It was about 5:30 in the evening when Amanda and Lee returned to Maplewood Drive. Amanda swallowed hard and looked at the house for a moment before reaching for the car door handle.

"Ready?" she said to Lee.

Lee looked as if he just ate something that didn't agree with him.

"Honestly….no."

"Yeah, me neither." Amanda said as she opened the door.

The two of them began to walk towards the kitchen door.

"Oh! My purse!" Amanda exclaimed as she ran back to the car.

Lee stood nervously in the driveway watching the door for any signs of Dotty ready to pounce upon him. In that moment, he would have rather been in a shoot-out with any of his enemies than to face Dotty. He honestly didn't know what to expect once they walked in that door.

"Ok…let's go" Amanda said as she took Lee's hand.

Amanda walked in first and called to Dotty.

"Mother! We're home!"

At first there seemed to be no one home. Lee began to feel a sense of relief, that was until Dotty emerged from upstairs. If looks could kill, Amanda would now be a widow.

Amanda's eyes widened upon seeing the look on Dotty's face as she entered the kitchen.

"Hello, Mother. Where are the boys?" Amanda said as she gave Dotty a kiss on the cheek.

"They are staying with Joe for the weekend. They asked if I thought you would mind, and I said no."

"Oh, good!"

"Hello, Dotty." Lee said.

"Hello, Lee" she said flatly, her eyes wandering to his naked left hand.

"How was your day, Mother?"

Dotty looked at Amanda and then at Lee before answering.

"Honestly, Amanda, it was not very good. I spent all day wondering how I was going to talk to you about this and I think the best way to talk to you is to come right on out and say it."

Lee swallowed hard and, in his mind, wished he had the agency issued cyanide capsules in his mouth right now. Amanda could feel all the blood drain from her face and settle into her stomach.

"OK, Mother, what is it?" Amanda said as she tried to mask the nervousness in her voice. She of course knew exactly what the issue was and had absolutely no idea how she was going to talk her way out of this predicament.

"I think you two should sit down" Dotty said gesturing to the couch.

Lee and Amanda did as they were told. Dotty sat in the chair closest to Amanda.

Before she spoke, she drew in a sharp breath. Lee and Amanda began holding theirs.

"Amanda, when you started working for IFF, I suspected there was someone at work that you were interested in. You lost interest in Dean…."

Lee made a low scoffing noise in his throat. Amanda and Dotty, both threw him a dirty look. Lee looked sheepishly at them.

"Sorry, please continue" he said.

Dotty continued-"You began working these strange hours, and coming up with these strange excuses. Well, after a while, so much time had gone by and you never said anything or brought anyone home, I figured I must be wrong."

Amanda had to remind herself to breathe as she listened. Lee scanned the room, as any good agent would, for an escape plan.

"But then, the two of you become caught up in some misunderstanding with the government and go on the run. I finally get to meet the mysterious Mr. Stetson. I was sincerely doubting that he was even real. And when I did meet him, well…..I thought he was fabulous! So handsome, smart, debonair. I didn't know why it took you so long to bring him home, to introduce him to me."

"Mother, Lee and I….."

Dotty held up her hand and signaled Amanda to be quiet. She then gestured to Lee.

"Lee, the more I got to know you, the more I liked you and hoped that you and my daughter would be together for a long time."

Lee and Amanda began to smile.

"That was….until today."

Their faces dropped.

"NOW I know why you never introduced him to me until recently. Why all the mystery and strange excuses. You, Lee Stetson, are a MARRIED MAN and you have been stringing my daughter along. Haven't you? Admit it!"

Lee sat there dumbfounded. He opened his mouth to speak but no words would come out.

"MOTHER!" Amanda said in a disgusted tone.

"No, no, Amanda! Don't even try to deny it" Dotty said as she raised her hand towards Amanda, each one of her fingers splayed wide open, her red fingernails accentuating each finger. "I saw the ring this morning! And when he saw me notice it, he quickly shoved his hand right into his pocket. Next thing I know, the ring is gone off the finger. What else could it possibly mean?"

Lee still didn't know what to say.

"But Mother…"

"And Amanda! I saw you sneaking him out of this house this morning at the crack of dawn! You had a married man stay the night with you, in your bedroom, under the same roof as your children! Amanda, I raised you better than that!"

Amanda was beginning to get angry as well as very flustered. She could tell Lee was also about ready to say some things that perhaps he shouldn't. Amanda began to panic. She wanted to fix this, but she didn't know how.

Dotty turned and looked Lee right in the eyes. In a much softer, lower pitched, much more terrifying voice, Dotty said to him-

"Admit it Lee, you are a married man. You have been leading Amanda down an unsavory path."

"Now wait a minute, Dotty." Lee said as he felt his face getting hotter as he grew more upset.

"Answer me yes or no, right now! Are you or are you not married, Lee Stetson?"

Lee was so unsure how to answer this question. He shifted very uncomfortably glancing at Amanda out of the corner of his eye. He didn't want to betray her. It was becoming obvious that he was quickly becoming persona non grata. He had waited all these years to be accepted into the family and just as it was about to happen, it was all beginning to collapse right before his eyes.

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence.

Dotty repeated, "Are. You. Married?"

"Yes, Mother. He is…. He's married to me." Amanda said calmly as she pulled his ring out of her pocket and placed it on his finger.

Lee and Dotty both looked at Amanda completely astonished. Dotty's eyes simply could not get any wider, nor her mouth hang open any further.

They both watched as Amanda then retrieved her wedding and engagement rings from her pocket and placed them on her left-hand ring finger. She reached over and grabbed Lee's hand and intertwined their fingers together. Their eyes met and she smiled at him.

"Married to you?!" Dotty exclaimed. "Amanda, how is this possible? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Mother, we got married in February. We….eloped."

"ELOPED?" Dotty practically screamed. "Why in the heavens did you do that?"

"Mother…"

"In February? Amanda!" Dotty continued.

Lee squeezed Amanda's hand.

"Amanda, let me." He took in a deep breath before beginning to speak. "Dotty, I didn't have a good childhood. My parents died when I was very young. I lived most of my life not understanding what love was. Then one day, I met Amanda. We began to work together. She was like no one I had ever known." Lee smiled as he looked at Amanda. "I knew for a very long time that I had feelings for her, but I wouldn't let myself admit that. And they were very confusing feelings. What I didn't realize was that…..that I had fallen hopelessly in love with her. And the moment that I finally realized it, I wanted her to be mine always. That was something I never saw for myself. I never thought I would find someone that made me want to be a better man, that made me think about her all the time. She made me feel whole. I finally knew I wanted to spend my life with her. So, I asked her to marry me."

Dotty began to settle back into her chair, her facial expressions softening and a smile forming in her eyes. Amanda smiled as well as she listened to Lee.

"She said yes and I was over the moon. For us, it had been a long time coming. We had known each other for almost four years. We loved each other but it took us both a long time to admit it. By that time, you had met me once or twice. The boys barely knew me. We thought it would be too much to spring it on them that we were getting married right after they had just met me."

Amanda began to speak.

"But we didn't want to wait. It took us so long to admit our feelings for each other that we didn't want to waste any more time. We wanted our life to begin together immediately. So, we eloped and agreed that we would wait until the time was right to tell you all once you knew Lee better and realized how special he was and how much I love him."

Dotty's eyes were now full of tears. Her hands were clasped together over her heart.

"Oh, Amanda! I just can't believe it!"

She stood up and pulled Amanda up off the couch and hugged her. She grabbed her so tightly and wouldn't let her go.

"Oh, Amanda! This is WONDERFUL!"

She then looked at Lee and became embarrassed.

"Oh, Lee. Lee, darling, I am so sorry. I….I don't know what to say."

Lee stood up and took Dotty's hands into his own.

"It's ok, Dotty. It's understandable why you thought the way you did. I can assure you that I love Amanda and I would never do anything to hurt her."

Dotty reached up and touched Lee's cheek.

"Oh Lee, of course you wouldn't." She then looked at Amanda, and then back at Lee. "Oh, I'm just so happy for you both!"

Lee and Amanda looked at each other and smiled.

"Thank you, Mother. We are really happy. We thought the eloping and not saying anything would be easier than it has been, but to be honest, it's been really difficult. I'm happy we told you."

Dotty clapped her hands together in sheer excitement. She kissed Lee on the cheek and squeezed him within an inch of his life.

"Well, this calls for a celebration! Let's have some champagne!"

Dotty ran to the fridge and opened it.

"Oh, but we don't have any champagne!" she said frantically as she laughed and almost lost her mind with joy. "Wait until the boys find out!"

Lee and Amanda looked at each other then looked at Dotty.

"Mother, we aren't ready to tell people yet, especially not Philip and Jamie. For a little while longer we're going to need you to keep this to yourself."

Dotty gazed happily between the two of them and after a moment, nodded her head and agreed. Amanda looked relieved and Lee looked content, shocked, but content.

"I tell you what" Lee said. "Why don't I take my two best girls out to dinner, and we can have a small celebration?"

Dotty gasped and smiled ear to ear.

"What a GREAT idea! I know just what I'm going to wear. Give me 5 minutes!" Dotty said as she flew up the stairs.

Amanda took Lee's hands in her own and looked at their rings.

"I'm sorry I did that without talking to you about it first. I just didn't see another way and I couldn't let her think you were a bad person. Are you mad?"

Lee smiled a crooked smile at Amanda.

"No, I'm not mad. I do wish that maybe I had a head's up that this was even a possibility but I'm not mad. I'm actually happy it's out in the open. At least with your mother." Lee thought for a moment. "But man! She missed her calling. She would have been a FANTASTIC interrogator! I was scared out of my mind!"

Amanda shushed Lee.

"Trust me….I know" Amanda whispered back and began to pour herself a glass of water.

Dotty came bounding down the stairs. She looked beautiful in her royal blue dress and drop pearl earrings. Lee kissed her hand and offered her his arm.

"After dinner, we can come back here and have some dessert." Dotty said. " I made a special dessert today while I was trying to figure out what to do with all my pent-up energy."

"Oh really? What did you make?" Amanda said as she took a sip of water.

"It's a recipe I got a few years ago. It's called Pilgrim's Peach Puff!"

Amanda spit out her water and began to choke and cough. Lee's face dropped into disbelief as he looked to Amanda who was standing by the sink choking.

"Amanda, are you alright?" Dotty exclaimed as she grabbed the kitchen towel and handed it to her.

Amanda coughed a few more times. "Fine…..fine. Water just went down the wrong way. Sounds delicious, Mother" she said through coughs.

"Yeah, it sure does" Lee said with a glint in his eye as he smiled at Amanda and led his now official mother-in-law out the door.

"Of ALL the things for her to make…." Amanda muttered to herself.

Amanda grabbed her purse off the counter and shut off the overhead lights. The light over the sink remained on and made the diamond in Amanda's ring sparkle. She stood there for a moment and just admired the ring on her finger. She was hoping she would now get to wear it more often.

"Amanda, are you coming?" Dotty called from the driveway.

"Yup! On my way" she replied as she exited the kitchen and closed the door.