The drive home after Jamie and Amanda had been released from the hospital was a tense one for everyone. Lee and Amanda kept casting worried glances at each other while Dotty stayed numbly mute in the backseat behind her daughter in the passenger seat. Phillip was unusually quiet, entirely focused on his conversation with Lee at breakfast while Jamie sensing the tension between the adults was lost in his own thoughts. They had stopped on the way back to the house for a quick lunch which had been equally as awkward, the only thing keeping it from being downright painful was Jamie's excitement that he was able to eat his first solid food in two days. The drive from the restaurant to the house seemed to stretch on forever with no on talking.

Lee broke the silence by saying, "So, guys while you're with your dad this week, your mom and I are going to be on a trip for work, but how about when everybody gets back, we all do something together, like a trip to the beach or something?"

"That sounds like fun," Phillip said his spirits lifting a little. It was a good sign if Lee was making already wanting to make future plans with them.

"Yet another work trip?" Dotty said suspiciously.

"Yes, Mother," Amanda said. "It's a location shoot at Hungry Mother Park. We're doing a documentary on the changes that are being made to is since the Department of Conservation and Recreation took it over last year. They're doing some extensive remodeling on it. We're going out there to conduct interviews and film the work in progress. We'll probably be back sometime on Sunday."

"Is this that film project Miss Desmond was talking about last night that didn't start until tomorrow?"

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you about it, Dotty, really," Lee said hoping she would catch on to his true meaning. "Everything just got so complicated."

"Well, Lee, I appreciate your apology, but that's not good enough. This is the kind of thing a mother has a right to know," Dotty said vehemently making it all too clear that she understood the double meaning of Lee's statement perfectly and that she wasn't going to easily forgive and forget. She watched as her daughter placed her left hand on Lee's right arm as if trying to offer him some comfort and couldn't help but notice that the rings were no longer there.

"Mother, We didn't want to keep this from you," Amanda said. "But there were reasons for why we did."

"Your reasons make no sense," Dotty said. "Were you planning on keeping this from your children indefinitely?" Dotty asked as it was clear that the boys didn't have a clue.

"Grandma, it's not that big a deal. They have to go on trips for work all the time," Phillip said.

"No, Mother, We were trying to work out a way to break the news to them," Amanda said.

"It's ok, Mom," Phillip said. "Lee told me this morning that that's how you talked Dad into picking us up tonight."

"Look, at that, we're here," Lee said as he pulled into the driveway.

Dotty flung her door open and got out before Lee had even put the car in park speed-walked to the house to get away from her daughter and son-in-law. Son-in-law, she thought. She thought of all the times in the past few months that she'd dropped subtle and not-so-subtle hints that she wanted Lee to be her son-in-law once she'd seen how happy he made her daughter and how much in love they were with each other. She shook her head as she sprinted up to her room slamming the door behind her. She flung herself on her bed feeling like a fool. It wasn't long before she heard voices in the hall.

"Fellas, you better get packed," Amanda was saying. "Your dad will be here in a couple of hours." She then heard her grandsons running down the hall followed by Amanda's voice telling them not to run in the house.

"You need help packing too?"Lee asked her.

"Yeah, That'd be nice. The sooner I get packed, the sooner we can go," Amanda replied.

At hearing this, Dotty flung open her bedroom door, just as Lee and Amanda were walking into Amanda's room. "You're leaving?"Dotty demanded.

"Yeah," Amanda said as she walked across the room to pull her suitcase out of the closet while Lee picked up the overnight bag he'd left there and set it on the bed along with the one he'd taken to the hospital for Amanda.

"Here," Lee said. "You might need this."

"I thought your trip didn't start until tomorrow," Dotty said as she watched Amanda disappear into the bathroom with the smaller bag while Lee began packing her suitcase. It struck her that Lee knew exactly which drawers to open to find the things Amanda would need for the trip.

"It doesn't," Lee said. "But Amanda and I discussed it after you left her hospital room, and all things considered, we thought it might be better if she stayed at my place tonight."

"Oh you did, did you?"She said hotly.

"I have to go home and pack anyway. I haven't been home since we were given this assignment because I've been so busy looking after Amanda and the kids. This will just save me another trip back here to pick her up tomorrow."

"That's awfully convenient and it makes perfect sense from a logical standpoint," Dotty said. "But it also gives you two the perfect opportunity to run away and not deal with this."

"Mother," Amanda said as she returned from the bathroom. "You're angry and you have every right to be. I understand that."

"Angry?" Dotty said incredulously. "No, no. no. Angry doesn't even begin to cover it. I wish I could get to just being angry. There aren't words to describe how furious I am right now and not just with you," she said as she turned to her son-in-law. "I think I'm more angry with you right now. We welcomed you into our home with open arms, I treated you like a son. I thought how wonderful it was that my daughter had such a good man in her life who loved her so much, but this...this deception has completely changed my opinion about you. You are not the good man I thought you were."

"Mother, Lee is a good man. A really good man."

Dotty shook her head. "No, Amanda, I have to disagree. God, when I think about all the times you disappeared to the back yard, it all makes sense now. You were meeting him there for a clandestine tryst. The mere fact that you had to do that to spend time with him is a sign that he is not a good man. A good man wouldn't have hidden that fact that you were dating, making you sneak around the whole time. A good man comes to the front door to pick a woman up for a date, he comes in to meet the family. A good man doesn't hide asking a woman to marry him, he plans it all out and asks the family's blessing. And a good man doesn't hide his marriage and still live like a bachelor as if he's ashamed of being married. It makes me wonder if your friend wasn't right about him. Maybe he wanted to keep it a secret so he could still play around. He wouldn't be the first man wanting to have his cake and eat it too."

"Mother, That's not what's going on here," Amanda said.

"What friend?"Lee asked.

"That Miss Desmond that came to visit last night," Dotty replied.

"Oh, there's a reliable source," Lee said sarcastically. "Look , what you have to understand about Francine is that she and I used to be an item and when the relationship didn't turn out the way she wanted, she blamed it entirely on me and she's thought of me as nothing but a lowlife ever since. I get that you're pissed as hell right now and if I were in your shoes, I'd feel the same way, but know this; I have been nothing but faithful to Amanda. I haven't even so much as looked at another woman in almost two years. If I wanted any woman but her, I'd have never asked her to marry me in the first place. I love your daughter with all my heart. I even offered to quit my job for her so that we could be together full-time."

"What does your job have to do with your marriage?"Dotty asked. "And why would you think it would keep you from being together?"

"Mother, this isn't about the job," Amanda said. "This is just about two people who love each other and want to be together."

"I would love to believe that, Amanda, but what you're telling me is true and that's all it is, why hide it? I feel like the biggest idiot in the world. All this time, I was thinking that you just had cold feet because of how your marriage to Joe ended and I've been praying that the day would come when the two of you would settle down and start building a life together. Imagine my shock at finding out the truth, that you already had."

"Actually, that's the problem, Dotty," Lee replied. "We really haven't started building a life together yet . That part hasn't even really begun. We've still got a lot to figure out. You have no idea how hard this has been on both of us. How painful."

"Well, you could have saved yourselves that pain by doing things the right way from the start."

"We realize that, now, Mother," Amanda said.

"We made a mistake in keeping things a secret. We both admit that," Lee said. "That's what prompted that big fight we had. I was tired of living alone, not being able to be a full-time husband, a full-time stepdad to the boys. But then your stubborn daughter here didn't even want to discuss it," he said with a laugh.

"Oh, no you don't, Lee," Dotty said. "You're not going to joke your way out of this."

"I'm not trying to. I get that we screwed up and I get that you may never forgive us for lying to you, but we need you to at least accept it. We did this all wrong, I know, but after two years of dancing around our feelings for each other and another year of dating, we just didn't want to wait any longer to get married."

"He's telling you the truth, Mother. We did this one-step-forward and two-steps-back dance, flirting with each other, but neither of us admitting that that's what it was, for two years before we went on a real date and dated for a year before we ever even shared a real kiss. It was during that whole mess when we were on the run that we finally admitted that we loved each other and it was only another month after that that we were engaged. By that time, after all we'd been through together, it just felt right not to wait any longer to make a permanent commitment. I wanted to tell you so many times how happy and in love I was, but how would you have reacted if I'd told you I was marrying a man that you had just met? You'd have tried to talk me into to slowing down and lectured me about jumping in with both feet. I couldn't take that chance. I wanted to be his wife more than I have ever wanted anything in my life before."

Dotty was silent for a moment running numbers in her head From all the information they'd given her since they'd told her about their marriage, two years of flirting, a year of dating, three months of being engaged, four months of marriage. "Exactly how long have you two known each other?"

'Four years," Lee answered.

"Four years? But I thought you met at work and Amanda's only worked for IFF for three years."

Amanda finished packing her suitcase and zipped it up, "Actually, I've been there four years."

"Another secret," Dotty said folding her arms across her chest.

"Look, Dotty, we should go. I need my keys back," Lee said.

"Why should I give them back to you? So the two of you can hide some more? That's the whole problem with this situation. The two of you snuck around like two adolescents breaking curfew."

"Ok, you don't want to give me my keys back, fine! Amanda has a set of keys to my car anyway and a key to my apartment."

"Of course she does. How else would you be able to have your secret rendezvous'? You wanna go, fine go, go! I can't stop you, but I guarantee you that if the two of you take off now, it's going to make it that much harder."

"What is it that you want, Mother?"Amanda asked. "What can we do to make this better?"

"You can stay here tonight. You're married. You should be sleeping under the same roof anyway."

"We were planning on it at Lee's place," Amanda pointed out.

"I understand that. You say you want me to accept this, but how can I without a real explanation? I know there's more going on here than you're telling me and that it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you were a couple for longer than you wanted me to know about. I think there's something more, something to do with your job. Why else would you hide both your job and your relationship from me?"

"Mother, there's nothing else we can tell you," Amanda said.

"Amanda, don't you lie to me again! I'm so sick and tired of it! You've been lying to me for four years now! You even lied to me about why you broke up with Dean! You said it was because the relationship wasn't going anywhere and I knew that wasn't true, just like I know there's more to this than just you not wanting to announce that you were engaged to a man that the children and I had just met. You and I both know that no matter how much I might have lectured you about slowing down, you're bull-headed enough that you would have just done it anyway no matter what I said. I swear to God, If you don't tell me what the real reason is behind this, I will never forgive you for this! Either of you!"She said with a glare at Lee.

Lee shifted uncomfortable at Dotty's piercing stare, "Regardless of whether we spend the night here or at my place, I still have to go back to my place and pack for our business trip," he said.

"Fine, you two go, but then come straight back here. Joe should have picked up the boys by the time you get back, I can have some dinner on the table and the three of us can talk."

"That's fair," Lee said. He reached for Amanda's suitcase.

"Leave that here," Dotty snapped.

"I was just going to take it down to the car so it'll be there for when we leave tomorrow."

"You want me to trust you again, give me a reason to. Leave that here, then I'll know you're coming back."

"Ok," Lee said setting the suitcase down on the floor. "Show of good faith."

"We'll be back as soon as we can," Amanda said.

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Lee and Amanda walked through the door of his apartment both weary from the events of the day, neither wanting to go back to the house and face the inquisition that they knew awaited them.

"Come on, let's get this over with," Lee said as they walked through the living room to his bedroom. Lee dropped his overnight bag and wrinkled suit from the day before on the bed before going to the closet to grab his suitcase.

Amanda went to the nightstand and pulled out the lockbox she knew was kept there, sitting down on the side of the bed. She smiled slightly at seeing the velvet box that contained her husband's wedding band. She pulled it out and glanced at the same photo that had prompted Lee's midnight visit to her house and sighed. She took in how happy they looked on the day they were finally married and she'd achieved her dream of becoming Mrs. Lee Stetson. She pulled all of their wedding photographs out of the steel box and slammed the lid shut just as Lee opened his suitcase on the bed before going to the dresser. She then picked up the ring box. "You're going to need this," She said holding it up.

When Lee saw what she was holding, he haphazardly dropped the pile of clothes he'd extracted from the dresser into his suitcase. "Yeah, I guess I do if we're going to be openly married for the next five days." He sat beside her on the bed and reached for the box.

"Let me," she said as she flipped open the lid lifted the ring gently from its housing and slid it onto her husband's finger like she had done the day they said their vows. Wordlessly, he lifted the chain from around her neck, dropping her rings in his palm before sliding both of them on her finger, in the proper order this time, wedding band first. Amanda looked down at her left hand tears stinging her eyes. "I want more than five days," She said as she let the tears fall.

Lee took her in his arms and held her as she let out all she'd been feeling for the past four months, how much it had hurt her to be away from him and not be able to share her love for him with anyone else. How much she hated lying to the people she loved, how much she'd tried to be optimistic when Lee has been pessimistic about their part-time marriage. She'd tried to tell herself that it was better to have him part-time than not at all, but as good as she'd become at lying to everyone around her, she couldn't lie to herself anymore. She pulled back from Lee's arms just enough to look at him and ran her fingers through his hair. His lifted his hand to brush away her tears. She took that hand in hers and kissed it gazing at the gold band there. "Don't ever take it off again," she said. "I don't care who knows anymore or what we have to do. I just can't be without you anymore." She kissed him before he could say a word, teasing his lips with hers until he opened his mouth to hers. She slipped her arms around his neck as their kiss deepened and became more heated. She then moved on to tease the tender skin at his neck before whispering in his ear, "Make love to me."

Lee sighed at feeling her warm lips on his skin. "Your mother's expecting us," he said.

"We'll get there, I just need you right now," as she moved closer to straddle him and tugged at his earlobe with her teeth knowing it drove him crazy.

He groaned as he propelled her backwards on the bed pinning her beneath him, then said "Your mother can wait."