Changed Roles, chapter 15
Lee raked his hand through his hair, sighed deeply, opened his mouth and then closed it before he finally responded to Amanda's question.
"Amanda, we talked about this yesterday, I thought that we agreed that now is not a good time to reveal our marriage."
"Is there ever going to be a good time," Amanda asked as she fingered her wedding set that hung on a chain around her neck. "When I woke up here earlier I was surprised to find myself in bed with you; a married couple should wake up together regularly. I thought that you enjoyed waking up with me snuggled against you."
"I love sharing my bed with you," Lee replied as he took Amanda's hands in his, "I love sharing my life with you but we have to think about the Agency. The Agency-"
"Francine is right," Amanda interrupted as she pulled her hands from his, "the Agency be damned."
"Amanda," he exclaimed in response to her use of harsh language.
"Don't 'Amanda' me; I know what it's like to be married in name only and I shouldn't have agreed to try it again. I want to really be Mrs. Lee Stetson."
"You really are Mrs. Lee Stetson, I'll never regret marrying you, and our wedding day was the happiest day of my life. For the longest time I believed that the Colonel would be the only family I'd ever have but when you became my wife, you and your family became my family. I'll sacrifice whatever I have to in order to keep you all safe and happy. This business cost me my parents, and I won't put our family at risk by openly being a part of it." Amanda could see the sense of loss, pain and fear that Lee was feeling written on his face before he abruptly turned from her and walked across the room to lean against the mantle with his back to her.
"I appreciate your determination to protect all of us but I think that you're failing to consider a very important factor; maybe it's your male ego that's getting in the way of your seeing our situation clearly."
"Male ego," Lee huffed as he spun around to face Amanda. "What does that have to do with my desire to make sure that I don't endanger our family?"
"Your ego may be preventing you from acknowledging that I've been making enemies too, I've spent the past four years right beside you, do you think that the bad guys are concerned about what my official status with the Agency has been? Scarecrow and Mrs. King have quite a reputation and we both have the enemies that come with that reputation. We make a very formidable team and I'd like us to be able to protect our family full time."
"You've made your point but there are other factors to consider too. Are your mother and the boys truly ready to accept me as a full time part of the family," Lee asked with downcast eyes.
"Are you serious? They're more than ready; maybe it's you that isn't ready to make such a drastic change to your lifestyle. I think that you should give that possibility serious thought. It's gotten late; I'm going to work," Amanda advised Lee as she grabbed her coat and hand bag and rushed from the apartment.
"Oh hell," Lee exclaimed as he grabbed his own coat and chased after his wife.