Chapter 3

TOWN AND NOT SO LITTLE 'WHITE LIES'

Jacob and Elaine were quite proud of their last shelter feast. With Jerry's approval, they used the last packages of steak in the freezer and served it cooked to perfection over an open flame. Elaine made rolls from scratch, potatoes were baked in the oven and the vegetables gently sautéed, always a shelter favorite. When Jethro and Pete walked in with the gallons of ice cream, Elaine beamed at them. "Now, how wonderful is that? I made berry pies and that will top it off perfectly!"

She smiled again when she saw the smaller container for Jimmy and Eileen, "Good. I made a special dish for them, berry pie without the crust, using that natural sweetener they both like."

The dinner was a huge success with most of the group so full they had to wait to eat their pie. They walked on the cork path and the treadmills or rode the stationary bikes. Jethro, who was on the cork path with Tim, Geo, and Tony, laughed, "We're going to have to share the fitness room with the Returnees or we'll get as fat as one of Nick's pigs!" At home in Tahlequah, Nick Bishop raised pigs as a member of the global 4H Youth Organization.

Geo thought about that, "We could move the fitness center up to the basement."

"Maybe but your wife and brother have me working on planter boxes for down there, planning on a larger indoor garden."

Tony frowned, "Why indoors? I thought we were clean, I mean the land."

Tim nodded, "Numbers are very low, yes, but we won't know where the produce and fruit we buy at the store is grown or the plants at the nursery. Bec says seeds and plants have to come from certified clean growers and it will take time for growers to be certified by the state Agricultural Department. It'll be easier to keep growing our own for now. We'll use the seeds from what we've already harvested and Mom brought seed packets from Virginia. Next year we might plant outside, but this year Bec wants to control it."

Geo told them about renting a beehive to get things pollinated. Tony shook his head, "That is too weird. How do you rent a beehive? Call Rent-A-Center?"

They chuckled at that and Geo explained how and why beehive rentals had started.

Their father snorted, "Somewhere my grandfather Gibbs is turning over in his grave. He was a beekeeper and proud of it. And he was never stung, not once."

They came to an abrupt halt as a giggling naked Lia ran smack into her Uncle Tony. Tim shook his head, "She's ahead of her sister; Brynie was nearly 30 months before she went streaking."

Picking her up, he grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her and caught up to the others. As he and Lia reached them, he heard Dad telling the story of Brynie's naked run down their block here in Albuquerque.

Geo stared at Tim, "Aren't you afraid she's going to wet on you?"

"Nope, she'll let me know if she has to go."

"She's only a year old!"

"Almost 13 months now and I don't know whether she wants to keep up with her siblings or if she's just a very together child, but she started her own potty training."

"Isn't she heavy?"

"Not that heavy! Haven't you ever walked with weights?"

"Not a baby!"

Tim, Tony and Dad snorted and Tim huffed at his older brother, "You will, Geo, promise! Here, take Lia for a minute. Ellie says she's about the same weight that our unborn child feels like."

Geo took Lia, giving her a big kiss and enjoying her squeal. "Yikes, she's not all that heavy but she is squirmy."

"And so are babies inside Mommy's womb."

"Wow. Don't tell Bec, ok? Don't want to scare her."

They finished their walk and Tim took Lia to the toilet where her little potty seat was waiting. Successful, she grinned at her daddy, who returned the grin and cleaned her up, washing their hands with NoAgua before returning to the nursery. Ellie was there and sighed when they walked in. "There you are, you little rascal!"

"She decided to have a naked walk with us."

Together they went through her nightly routine and tiptoed out as she was the last nursery resident to go down for the night.

Then they joined the rest of the gang for their pie and ice cream. Jimmy and Eileen were so happy with their desserts they hugged both Elaine and Jacob. "Thank you so much for everything!"

"You're welcome. Now, we left copies of the recipes we've made for you so anyone can make them for you. Or you can make them yourselves."

She, Jacob and Pete said goodbye to everyone that evening as the trio planned to leave by 5 AM. Their suitcases and belongings were already in the RV, they each had overnight bags. Remembering that one of the shelter couches was a sofa bed, they'd taken their mattress up to the RV that afternoon, took the mattress out of the sofa bed that evening and put it on the platform bed Steve Ortiz, a man they'd still not met, made for them.

They hoped to leave before anyone was awake but later realized they should have known better. At least half their shelter mates were up and escorted the three to the RV, hugging and kissing each one of them. Luckily, it was chilly out so nobody lingered. Jethro, Shannon and Tobias were the last holdouts, waving them off the property.

The two old friends stood watching at the gate as their taillights disappeared down Quail Hill Road.

"Routes are all safe. No hot spots."

"Long drive. A lot of switching between interstates."

"Pete knows the way. KOAs they'll be staying in have good reviews, Tim checked."

"Glad Pete's with them."

"They promised to call every night."

Sighing, they returned to the warmth of the shelter and their last ever pot of coffee made by their friend Elaine.

The rest of that day felt like it was going to be mindlessly busy with one thing or another and Jethro thought that might be a good thing. The company helping with their LLC called to tell them their filing would be finalized on Monday. They were advised not to purchase anything until they received and reviewed a kit with all the necessary information. It was on its way via FedEx.

Ginny Slater borrowed the ranch vacuum cleaner and cleaning supplies to start cleaning her new home, daughters Alissa, Breena and Colleen went with her. They'd found a gardener trained to safely remove fallout and he was meeting them at the house. Tim and Jimmy also planned to be there, which Ed thought was funny.

"Trust me; Ginny doesn't take crap from anyone and she sees right through anyone trying to cheat her. And worse, she'll put you to work!"

"Ok, ok, we get the message."

Instead, the two decided to take the kids out for some fun. They made lunches and loading up the children, including most of the teenagers and drafting Uncles Jim, Rob, John, George, Jim, Tony, Bob and Geo, drove into town to the BioPark.

It was cold today so they started inside the Aquarium where they spent two hours visiting every living thing. As the Botanic Garden was closed with a note saying they were cleaning up the damage from fallout, they headed for the Rio Line, one of the park's two train lines, and traveled to the zoo. Ty and Brynie were fascinated by the train and asked if they could ride again after the zoo. The other train line, the Thunderbird Express ran a loop through the zoo every 30 minutes so the answer was yes.

They had a wonderful time at the zoo, watching the animals being fed, playing and sometimes putting on a little show for their visitors. There was a printed notice at one habitat that said the bears who lived there had been evacuated from the National Zoo.

Jimmy had to keep tight hold of Teddy who tried several times to get closer to 'his' animals. Lia and Ricky rode in a double stroller next to Zoey and Zach's double stroller but the little ones saw plenty of the animals as their fathers, uncles or in the twins' case, brother and uncles, held them up at each habitat.

When they were at last satisfied that they'd visited all the animals, birds and reptiles, they walked to the Africa Station and hopped on the Thunderbird Express for their 30-minute ride through the zoo. They had to leave the strollers behind but the littles were just as happy sitting on laps where they could see more. The kids watched avidly, calling out their favorite animals and habitats as the train chugged by them. By the time they were done, they were hungry and reclaiming the strollers, made their way back to the Aquarium where they'd parked. They'd eat in the large cafeteria. After settling the kids, two of the adults ran back to the cars to get the lunches. Back inside, they found Uncle Jim treating everyone to hot chocolates and they warmed up.

While Arin, Lia and Ricky were fine, Zach and Zoey were a little fussy by now, the longest they'd been away from their foster parents since they first joined the Vances. Big brother Jared was perfectly acceptable until they wanted their Mama. With Lia and Ricky asleep in the stroller, it was time to go home.

Back home, the moms made the most of the absence of kids and husbands, mostly just relaxing. Ellie sat in her favorite chair, in their room in the house and read a book. By herself, for a whole hour. Then she took a nap and slept uninterrupted for another hour. When she woke, she walked down to the shelter and helped herself to a piece of pie, warmed up in the microwave and topped with yummy ice cream. Shannon joined her, "Better have your favorite antacid handy."

Ellie nodded as she looked around before licking the plate. "I know but it was worth it. Every single morsel."

"I'm making you something for after the baby, want to come see?"

"Sure!"

She followed her mother-in-law to the library and then gasped as several people yelled, "Surprise!" She rolled her eyes at Breena, sitting next to Ginny, Alyssa and Colleen, all smiling smugly at her. Cleaning indeed!

Her mom grinned at her, "Happy Baby Shower!"

"Wow! I had…this is so cool!"

"We'll have another one when the boys and kids are all here but this one is for you, Eleanor Rose."

"Okay?"

She understood when she started opening gifts that were very personal: post-baby lingerie and clothes, products for her skin and hair. Comfortable but stylish clothing. A gift certificate for a day at a local spa. A promise to take the kids for the weekend. Another gift certificate, this one for a popular hair salon in town.

"Oh, this is wonderful, thank you all so much!"

Jazzy handed her a package, saying, "Don't open this until the baby's two or three months old and Tim's going out of his mind."

Ellie giggled, "All right."

Barbara handed her another package, "And this is from Elaine, it's just for you. She hoped to be here but that didn't work out."

It was a pan of butterscotch brownies, Ellie's favorite. She took a bite of one and moaned - it was that good. She eyed the other women and quickly wrapped the pan back up as they laughed at her. "Elaine gave us a plate so we wouldn't steal yours. And those are not for Tim or the kids, they're yours, all yours."

"Yummy - I need to hide them!"

Shannon grinned, "Find a big box of tampons or sanitary pads, empty it out and slide the pan in. Double wrap it in foil first and put a vanilla candle near the box to dilute the smell. Trust me, they'll be perfectly safe."

Lara chuckled, "Oh yes, no danger there!"

The younger women giggled, "This is very useful information!"

"No telling!"

"We promise!"

They had chips, salsa and 7-layer bean dip and everyone dug in. Ellie quickly broke out the antacids and reported they'd done the trick - as she reached for another chip.

Jethro and Tobias worked on the raised planting beds and baby furniture all morning and were mystified when they went into the shelter for lunch and found it empty. No kids in the playroom, which was very strange. Frowning, Jethro pulled his phone out, smiled and showed Tobias the photos he'd received from his sons who had apparently taken all the kids to BioPark. Great idea and he bet the mamas were enjoying their leisure.

With a grin, Jethro motioned to Tobias and they took their sandwiches and chips up into the house. Tobias sat while Jethro disappeared, returning with two cold bottles of beer.

"Oh my God, I forgot alcohol still existed! Where'd you stash these?"

Jethro shook his head, "Not telling you!"

"Fine, be like that. Thanks for the brew."

They drank slowly and when the bottles were empty Tobias said, "Can't believe it but I'm buzzed. On one beer!"

Jethro just nodded, he felt the same way. Deciding they were done with furniture making for a few hours, they went for a walk, bundling up, as it was a blustery day. That quickly chased away their buzzes and they had a brisk walk that lasted about 10 minutes when, without exchanging a word they turned and quick walked back to the house.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

When Shannon asked about churches in town, her husband conferred with Tim and Ellie and the four of them, Mac and the three children piled into the van to attend services at the church Jethro and Tim went to three years ago. They'd asked the others but everyone had plans. Tim drove; halfway there he pulled off the road.

"Dad, we're the Hulls here, Mark, Brian, Thomas and Brinley. Both of us are widowers."

"Forgot about that."

Shannon made a noise, "Use your undercover story and introduce me as Patricia Hull, your wife. If they're nosy, we'll tell them we got married when you left here, we renewed our vows then, close enough."

Tim sighed, "That works except for one thing."

"What's that?"

Mac chuckled, "Me, daughter. If I'm your father and you and Mark have only been married for three years, why do Brian and the kids look just like me?"

"Oops!"

"I can be McKenzie Hull, how's that? I'll be Mark's dad instead of yours."

"That works, Grandpa, thanks!"

Tim turned to look at the kids. "Ty, are you all right with being Thomas for an hour or so?"

"Sure, Daddy."

He looked at Brynie who smiled, showing the gap where her baby teeth were falling out. "I don't remember my pretend name, Daddy."

"Brinley."

"That's easy! What about Lia and Mommy?"

Ellie chuckled, "We get to keep our names, Bryn. Lia wasn't born yet and your daddy and I got married after you lived here."

"Oh! I remember our wedding, I wore my cowgirl boots!"

"Yes, you did."

Tyler leaned forward to touch his dad's head, "Ok Daddy, we're all set."

"Thanks, son." Tim eased the van back into traffic and they continued to the church. Once there, he parked and helped Ellie out while Dad, Mom, and Mac got out with the kids, holding Lia.

They made it into the church without seeing anyone who looked familiar. Walking up the aisle, Tim caught a couple of puzzled glances, as if people were trying to figure out why they looked familiar. Dad entered a pew about halfway up and they put the kids in between Mac and Ellie. Tim looked at his watch nervously, three minutes before the service would start.

He'd started to relax a little when the boy in front of Mac turned around and grinned in surprise at Ty. "Thomas! Hi!" The kid yanked at his mother's arm, "Mom, it's Thomas and Brin; they used to be in day-care with me!"

The mother turned around and Tim recognized her as yep, one of the day-care mommies. She stared at him and then Ellie. He smiled at her and shifted Lia who was playing with his ear. She turned the other way and stared at Dad who smiled and went back to looking through the hymnal.

The woman started to turn around again, looking at Mac and then at Tim and the kids. Tim ignored her as Lia was now trying to climb over his shoulder. He whispered to her, asking her to be good, she made a face and then patted his cheek, nodding. After that, she contented herself with looking over his shoulder at people, flirting outrageously. Tim and Ellie, very much aware of their daughter's shenanigans, had a hard time keeping their laughter to themselves. Finally, Tim lowered her to his chest where she played with his jacket buttons.

In the meantime, the service started and Lia had to see who was talking. When they sang, she clapped her hands and did a decent job of singing along although she didn't know the words. When she squirmed to get down, Tim sent a mental SOS to his parents and Mom leaned forward motioning to him. Lia was passed along, stopping with a kiss for each person, until she came to Nonny. From there she went to Poppy who thankfully was at the end of the row. He finally took her out of the nave, Lia pouting the entire way.

When the service was over, they joined Dad and Lia in the vestibule. She beamed at them, ready to be an angel again. Ellie took her but at 7 months pregnant, holding onto a squirmy 1-year old was difficult at best. Tim quickly scooped her up and finding a quiet space near the stairs to the choir loft, let her down. She squealed and took off but he'd anticipated that and had her back in his arms before she got more than a foot away from him. Calling to his father, he used his head to gesture to the van but it was too late, the minister had spotted them. "Mark, Brian, it's wonderful to see you again! I can't believe how much Thomas and Brinley have grown. How old are you now?"

Ty smiled, "I'm 7."

Bryn grinned, "I'm almost 6!"

"My goodness, you're all grown up! And who are these lovely people with you?"

Dad spoke up, "Reverend Miller, I'd like you to meet my wife, Patricia and my dad, McKenzie. And Brian's wife, Ellie, their daughter Lia and the new little one is little Mac."

"After great-granddad, that's wonderful! Congratulations to you and welcome to our congregation. Mark and Brian are fine men as I'm sure you know. Have you moved back here?"

Ty frowned, "We're evacuees. Our house got bombed."

"Oh my heavens, I'm so sorry, that must have been an awful ordeal getting out. Thank the Lord you're safe and unharmed. Did you shelter here?"

"Yes, we stayed in a family shelter outside of town."

"Oh, the Ortizes, yes I heard about their huge shelter. I'm thankful you stayed in touch with them."

Ellie put her hand on Brynie's shoulder so she wouldn't correct the man. Tim smiled, "Reverend, if you'll excuse us, Ellie's not supposed to stand for long."

"Oh certainly, by all means, get her someplace comfortable. Next time you come, we have a nursery where Miss Lia can stay during services if you'd like."

"Great, thanks, we didn't realize!"

Smiling at people who were still standing around talking, Tim got his family out of there fast.

When they were all in the van, Tim said, "We can't go back there unless we tell him our real names. We can go with the undercover bit. Ty and Brynie are going to start school in town; how is that kid going to react when he finds out Thomas is really Ty?"

Dad nodded, "All right, we'll tell him."

Tim shook his head, "Know what I kept remembering? Us counting all the people we'd invite for the farewell barbecue we never had and Tony asking us if we really knew that many people. Idiots!"

"Timothy, how on earth could you have foreseen this situation?"

"We bought the ranch, Grandpa. Never gave a thought to anyone recognizing us."

"Because it was for vacations, son. You haven't done anything wrong. Stick with the classified case."

"You're right."

Hungry, they decided to have lunch out, finding a restaurant neither Dad nor Tim remembered. As they sat down, Tim smiled, "I bet Nancy will have the new diner in Taos open soon!"

Dad's face lit up, "I forgot, thanks for reminding me we're not out of great diner options."

Mom was happy too, "Jethro, remember we agreed on a longer trip to Taos before all this craziness started." She looked at the others, "We sneaked away for a couple of days while we were working on the house."

"Sneaked away from who? Tobias?"

"Yes. He said he understood but here it was our house and he was helping."

Dad shook his head, "His house too, Shan, he owns part of it."

She nodded, "Right. When are we going?"

Ellie shrugged, "Have to check with Nancy."

Tim thought about it, "It would be fun to be there for her Grand Opening and I bet she has that on a Saturday. That's less than three hours' drive." He turned to his wife, "Sweetie, you think you could handle that all right?"

She smiled, "Yes, as long as we go in the next few weeks. The sibs might want to go too."

"Yours or mine?"

She chuckled, "I was thinking of yours but we can ask mine if they'd like to go too."

Tim laughed at the look his father tried to hide. "Hey, she's our friend too, I knew her first! If you two want some time to yourselves, go during the week. Ellie's not going to be mobile for too much longer."

Mom nudged Dad with her elbow, "He forgets he's retired now, we can go anytime."

"Not while you're still teaching."

"Mm, we'll see about that."

Brynie looked up, "Us kids too, Daddy?"

"Of course, Sweet Pea!"

Ty nudged his sister, "Maybe we can go to that toy store again!"

Her eyes lit up, "Where we got to play with everything? I remember that! Mommy, Daddy, can we stay in the cabin again?"

"You two remember that?"

Ty answered, "Sure, that was my first ever flashlight!"

Tim thought his first flashlight was later at Ruidoso but didn't say anything.

Brynie added, "I think I remember and Ty told me about it."

"We'll talk about the cabins and where we'll stay later, kids, all right? First, we need to find out when Nancy is opening her new place."

"Ok."

Their meals were fine although not up to Elaine, Jacob or Nancy standards. Afterward they went home.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Tim called Nancy, who was excited to hear from her friend and to be told they wanted to be at her Grand Opening, which was scheduled for the following weekend. After the call, he and Ellie spent a few minutes looking online for kid-friendly places to stay in Taos and decided that once again the best value for the money and the easiest place with young children was the Taos Creek Cabins.

When Ellie called to make the reservation, she mentioned they were a repeat customer from three years ago. That earned them a discount and when the reservations clerk looked up the previous record, she noted an address in Virginia.

"Ma'am, I see the previous address listed was Alexandria VA. Are you by chance evacuees?"

"Yes, we are. Our family and friends left on our own the day after the government evacuation started and we sheltered in Albuquerque."

"Oh my goodness, all of you together? You weren't part of that huge caravan with the moving trucks and cars, were you? Thank heavens you made it out safely. And I am so sorry for your losses; it's hard enough to deal with for those of us not directly involved."

"Thank you; we're doing all right, our family is mostly all together and that's what matters, that and making sure everyone else is also recovering. And yes, that caravan was ours. We brought a lot of our personal belongings and furniture, knew we'd need our cars for after - now. Everyone we know got out safely although there are a couple of family members we haven't seen yet, one ended up in Belize and the other in San Francisco. Our friends, neighbors, and co-workers are all scattered. But we're alive and they caught the bastards - that's the important thing."

"It's wonderful to hear your positive attitude. Now, you may not be aware of this but we're offering one night free for all evacuees with a voucher for one of our local restaurants. In fact, the voucher we have is for a diner that's opening next weekend, perfect timing, and the owner is also an evacuee! She and her family are the ones spearheading the Evacuee Welcome Special."

Ellie debated whether to mention their connection with Nancy, deciding to wait until they checked in. "That's wonderful, thank you so much. Uh, in that case, let me talk with my husband about coming up Friday evening and spending two nights with you."

"Certainly, I'll reserve the cabin for two nights. Please let me know by Thursday if that changes."

"I will; we look forward to our stay!"

When she got off the phone, Tim was right there. "Two nights?"

"One night is free because we're evacuees. And there's a meal voucher for the diner!"

"Cool! That works out great. How early can you leave Friday?"

"We need to work all day, but maybe if we don't take lunch breaks?"

"That's fine for me but little Mac will need a break."

"Then I'll get started a little early."

Tim nodded and grinned at her, "Most of the sibs are going too. Don't know about two nights but they're on for Saturday and an overnight."

"Yours or mine?"

"Some of both. Rob, Ali, Kelly, Sarah, Bob, and Haley are going. Mateo and Geo are working and Bec says they'll visit some other time. The DiNozzos have plans and the Palmers are doing something with the Slaters. However, John and Jazzy are going which also means our kids will have their cousins to play with. George and Eileen said they might go up another weekend, think they want to get away by themselves." He looked at Ellie, "I thought of that too, that you and I could get away for a night or two."

"Why don't we wait until after the baby's born, maybe a couple months old? I'm afraid with everything that's happened the kids will be frightened if we leave. And when we do go, I'd like to be able to enjoy myself. Right now I feel like a mama elephant who's been pregnant for two years and I know the next six weeks are going to get worse." When she saw the look on Tim's face she added, "I'm uncomfortable wherever I am, Tim; I might as well be doing something fun. And I really want to see other scenery."

"All right. I'm glad we'll have another ultrasound tomorrow, our much delayed 20-week checkup!"

She huffed, "You mean our 34-week checkup! I can't wait to see what Little Mac looks like now."