company."

As she headed to the door, Rafe caught her from behind and pulled her against him. "Do you know how much I love you?" He said quietly.

Her smile got wider as she turned in his arms and put her arms around his neck. "As I recall, you showed me last night."

He laughed because he'd said the same thing to her the day before and made her blush, he loved to do that. He leaned over to kiss her and she tightened her hold around his neck.

When he finally let her go, he grinned. "You better get downstairs Evelyn."

"Don't take too long." She told him as she let him go and headed to the door.

By the time Evelyn got downstairs, she watched her son as he paced. "He's coming Danny."

Sarah was up as Evelyn thought she would be and had made breakfast for her husband, her grandson and her tardy offspring. "Where is that boy of mine?" She said with a smile. "Good morning Evelyn."

"Good morning Sarah. He's getting dressed as we speak, at least I hope he is." She told Sarah as she glanced toward the stairs. "He was on his feet when I left him."

Thomas took a sip of his coffee and stood up. "I'll go see if he's still on his feet." He glanced at Sarah. "This reminds me of those days when we had to get him out of bed for school and he always wanted five more minutes." And he headed toward the stairs.

Danny had followed Thomas out of the kitchen and walked into the parlor. Evelyn followed him. "Is everything all right?"

He looked at her and shrugged.

"Are you nervous about this?" She tried to coax an answer out of him.

"Everythin's different Mama." He said simply.

"And you're thinking that maybe we shouldn't be doing things the way we've always done?"

Danny looked at his mother and nodded. "Somethin' like that. I've been waitin' to do this for a long time and it ain't the same now."

"You're right about everything being different, except for how much your dad loves you. You're still dealing with all of this and it's going to take some time. But when you start feeling like you don't know who you are, take a look at that picture on the mantle of you and your dad when you were a baby. The one thing you need to remember is that he's always been here for the both of us and your brother and sister, too."

"Mama, would it be terrible if I never wanted to know who Danny was?"

"I wouldn't close the door on the idea of getting to know something about him." Evelyn told him. "If it weren't for him, you wouldn't be here and I can't imagine my life without you in it."

"Daddy said the same thing." He sighed.

She thought she understood his concern. "Are you worried that if you wanted to know something about Danny you'd be disloyal to your dad?"

"Yea."

"That's something you never have to worry about Danny. In fact, this morning might be a good time to ask him."

"You think so?"

"I do. In spite of what happened, your dad misses Danny a lot and he hasn't talked about him much over these last sixteen years. Getting to know about Danny doesn't mean you love your dad any less, do you understand?"

He nodded. "I think so."

Thomas McCawley and his sleepy son interrupted them as they came down the stairs. "Well, I finally got this one dressed." He said with a grin.

"I was gettin' there Daddy." Rafe answered with a grin that matched his father's. "Mornin' son."

Evelyn watched Danny as he took in the scene between his father and grandfather. He turned to his mother and grinned. "Some things never change."

Rafe put an arm around Danny's shoulders. "I hope not son." And they walked into the kitchen with Evelyn and Thomas right behind them.