Chapter Ten

"Did you tell Aunt Jean we were coming?" Woody asked Calvin the next day as they started out. After the trip to the cemetery, Woody had been too exhausted to go by and see the rest of his family.

"I called her to tell her I was dropping by….I didn't tell her you were with me. Thought you may want to surprise her."

Woody nodded. That might be the best tactic. Aunt Jean was now a widow…Uncle Lloyd had died about two years ago from a massive heart attack. Woody hadn't gone back home for the funeral. More memories flooded his mind as Cal once again pulled off the main highway onto the back country roads of Kewuanne, Wisconsin. Not much had changed…there were still the fields….and the cows….hundreds of them, it seemed. He chuckled to himself when he remembered Jordan's description of Wisconsin…fields of cheddar and Brie waving in the wind…She hadn't been that far from the truth. The only difference was that the cheese was still on the hoof.

Cal pulled into Aunt Jean's driveway and they both stared at the house they had spent the remainder of their teenage years in. Cal lived here longer than Woody. After his senior year in high school was over, Woody had left for Wisconsin State and stayed there, majoring in law enforcement…only returning for brief visits during the holidays and summer. Even when he had come back to Kewaunne to work as a sheriff, he didn't live with Aunt Jean. He got a cheap apartment with a couple other sheriffs. Come to think of it, since Mom died, I really haven't had a home….not since I landed in Boston… Woody reflected as he climbed the steps. He had stayed in Boston almost longer than anywhere else. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but his aunt beat him to it.

"Woody!" she softly exclaimed, as she pushed the screen door open. "My God…Woody….let me look at you…" She hugged her nephew to her and the tears ran down her face. "What on earth brings you home? Are you okay…you look like you've been sick…."

"No…I'm fine, Aunt Jean…really. I just need to ask you some questions."

Jean looked her nephew in the eyes. She wondered when this day would come. She was surprised it hadn't come earlier in his life…she knew why he was here. "Come on in. I'll put the coffee on and I think there's some lemon pie in the refrigerator."

Hours later….the sun was lowering in the Wisconsin sky…slowly slipping into the west, Woody leaned back in the kitchen chair and sighed. He had gotten nearly all of his questions answered.

"So Uncle Lloyd didn't resent keeping us?" he asked his aunt.

"No…after Brad left to go in the service, you and Cal were a godsend. There's only so much girls can do on a dairy farm. Or that he would let them do."

Woody smiled. His aunt and uncle had Brad, the oldest. Brad wanted nothing to do with the farm. As soon as he had turned eighteen, he enlisted in the Navy. He was now a career officer. There were three other children – all girls. Amy, Michelle, and Robin. The girls, Cal, and Woody grew up together.

"I still think it wasn't fair that Lloyd wouldn't let you play football. I told him so many times…but he wouldn't give in. I'm sorry, Woody…so sorry. I know that changed all your plans."

Woody shook his head. If he had played football…he may not have ever ended up a detective…or in Boston. He may not have ever met that medical examiner with the whiskey-colored eyes and the softest lips he had ever known. "It's okay, Aunt Jean. Really. It was meant for the best. I could have blown out my knees or had some other type of injury and became a football has been with no career. I like what I am…and who I am. I just needed to know that Uncle Lloyd didn't resent having to take us in…that in someway, he wanted Cal and me."

"He did. He loved you, Woody. It nearly broke his heart the way you left Kewuanne, but he understood. He knew you had to get away to make a life for yourself."

Woody stood up, drained the rest of the coffee in his cup, and hugged his aunt. "Thanks, Aunt Jean."

"You're leaving now?"

"Yeah. There's another stop I need to make before Cal and I go back to his apartment."

"I wish you'd stay with me….I haven't seen you in years, son."

"I promise I'll be back. I just need to take care of a few things."

"One more thing, Woody. Have you met anyone in Boston? Anyone special? Cal keeps mentioning a Jordan…is that a girl or another detective you work with?"

Woody chuckled. "Jordan…definitely a woman in every sense of the word. And yes, she's special. I don't think she knows how special she is."

"Do you work with her?"

"Sort of. She's a medical examiner for the state of Massachusetts."

"A doctor…how nice. Any chance we get to meet her?"

Woody mulled that over in his mind. "I don't know…not yet anyway."

"Are you going to be here through Easter?'

Woody looked in his aunt's face. He had originally planned to fly back to Boston on Thursday and spend the long weekend with Jordan, if she didn't have to work. But the look on his aunt's face changed his mind. "Yeah. I'll be here through Easter."

"Good!" she practically beamed at her nephew. "We can go to Mass and then come back here for lunch. All the girls will be here. It will be just like old times…."

Woody glanced at Cal, who was propped up against the kitchen sink, rolling his eyes…just like old times…I'm not sure if that's a good idea at all….was the look Woody sent his brother.

"Okay. You mentioned one more stop. I bet I know what that is," Calvin said as they got back in his SUV.

"You're right."

"I'm not sure you should make that stop, Woody. She's moved on with her life."

"I know. I just need to know how she really felt."

"Does it matter? You were young….she was young. Her dad did what he thought was best for his daughter. You left. You've made a life for yourself in Boston and Jordan is twice the woman Annie is. Believe me. You got the better end of the deal."

"I loved her Cal."

"Loved. Past tense. It's water under the bridge of romance. Let it go. She's happy. You're….well, if you and Jordan can work things out, you should be deliriously happy."

"Just shut up and take me there."

Calvin nodded and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. For the life of him, he couldn't understand his brother's continuing fascination with Annie. Sure, Annie was cute…the hometown beauty queen…long, auburn hair…blue eyes. And Woody had won her affections years ago…his first love. He guessed first loves were the hardest to get over, he didn't know. He had never been in love…not really. He raked his fingers thought his hair and turned the SUV into the parking lot of a park. "This is where she is most days during this time. She takes Kelly to the park to play then goes home to cook dinner for Kevin."

Woody swallowed hard. Kevin. One of his best friends while he lived in Kewuanne. He had heard through the grapevine that they had started dating soon after he fled his hometown to go to Boston. Six months later, Kevin had proposed and they married within a year. Now she had a child. They were a family. He caught sight of her at the swings, buckling a small girl into them. The baby had her hair. When Annie walked around to the other side of the swings to push her small daughter, Woody noticed the slight bulge beneath her sweatshirt. She was pregnant again. If it had worked out between them…thatcould be his children. He swallowed hard. He could be a dad. He never pictured it….never thought about it.

"You going to go talk to her?"

Woody thought for a minute. "No. You're right. She's moved on. I guess I just had to see for myself. I don't want to upset her…not now. Not while she's pregnant. And not while she has her daughter with her. Kevin would kill me. I guess…I guess….

"You just needed to see for yourself that you couldn't come back home if you wanted to? Not come back and things be like they were before?"

Woody nodded. Sometimes his brother surprised him.