Jennie looked at the grimace on her son's face and knew that the comment from his older stepson had hurt him. Amanda was the first to break the awkward silence that had come over the dinner table, "Phillip!" she scolded.

"Nice going, Jerk!" Jamie said elbowing his brother in the ribs.

"Hey, knock it off, Jamie," Lee said sternly.

"But Lee," Jamie protested. "He shouldn't have said that. You're the one who's been here. Our dad only comes around when he feels like it."

"That's enough, Jamie," Lee said before turning his attention back to his older stepson who was still staring at him defiantly. "Look, Phillip, you're mad at me for grounding you, I get that, but you have no idea the hell you put me through. Do you have any clue how scared I was when I went to check on you and you weren't in your bed?"

"You went to check on me?"Phillip said is small voice filling guilty as it was obvious he'd hurt Lee's feelings.

"Yeah, you and your brothers and your sister," Lee answered. "I do that every night. I walk through the house, make sure all the doors and windows are locked, the alarms are set and my children are safe, all my children and that includes you and Jamie. I may not be your father by blood, but I couldn't love you any more if I were. I love you just as much as I love Matt and Jennie. When I went to check on you that night, I thought my worst nightmare had come true, that some enemy that I've made over the last fifteen years had snatched you out of your bed to use you as leverage against me. You have absolutely no idea how terrified I was, how terrified your mother was. I kept expecting to get a call any second making demands, then when I did get a call from that state trooper telling me to come get my kid, then I was just angry. You scared me and your mother half to death and you were just out having a good time."

"Look, I said I'm sorry about the damage I did to your car. It wasn't even all that bad. It was just a busted headlight and a dented fender."

"You don't get it, Phillip! I don't give a damn about the damage to the car. The car can be replaced. You can't! What if you'd gotten hurt or gotten Amy hurt, or worse, killed! Did you even think about that?"

"No, I guess not," Phillip said.

"Well, I did. Until I got that call from the cops, all I could think about was the possibility of you being hurt somewhere. It's my responsibility to protect you. I took on that responsibility when I married your mother and you don't make it easy when you pull a bonehead stunt like you did that night. I'm sorry, Phillip, but if you want to drive that car any time in the future when you're old enough, you're going to have to prove to me that I can trust you."

"You have no room to talk to me about trust," Phillip fired back. "You were married to Mom for six months before you ever told us about it. In fact, the way you and Mom told it, you were engaged before Jamie and I ever met you. If you were taking on such a great responsibility to us, where were you then?"

"Phillip, you-" Amanda began, but Lee silenced her with his hand on hers.

"Amanda, let me, please." When she nodded, he turned his attention back to Phillip. "First of all, we explained to you why we kept our marriage a secret for so long. I thought we had moved past this. We were trying to keep you safe. You know now what we do for a living and how dangerous it is and you said you understood that. Besides that, you have no idea how many times I was at the house just sitting outside watching to make sure you were safe, how many times once your mom and I were married that I turned down out-of-town or weekend assignments just so I could spend time with you and protect my family."

"I get the danger. You've drilled it in my head enough. What you don't get is that I trusted you. I thought you were my friend. You were the first guy Mom ever dated who ever actually took an interest in me and what I liked and not just because you had to, but it was all a lie."

"No, it wasn't. I never lied to you about how I felt about you and your mom and I realized pretty early into our marriage what a mistake it was to keep it a secret. It's just that once the damage was done, it was really hard for us to figure out how to get out of it without hurting the people we loved. You're mad at me because I won't let you forget about the car-stealing incident, but you won't let us forget either. That doesn't seem very fair, does it?"

"I guess not," Phillip said.

"So, then maybe we both need to work on forgiving and forgetting." When Phillip nodded, Lee said, "I'll tell you what. Virginia law requires that you pass the classroom portion of driver's Ed with at least a B. As of your last report card, you only had a C. If you can spend a little more time studying in class and a little less time studying girls to bring that grade up by the end of the school year, then we'll talk again about letting you drive the 'Vette, but only with me or your mother with you. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal," Phillip said grudgingly. "I still think it's not fair. The Colonel told us all about a time that you stole a tank to impress a girl when you were my age."

Amanda laughed as she recalled the Colonel telling that story, while Jennie looked at him with a bemused expression and said, "A tank? Really, Lee?"

"Yeah, I was a bit of a rebellious kid," Lee answered then turned his attention back to his stepson, "And it's true, I did go joyriding in a tank when I was sixteen, but what the Colonel didn't tell you was that I had to do my time too. He put me on KP duty for the next two months and if you think you've got it bad washing dishes for the family, you should try doing it for a hundred Air Force guys. I learned my lesson, believe me."

"Wow," Phillip said. There was a beat of silence before Phillip said, "Lee, are we cool?"

"Yes, we're cool," Lee replied, then waited a beat and added with a grin, "But you're still grounded."

"Ok, but I still don't think my dad would have grounded me for a month and made me do extra chores on top of it," Phillip teased.

"Well, did you ever sneak out in the middle of the night at your dad's house and swipe his car keys?" Amanda countered. "If you did and he didn't tell me about it, then I think I'm going to have to have a long talk with your father." She knew that Joe had been making more of an effort to spend time with the boys, but he still wasn't great with the discipline.

"No," Phillip admitted then grinned and added, "But he doesn't have a cool car like Lee does." Lee couldn't help but laugh. "Do you get at all where I'm coming from? I mean, it really bothers me that you guys lied to us for so long."

"Phillip, you know that we never meant to hurt you by doing that," Amanda said. "We were trying to do just the opposite, to keep you from getting hurt."

"Yeah, I know."

"I think I can understand where you're coming from," Lee said. "Think about it this way, your mother and I only lied to you for six months. Imagine what it's like to be lied to by your mother for over thirty years," Lee said with a pointed look at his mother.

"Lee..."Jennie began.

"Don't," Lee said. "I get it. You were doing what you felt you need to do to protect me as a kid, just like Amanda and I did what we did to protect our family. Like Phillip said, though, it doesn't make it hurt any less."

The dinner conversation was halted for a moment, by the cries of an infant. "That's Jennie, probably ready to be fed. I'd better get her before she wakes her brother," Amanda said as she left the room.

The older Jennie looked at her son with a quizzical expression. When Lee caught her meaning, he said, "Don't ask me. I don't know how she knows which baby is crying, but she's always right. I just figure it must be some motherly thing that I'm not tuned in to."

"Well, I'm a mother and I'm not tuned into it either," Dotty said. "But Amanda's always had that motherly instinct, even as a young girl when she used to babysit for the neighbors. I think she was just born to be a mother."

"From what I've observed just today, I believe you're right. I don't believe my son could have found anyone better to be the mother of his children," Jennie said with a smile.

"Yeah, Amanda is definitely one in a million," Lee replied happily. He then turned his attention to his younger stepson, "So, Jamie, how's the yearbook project coming? You've got your deadline in a couple of days, don't you?"

"Yeah, Friday," Jamie said. "I got some great shots today that should wrap it up. I just need to spend a little time in the darkroom to develop them."

"Just make sure you keep track of the time. I don't want you staying up past your bed time working on it and have to carry you upstairs like last time," Lee reminded him.

"Yeah, Dork," Phillip said nudging his brother.

"Phillip, no name calling," Lee said in exasperation. "It wouldn't hurt you to find something at school that you're as dedicated to as Jamie is his photography, especially now that you're in high school. You're going to be applying to colleges before you know it and they like to see stuff like that on your transcripts."

"Hey, I'm the only freshman on the varsity basketball team," Phillip argued. "That oughtta' count for something."

"It does," Lee said. "And your mother and I are very proud of that fact, but colleges look at more than just your jump shot. Believe me I speak from experience. I learned that the hard way. I got into college on a football scholarship, but you also have to maintain good grades. I got thrown out of three schools before I learned that lesson. I don't want you to go through the same thing."

"But you got through it," Phillip pointed out.

"Yes, I did and I finally earned my degree which is what led me to where I am now, but it took a lot of hard work to change people's opinion of me because of how I started out. I want you to do better than I did and not make the same mistake."

"We can't all be brains," Phillip said with a glare at his brother.

"No one's saying you need to be a brain, Phillip," Dotty said. "But a little more studying wouldn't hurt anything and I know it would make your mother happy to see a little improvement on your next report card."

"I get it," Phillip said.

"Well, this dinner was wonderful," Dotty said. "But I should really get going back to my own place. Curt is coming over for a move later."

"Oh?"Lee said with a grin. "Maybe dessert too," he teased his mother-in-law.

"Maybe," she said with a smile.

"You ever gonna' let him make an honest woman of you?"

"You sound just like Amanda," Dotty said.

"Well, weren't you the one a year ago who was hounding me to make an honest woman of your daughter?"

"That was before I knew you already had," Dotty countered as she rose from her seat and kissed both boys.. "Tell Amanda I said good-night and I'll be back first thing in the morning before you go to work to look after the twins and see these two off to school."

"Ok," Lee said.

"Good-night, Love," Dotty said planting a quick kiss to her son-in-law's cheek.

"Good-night, Mom," He replied as he watched her go.

Jennie had watched this interaction in silence, observing the affection shared between her son and his mother-in-law with a bit of jealousy. This was the second time she'd heard him call her "Mom" yet he hadn't addressed her, his own mother that way. She felt tears stinging her eyes and before they could fall, she quickly excused herself, saying, "I have to use the lavatory," before making a hasty exit.