It was the night before Perry and Della left for Maine,

"Perry, are you sure about this? What if a client happens to come while we're gone?" Della asked as Perry smiled,

"Paul and Gertie can handle that and we'll give them our full attention when we return. You and I both know we need the vacation." Della nodded,

"You're right as usual. C'mon let's get some sleep." Perry smiled as Della finished packing her bag for the trip.

The next morning at the airport,

"Alright, Paul. You and your Aunt Gertie make sure that the office doesn't blow up while we're gone." Perry warned with a teasing smile as Paul dropped them off at the airport as Paul chuckled,

"I promise Uncle Perry." Della smiled and kissed Paul's cheek,

"We'll call tonight when we're settled in." Paul hugged his Aunt,

"You two have fun. See you in a week. Love you both." Perry and Della smiled,

"Love you too, Paul." Della said before Paul drove off and they went to check in for their flight.

Jessica Fletcher was a beautiful woman. Not too tall, not too skinny either, the most beautiful golden hair, comforting blue eyes and smile.

It didn't take a stranger too long to feel comfortable in her presence.

Jessica was like Della Street in regard to how she carried herself and how she never drew attention to herself in an unflattering way.

Everyone in Cabot Cove was buzzing with excitement, the news of Perry Mason's arrival spread like wildfire and Jessica couldn't be happier.

"Tonight's going to be amazing, Aunt Jess." Grady Fletcher, Jessica's nephew, commented as he helped get the house ready for the party as Jessica smiled,

"I know, Grady. Can you handle all this while I head to pick up Perry Mason and his secretary from the airport?" Grady nodded and kissed his Aunt's cheek,

"You know I can. Go." Jessica smiled as she left,

"Ooh, good thing we brought warmer clothes with us." Della shivered as they walked out of the airport to look for Jessica's car as Perry chuckled,

"We're certainly not in LA. But it sure is beautiful out here."

Della was about to speak when they heard a car horn as Jessica pulled up and got out as the pair looked at her and walked over,

"Hi, Jessica." Della smiled as the women shook hands and Perry did the same,

"Thanks for the invitation, Jessica." Perry said with a warm smile as they got into the car and Jessica drove away.

"Of course, I know that Della, your receptionist and your private eye are huge fans of my books and we're huge fans of your work in the court room. It only made sense to invite you out here."

Perry and Della smiled, feeling at ease with Jessica – having only met her about 15 minutes ago and could sense that a friendship between the three of them was beginning to build, and no one was upset with this fact.

While they were driving back to Cabot Cove, Leanne Cole and Henry Matthews were having a rather heated argument on Leanne's front porch,

"Henry! You aren't supposed to be here! Go away!" Leanne shouted and shoved him away.

Henry had come to forgive Leanne but she was having none of it.

"Leanne, I love you!" Henry shouted as Leanne scoffed,

"Then why haven't you shown me? Jason's doing a far better job than you." Henry made his move and kissed Leanne as she shoved him away shouting,

"Go away! I don't want to see you ever again!"

Henry left and a few minutes later Leanne had gotten on her bike and made her way over to Jessica's just as she pulled into her driveway with Perry and Della.

"Mrs. Fletcher!" Leanne cried as she ran to Jessica as Jessica hugged her and looked into her eyes seeing the tears and gasped,

"You saw Henry didn't you?" Leanne nodded as Perry and Della made their way to their shared room as Jessica and Leanne talked,

"He kissed me, Mrs. Fletcher." Jessica sighed,

"I know you two were so in love when you were in high school but I don't want to ask what happened, I know it's a rather touchy subject for you." Leanne nodded and looked at her watch and sighed,

"I'm supposed to meet Jason soon. I don't know if I want to." Jessica sighed,

"Go, it'll take your mind off of Henry." Leanne nodded as Jessica gave her some water and a wet cloth to wash her face and left her be for a few minutes.

"What's up with her?" Della asked gently as Jessica walked into the room,

"Leanne had recently broke up with Henry and Henry went to see her and he kissed her. Things haven't been going all that well for the two of them for a good month before Leanne called it off with him. They were my students while I was still teaching at Cabot Cove High, I taught English."

Leanne walked up the steps and went to where she heard the voices as she knocked on the door,

"Alright, I'm heading out Mrs. Fletcher. Thank you." Jessica nodded and motioned Leanne into the room,

"Perry, Della. Meet Leanne Cole. Leanne, you already know who they are." Leanne nodded,

"Pleased to finally meet you both." Leanne said as she left after hugging Jessica, not knowing that Henry had followed her.

"Leanne! There you are darling." Jason Watson said as Leanne walked up to him as he looked to her red puffy eyes,

"You saw Henry didn't you?" Leanne chortled with anger,

"More like he came to see me. There's more. He kissed me, Jason." Jason sighed and hugged Leanne close,

"He was a jerk to you from day one. Forget about him, worry about us." Leanne smiled as Henry looked on and finally decided how to get back at Jason and really any boy that would take Leanne or any future girlfriend away from him.

That night as the party was underway,

"Mr. Mason, Miss Street!" Leanne said as she walked up to them pulling each of them into individual hugs as Della smiled,

"Feeling better, Leanne?" Perry asked with a soft smile as Leanne nodded while Della walked to find Jessica, letting Perry and Leanne talk for a little bit.

"Miss Street, can we talk?" Jason asked as Della nodded,

"Sure, is something bothering you Jason?"

"Leanne, before you and Henry broke up… How much did you love him? Or did you two date because it was expected?" Perry asked as Leanne sighed,

"I think I did love him in the beginning but then his true colors came out and I quickly realized that I didn't love him but continued dating because like you said, it was expected from me."

Perry nodded as Jason began to speak,

"When did you realize that you were in love with Mr. Mason? I've seen the way you two look at each other since we got here." Della blushed,

"From the moment I met him. What about you and Leanne?" Jason smiled,

"Ever since the first time I laid eyes on her."

"Your story sounds rather familiar to me, Leanne. Because that was Miss Street's story before she met me. She was engaged to the most popular boy in her town, she had dated him because she thought he loved her, but like Henry he ended up being very abusive with her, and the night before the wedding she called everything off and came out to LA." Perry said as Leanne looked to Della and Jason,

"That's horrible. How could she have let her fiancé abuse her for that long?" Perry sighed,

"Because she was expected to keep quiet about it. This was a long time ago, Leanne. Things were different." Della sighed,

"I hope things end up well for you and Leanne." Jason nodded as he went to go rejoin Leanne as he walked up to her and kissed her before rejoining the party as Perry and Della watched them as Perry had a sad smile on his face,

"Perry, what's wrong?" Della asked as Perry nodded,

"Leanne's story about her dating Henry. It reminded me of you and Michael." Della drew in a quick breath.

They hardly talked about Michael and to have it brought up in a conversation wasn't good. She didn't like talking about her experience with him. She nodded and spoke cautiously,

"I take it that she experienced what I did with Michael." Perry nodded,

"She did love him at first but then when the abusive behavior started she quickly fell out of love and made her move, which I'm proud of her for doing so – I think Jason's going to take very good care of her."

Perry looked into Della's eyes with a comforting stare as Della nodded – relaxing just a tad.

To a stranger this scene of the wonderful party – looked like a wonderful evening for everyone there.

But that's not entirely so…

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.