Chapter Three:
Amanda, What Did You Do Now?
Here it was the last day of their cruise and it was time to head out to leave the ship, Lee and Amanda gathered their bags in the hallway. Not having too many pieces of luggage, they decided to forgo a purser and handle their bags themselves.
"Oh damn!" Lee groaned when they were on deck. Most people were gone. They'd both awakened early that morning unable to sleep and found themselves in one another's arms making love a few times before falling back to sleep, only to awaken with little time to shower and leave the ship.
"What is it?" Amanda asked, turning towards Lee.
"I think I left my comb."
"Your comb?" Amanda laughed, knowing which comb he was referring to, the little black one with a few teeth missing. It was the comb he was so adamant about her retrieving that time he was in the hospital a few years back. If he lost THAT comb, it would be good riddance. "Are you sure? I checked the room thoroughly myself before we left and I didn't see anything."
"I was using it just before we left. I thought I put it in my pocket; it must've fallen out," Lee said, checking his pockets. "I'll go back and check the room."
"Okay, I'll just wait right here," Amanda said gesturing towards a nearby lounge chair and took hold of the luggage Lee had in his hands and rested them against an adjacent chair. "Are you sure you don't want to go back with me?" Lee asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. I'll be fine."
Lee pursed his lips and smiled at Amanda. "Please try to stay out of trouble. I will only be a minute."
"What trouble could I possibly get into in a few minutes?"
"Amanda, that's what I keep asking myself. I'm sure if there's a way for you to get in trouble, you'll find it." Lee said chuckling, feeling the glare of Amanda's eyes upon him as he headed back up the stairs towards their room. As he walked down the corridor, Lee reflected on his and Amanda's time away on the ship celebrating their wedding. Their week had been nothing but pleasurable, well except for one thing-the recurring thought Lee kept having that they would find some trouble or worse yet that trouble would find them or more specifically-find Amanda. But so far so good, he thought as he unlocked the door. He entered the cabin and looked around for the comb. Finding the comb easily by the closet door, he perused the room one last time, having seen nothing else he left and walked back towards Amanda.
Their days were full of activities; swimming, gambling, and with a little prompting, they did a spa day, and Amanda got her hair done. They went ashore and visited the shops, went dancing and enjoyed many moonlit nights walking around the deck and boy, did they eat well! But it was the evenings and the mornings of time spent together in one another's arms that he would treasure the most. He knew that once they returned home, married life with two boys and a live-in mother-in-law was going to affect their time together, so he'd made sure their time together was memorable. He knew that they'd figure things out; find their rhythm, but still, it was nice being alone these past seven days. Lee was rounding the stairs and was almost near the spot where he'd left Amanda, when he saw her running towards him, screaming out his name as she did so.
"Lee! Lee!" Amanda flung herself against Lee's body.
"Amanda, what is it?" Lee asked, pulling away far enough so he could get a good look at her face. "Are you okay?"
"Yes! Yes!" She acknowledged. "Look! Look over there."
Lee looked towards where Amanda pointed. "Amanda, what's that?"
"It's a body—a dead body!" Amanda sputtered.
"I can see it's a body. Where did it come from?"
"It fell from up there!" Amanda quaked, motioning above her head towards the lifeboats, quivering as she leaned in against Lee's chest.
"Whose corpse is it, is what I want to know?" Lee persisted, pulling Amanda against his chest for a moment before letting her go so that the two of them could move closer towards the dead body.
The body was on its side, backside toward Amanda and Lee. Using his foot, Lee turned the body forward until the body was on its back. "Wait, Amanda, isn't that Mr. Pinkerton, the man from the other night?" Lee asked with disdain in his voice.
"Oh yeah, that nice Mr. Pinkerton!"
"Ugh! Nice!" Lee replied.
"I thought he was nice."
"He seemed too—"
"Too what?"
"Too talkative."
"He did talk a lot but, oh no!" Amanda groaned.
"What is it?" Lee asked as he turned, looking up to see the dark-haired captain walking towards them. "Oh, hell!" Lee muttered beneath his breath. "I guess I spoke too soon."
"Too soon? Too soon for what?" Amanda asked bewildered.
"I'll explain later," Lee whispered. The captain did not seem to like Amanda and Lee from the first day they arrived on the ship. Lee swore that he was friendly to everyone but them. Even Amanda, who usually saw the good in other people, noticed it as well.
"Mr. and Mrs. Stetson!" The captain addressed them.
"Captain Michaels," Lee acknowledged.
"Hello!" Amanda replied.
"Do you want to explain what happened here?"
"Explain? We don't know anything about this-this body," Lee answered gesturing towards the dead man."
"Are you sure?" Michaels questioned.
"What exactly are you trying to imply?" Lee asked.
"Didn't I see Mrs. Stetson dancing with the gentleman the other night and later the two of you in a heated discussion?
"Heated? We were only talking about," Lee paused. What were they talking about?
"We were just talking about the government," Lee answered finally.
"The government?" Michaels questioned.
"You see, because of my husband's work, Lee can become very passionate when talking about how the government runs things," Amanda finished lamely.
"And what is it you said you do again?" Michaels asked looking pointedly at Lee. "Something to do with making movies, I believe you said." Doubt in his voice.
"Yes, film documentaries, government film documentaries," Lee confirmed.
"Well, I couldn't help but notice how Mr. Pinkerton, was observing your wife and you well…didn't seem too happy about it," the captain said. "So, I think we're going to have to take you two in for questioning…"
"Questioning?" Lee and Amanda asked at the same time.
"For what?" Lee questioned.
"We didn't do anything," Amanda answered.
"Well, I beg to differ," Michaels replied stepping forward to grab Lee and Amanda.
"Take your hands off my wife!" Lee thundered pushing at the hand that was upon Amanda.
"Amanda! Amanda!" Lee screamed out.
"Lee!" Amanda called out coming down the stairs carrying two photo albums in her hands. "Lee! Wake up!" Amanda said placing the two albums down on the coffee table, shaking her husband gently.
"What the—" Lee said sitting straight up on the couch.
"Are you okay?" Amanda asked sitting next to Lee.
"Yes," Lee murmured as he scanned the room. "What time is it and where is everyone?" Lee asked.
"It's eleven o'clock. Mother is out shopping, and the boys are still at their sleepover. Billy and Francine will be here any moment." At Lee's confused look, Amanda continued. "Don't you remember they were coming over this morning, to look at the pictures from the cruise?"
"Oh, yeah, that's right," Lee answered, while he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"What was your dream about anyway?" Amanda asked beginning to sit; only to stand back up as the doorbell rang.
Lee began to answer, but stopped instead, as he stood up and straightened his clothes and tucked his shirt into his pants.
"Good morning," Billy said walking into the room with Francine directly behind him. "Scarecrow! You look a wreck, man!"
Amanda motioned for them to sit down.
"Oh, it's nothing, I just, uh I was sitting on the couch reading, and I must've fallen asleep, and I had this dream."
"Lee, what were you dreaming about so intently?" Francine asked with a smirk sitting down in a chair.
"Did you have THAT dream again?" Amanda asked, ignoring Francine.
"What dream?" Billy asked.
"Well, he's been having this dream where—"
"Amanda, it's more like a nightmare," Lee corrected.
"We're still on our cruise," Amanda continued.
"And, Amanda finds a dead body on the last day."
"Sounds like real life!" Francine piped in.
"He had the dream," Amanda continued in spite of Francine's comment, "a lot on the ship. Lee didn't get much sleep," Amanda said, only to regret her words, a blush falling across her face.
"Amanda, ooh, tell us all the details."
"Francine, not because of us, oh, us, oh you know—" The flush growing even more prevalent. Of course, they didn't get much sleep because of that too. Amanda thought to herself. "But I thought they'd stop once we got back."
"Well, they did, until, well-" Lee said running his fingers through his hair.
Billy and Francine looked from one another. "Until what?" Billy asked.
"Until-" Amanda answered with a smile. "Oh my gosh, where are my manners, did you want something to drink?"
"I'm fine," Billy replied.
"Amanda, can I have some coffee and do you by any chance have any leftover brownies, the ones you made the other day?" Francine asked.
"I have a few, the ones that I hid from the boys."
Amanda stepped away to retrieve the offered food.
"It's your fault, Francine!" Lee said.
"My fault? What's my fault?"
"The dreams. Before we left, you put the thought in my head that because we went on the same cruise ship as the one, we went on when we had to pretend to be married, that some calamity was going to happen."
Francine smiled taking one of the brownies from the tray along with a cup of coffee. "These are so good, Amanda!"
"Thanks, Francine!" Amanda sat down next to Lee.
"You're sure nothing interesting happened on the cruise?" Billy asked, taking a brownie as well. "I mean nothing newsworthy?"They'd already filled them in on most of the details last week, just after they got back. He was quite surprised himself that he hadn't received a call while they were a way to say they'd run up against some crime. He was, of course, pleasantly happy but surprised.
"Then why are you having these dreams now?" Francine questioned.
"I don't know."
"But you've been home for over a week now," Billy said.
"I think it has to do with the house hunting," Amanda answered causing Lee to groan.
"House hunting?" Billy and Francine asked in unison.
"Yeah, you know, we haven't found anything yet," Amanda answered.
"How long have you been at it?" Francine asked.
"We looked a little after we got married and up until we went on our cruise so about three months now."
"Oh, that's no time," Billy said. "It took Jeanine and me about six months to find a house."
"Yeah, it can take a while to find the right house," Amanda said. "I told you, Lee, that it took Joe and me nearly a year to find our house."
"I just didn't think it would take us so long," Lee lamented.
"What is the problem?" Francine asked, clearly clueless in this conversation.
"Well, the house is either too small, no yard, basement but no second floor, second floor but no place for the laundry, kitchen but no dining room," Amanda rambled off.
"How does she do that?" Francine questioned provoking a smile from Billy.
"Or it's too big!" Amanda continued as she glanced Francine's way.
"How can a house be too big?" Francine asked, thinking about how many pairs of shoes she has and her clothes wardrobe. She'd love a little more room in her condo.
"That's what I keep asking," Lee responded.
"If the house is too large, we'll find ways to add more stuff to the house. Believe me with three men in the house and my mom; it'll be full of clutter before you know it."
"Lee, I'm afraid Amanda's right," Billy said. "Take it from me, I know from experience."
"At this rate, I think I would prefer to be back on the cruise. Maybe we would find a dead body."
"What?" Amanda questioned nudging Lee in the rib.
"You know what I mean. Anything would be better than this house search."
"What I don't understand though," Billy began, "is why you would dream about the cruise, now? The house hunting and the cruise are totally unrelated."
"You know how it is, you go to bed, and you just dream something, something that isn't related to anything you were even thinking about…" Amanda concurred.
"Yeah, Amanda's right," Francine added, "like my dream where I am—oh, never mind," Francine paused. "Amanda, I'll have to tell you about that one in private."
"Anyway, that's why I haven't been sleeping too well," Lee commented.
"Well, I'm sure you two will find something soon."
"There was this one house we fell in love with," Amanda said.
"Yeah, it was over on Oak and Birchwood, but it was out of our price range," Lee said.
"But Lee wanted to check it out anyway."
"It was amazing, had everything we wanted, but there was no way we could afford it."
"Yeah, don't you just hate that, it's kind of like the time I wanted this dress," Francine said.
"Francine!" Billy retorted.
Lee laughed.
"So, how about those photos?" Amanda asked.
An hour and a half later, the adults having finished looking at the photos were immersed in conversation when the boys bustled through the back door.
"Mom! Lee!" Philip and Jamie said running into the house.
"Boys, where are your manners?" Amanda asked.
"Hi, Mr. Melrose!" Philip said.
"Ms. Desmond!" Jamie said.
"We think we've found the perfect house," beamed Philip.
"It's just around the corner, near our friend Jimmy's house," Jamie said.
"We got the number to the real estate agent."
Lee and Amanda looked towards one another.
"Well, we could at least check it out," Lee offered.
"What could it hurt." Amanda agreed.
Two months later, after all the paperwork was done for the closing on the new house, Amanda and Lee lay quietly in their bed snuggled in one another's arms. They were exhausted yet happily content. Once they found the house, Lee's nightmares finally went away. It had been a busy day getting the last of the boxes moved over and unpacked. Over the course of the week, they'd driven over several boxes and each night after work emptied some of them. Today, the main furniture was brought over along with the last remaining boxes. Lee wanted to hire someone to unpack for them, but Amanda convinced him it was more practical for each person, including the boys, to help out. Dotty and the boys were down the hall in their rooms; while Amanda and Lee lay comfortably in their room.
"Lee?"
"Yes?" Lee responded stifling a yawn.
"Now that we have the house, I was wondering whether or not," Amanda paused.
"Yes, Amanda?"
"Whether or not we should talk to Mr. Melrose now or wait til later," Amanda pondered.
"Talk to Billy about, oh, about-"
"Yeah, about what would happen if we decided to have a baby?" Amanda finished.
"Are you ready for that conversation?" Lee questioned.
"I am, but only if you still—"
"No, I still want to. I want to make sure you are-well sure."
"I'm sure."
"Then I'm sure."
"Then tomorrow we talk to Mr. Melrose?" Amanda questioned yawning herself. It had indeed been a very long day.
"Yes, and Amanda?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you!"
"And I love you, Lee!"