Chapter 4 – Along Comes Roger
Alfred Bellows went to the door and opened it to find the three Healeys standing on the porch. Roger said, "Dr Bellows, you took a file home that Tony wanted me to read. Now you're at this convention and …."
"Come in, Colonel, Tracy, I'll get it," Dr Bellows said, and the Healeys walked in. Before getting the file, though, he brought them into the living room. "Bob and Emily Hartley, I'd like you to meet – "
"Howard, what are you doing here?" Bob immediately said.
"I thought you were on a flight to Los Angeles!" Emily added.
Roger looked puzzled, but Tracy giggled. "I think you have the wrong person," she said. "Do you somehow know Howard Borden of Chicago?"
Dr Bellows froze, as did Bob Hartley. "Yes, Howard is our neighbor," Bob stated. "He's a navigator for a commercial airliner."
Emily stared at Roger. "You're not Howard?"
"No, I'm Roger Healey. But my wife tells me that Howard was the one that found me in Washington, D.C. Someday I'd like to meet him, to thank him."
Dr Bellows and Dr Hartley looked at each other. "This is VERY bizarre. We need to talk!" Bob said.
"I'll get that file, Colonel Healey," Dr Bellows said, and went upstairs to his den.
Amanda introduced Emily and Bob to the Healeys. Emily squatted down to the little four-year old girl and smiled before she said, "Hello. Oh, you look just like your daddy! You could be Howard's little girl, that's certain!" Skylar smiled back before Emily stood back up.
Tracy chuckled. "She's not, I assure you. She's ours." Tracy took Roger's arm. "I can prove it," she giggled.
Roger looked at her in a relaxed, nonchalant way and smiled lovingly at his wife. "Yeah, I think you can. Only don't go around kissing other men any more just to prove they're not me." He laughed, obviously in on the way Tracy had proved that Howard wasn't Roger, but not upset about it.
"Would you rather I have asked to see his –"
"NO," was Roger's immediate response. Bob and Emily looked puzzled, but Amanda had been apprised of the story and giggled. Tracy had proven Roger's identity by the presence of a mole in a very private part of his body.
Dr Bellows came back down with the file. Before the Healeys left, though, Tracy turned back. "Dr Bellows, Mrs. Bellows, I meant to mention – I'm having a small dinner party tomorrow night, and we were hoping you could join us. And Dr and Mrs. Hartley, we would love to have you, too."
Amanda accepted right away, as did Emily.