Once Lee and Amanda had departed for the day and the boys were off to school, Jennie and Dotty were left alone with just the babies, Jennie holding her namesake while Dotty held her brother. Jennie looked at her son's mother-in-law curiously and asked, "So, are mornings her always so...so...frantic?"
Dotty chuckled and replied, "Frantic? Oh, no, this isn't frantic. You should see this household on a day when the boys don't get to bed on time and we have trouble getting them up for the day. I can't count how many times they've just barely made their bus to school. I imagine it's only going to be more hectic going forward now that my daughter's back at work. I tried to convince her to take some more time off to be with the babies, but she insisted that she wasn't giving up a career that she worked hard for."
"I understand that, actually," Jennie said. "I took a little time off when Lee was born, but I loved what I did, loved that my job helped people."
"Yes, but it hurt you, hurt you son. You have no idea how much that young man has been through in his life. I'm only beginning to understand it myself and I've been here getting to know him." She fixed Jennie with a stern look and continued, "Of course, you can feel free to tell me that it's none of my business, but I have to ask. If you could go back, faced with the same choice, would you still continue to work in such a dangerous career, knowing the damage that it did to your child? Or, I guess I should say children since you have a daughter out there who doesn't even know you exist."
Jennie sighed, thought for a long moment and answered. "Yes, I would. If you could just try to understand how important the work that we did, the same work that your Amanda does is...How important it is to the word, you wouldn't ask me something like that."
"Hmph," Dotty grumbled. "No. No, I think I would. That's the same kind of nonsense that Joe King used to spout when he and Amanda were still married: the excuse he used for never being here for his family the way that a husband and father should be. I can't tell you the number of heated arguments that he and Amanda had over it or how many times she pleaded with him to stay home with her and their children."
"Hmm," Jennie said thoughtfully. "He seemed like such a nice man when he was here last night to bring the boys home."
"Oh, he is. Joe is one of the nicest men you'll ever meet in your life and he had these big dreams of saving the world, but at the cost of his family. Just like you. You sacrificed your family for the same reason and your children suffered for it, just like my grandchildren suffered for what their father did, just like my daughter suffered thinking she had a husband who didn't love her enough to stay home with her. I imagine that while Lee does the same job that you did, that he doesn't understand it any better than I do. If you could see the way he is sometimes...there's this glimmer, just every once in a while of the scared, lonely little boy, especially now that you're back in his life. He's got to feel a little of the same way that Amanda did, feeling that his mother didn't love him enough to be there for him."
"You don't understand," Jennie argued. "It's because I love my son that I stayed away. It was far too dangerous for him for me to have anything to do with him while I still had someone out there who would try to kill me if they knew that I hadn't been killed in that car accident."
"All the more reason that you should have given up the dangerous career of yours before it got to that point, the you would never have been in that danger and neither would Lee. I only wish that I could get my stubborn daughter to see that before something happens to her or her children. It terrifies me to think each time that she walks out that door may be her last and that she may never walk back through it again. I blame you for that."
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Lee paused just outside the entrance to Providence Hospital. Amanda looked at him curiously and at seeing the look of uncertainly on his face, said, "Sweetheart?" as she placed a hand on his arm.
"Hmm?" Lee murmured in reply. He glanced just briefly at his wife and then back to the doors of the hospital.
"Are you okay? You sure you're ready for this?" Amanda asked worriedly as the deer-in-the-headlights look on her husband's face. She knew that look well. It was the one that he wore when he was afraid, but didn't want to admit that he was.
"I...Um..." he shook his head and looked back at her. "I don't know. This..." His voice trailed off and he sighed. "This..." he gestured toward the doors. "I-I-I feel like whatever we find out in here is going to change everything. I thought I put all this past stuff behind me, laid all my ghosts to rest, but now...now, I feel more haunted than ever."
"I can go in there alone," Amanda suggested. "Ask the questions we need to ask that will take us to our next lead."
"No," Lee replied with a firm shake of his head. "No," he repeated in a firmer tone. "One thing I've learned about ghosts is that if you don't confront them head-on, they just keep haunting you until you do." He took both of her hands in his, brought them to his lips, kissed each one of them and said, "You taught me that."
Amanda squeezed his hands comfortingly, then released them, linked her arm with his and said with a nod, "Come on, then. Let's get in there and do some ghost-busting."
Lee couldn't help chuckling at her comment as he nodded in agreement and they made their way through the hospital's doors arm in arm. "Yeah. Just call me Bill Murray."
As they approached the reception desk, Amanda took the lead, whipped out her badge to identify herself and explained to the receptionist, "We're here on a federal investigation, looking for information on a child who was born here May 14th, 1956 to a woman named Jenna Davis. She was given up for adoption immediately after her birth."
The receptionist stared blankly for a moment at the agency badge that Amanda held up and directed them to the records room and once Lee and Amanda had departed, immediately got on the phone.
Upon entering the records room, Lee and Amanda were greeted by a forty-something nun who greeted them with a cool, "May I help you?"
Amanda again explained why they were there, smiling sweetly at the woman and concluded with, "Her life may be in danger. We're trying to track her down to protect her. We could use any help you could provide us, Sister." While Amanda didn't know for sure that Lee's unknown sister was in danger, it was entirely possible that she could be since Jennie had already been attacked. Whoever was behind those attacks might attempt to go after Jennie's daughter next, so she wasn't completely lying.
The nun looked at them, examining Amanda's badge for a moment, before replying, "What is the child's name?"
Lee and Amanda exchanged a look and then Lee said hesitantly, "We...uh...we don't know for sure. All we know is her mother's name, her birth date and that she was adopted the day she was born."
The nun gazed at them coolly and replied, "Do you know how many babies were born in 1956?"
"Yes, we know," Amanda answered, but we do have the mother's name, Jenna Davis, and the date, so that should narrow it down."
"Give me a moment," the woman replied as she began typing on the computer.
"Forget the computer records," Lee told her testily. "We've been through those and they were a dead-end. They only show the birth record, not what happened to her afterward."
"What exactly is it that you're looking for?" the nun replied.
"Anything that will tell us who adopted her or even what adoption agency was used," Amanda said. "It's urgent that we locate her as soon as possible."
"Very well," the other woman replied as she rose from her seat. I'll see what I can find in the original paper records."
"Thank you," Amanda replied with a warm smile just before the nun disappeared through a door behind her desk.
The nun had only been gone for five minutes when an older sixtyish nun entered the room. She glared icily at Lee and Amanda as she walked behind the desk to the door that the other nun had left through and called loudly, "Sister Rosemary, stop what you're doing this instant!" When the younger nun reappeared looking sheepishly at the elder, she then turned to sneer at the agents and said, "Who are you and what business do you have asking about Jenna Davis?"