§ § § -- April 13, 1998
It was a very happy Annie Johnston who alighted from the car the following morning, with Randall Heidema beside her. In the next car were the other Johnstons, still distinctly subdued, but much more gracious. In fact, Fourth said to Roarke in confidence, "I think I was secretly waiting for Annie to give us hell, you know? I never thought it'd happen, but I'm glad it finally did. We deserved it."
Annie overheard. "You sure did," she said tartly, but they all laughed, and one by one the Johnstons shook hands with Roarke and Leslie and headed for the plane. Once they were gone, she beamed at Randall. "You know something? We were out at dinner last evening, just the two of us, and Mother and Dad came into the restaurant and started giving him the third degree. He answered their questions politely, but when they started getting personal, he stood right up to them and told them to back off. Now here's a guy who's got a lot to teach me—and it's really encouraging to know he's on my side."
"Yeah, well…" Randall said, shrugging uncomfortably. "I'm not so sure I was as tactful as I could've been. At least, not with your brother and sister."
"Why?" Leslie asked with interest.
Randall turned red, but Annie grinned. "Leah wanted to know what he does for a living, and Randall said he's a firefighter. Then she started carrying on about how she thinks it takes them too long to rescue burn victims and it's left to the doctors to patch them up, and he told her she was perfectly welcome to run into the next burning house and rescue them herself, since she thought the firefighters weren't very good at it. That shut her up." She giggled and wrapped her arms around Randall from one side.
"It gets worse," Randall confessed, staring resignedly skyward. "Her brother actually asked us when we were planning on having kids, and we just stared at him. He pressed his advantage and said he might be willing to smooth a boy's way into college or something, if we gave him the right name. And I just got fed up…so I told him, 'Not if it means we have to call him Fifth.' "
Roarke and Leslie burst out laughing and shook hands with Annie and Randall, wishing them good luck, and watched them stroll to the plane dock each with an arm wrapped securely around the other. "I think that girl's gonna be all right," Leslie said cheerfully. "And I'm really glad."
"Quite so," said Roarke, still chuckling. "It just goes to show that it's best to be yourself: there will always be someone out there who responds positively to that." They waved at Randall and Annie one last time, then smiled at each other with satisfaction.
