I had to disappear for a little while to get mid-term grades submitted, but they are finished! Glad to get back to writing. Now to get caught up on my reading...

"So Sheriff, tell me about yourself."

I notice Vic roll her eyes for about the 10th time since we sat down at the Busy Bee. I was a little surprised when she picked a booth and quickly slid in next to her mother. It didn't take long to realize that it wasn't an effort to be close to her but a way to keep her mother from seeing her expressions during our lunch conversation. Vic's head injury hasn't seemed to affect her ability to be annoyed or sarcastic, "Yes, Walt, tell us more."

"Oh, there's not really much to tell."

"Did you grow up in Durant?"

"Yes. I've lived here all my life except for college."

"Where did you go to college?"

"USC."

"Wow, that's quite a detour from Durant, WY. How did you end up at such a large, high profile school?"

"They recruited me to play football, gave me a scholarship," I shrug my shoulders, "So I went."

"I've always wondered what it would be like to live in Los Angeles. Did you like it?"

"I like wide open spaces too much to be cooped up in a big city like that. I missed the Bighorns. The mountains north of LA just aren't the same and I never had time to explore them anyway with my academic and athletic schedules."

"Of course. And is that where you met your wife?"

Vic bites her bottom lip at this particular question.

"No, Martha grew up in Durant too. We started dating in high school. She stayed here after graduation and was patient enough to wait for me until I got back from California. We got married as soon as I finished my degree."

"What was she like?"

I'm not accustomed to describing Martha. Seems like almost everyone in my life knew her personally, "Martha was one of a kind. She was smart and independent, loving and fierce." I cannot help but smile when I start to talk about her. "She always fought for what was right and true and she never complained. Not once. Even when she was sick every day from the chemo treatments."

I make eye contact with Vic who is studying me intently. I give her a smile to reassure her. It's okay. I can talk about Martha now without feeling the anguish I once did. Vic tilts her head to the side and gives me a small smile back. I'm not sure how I got to be so lucky to have a second chance at happiness with a woman every bit as amazing as Martha was. I find myself wishing we were somewhere other than here: someplace private where it's just the two of us. I must be telegraphing my feelings pretty clearly to her because she breaks eye contact and I can detect a slight blush moving up her neck onto her cheeks. I turn my attention back to her mother.

"Martha was more than I ever deserved."

"Oh, I doubt that. You seem like quite a catch to me. I imagine there are any number of single ladies in Durant who have their eye on you. Of course, I know how all consuming a career in law enforcement can be. I've often considered committing a crime in order to get my husband to spend a little more time with me. I haven't had a bad marriage. It's just been lonely at times, that's all. I can empathize a little bit with how Shaun may have felt with Victoria working all the time."

"Mom, we've been through this."

"I'm not taking his side, I'm just saying that I can understand how obsessed you all can be with your work, sometimes to the detriment of everything else."

I guess I shouldn't have expected to get through the meal without Shaun's name coming up, but it catches me off guard just the same. I wonder how long it will take for the automatic stab of guilt I always seem to feel when I think of him to go away. I don't have time to contemplate this long though because Lena is continuing to speak.

"I never did have to resort to a life of crime to get Victor's attention. Sleeping with another officer in his precinct seemed to have the same effect. Don't get me wrong, I didn't intentionally have an affair to manipulate my husband. Sometimes those kind of things just...happen."

I'm not sure how to respond to this admission and Vic isn't helping me out. I opt for understanding and an admission of my own.

"Well, I know it was tough on Martha to be married to someone who was often married more to the job than to her. I missed more than a few family gatherings and holidays due to my inability or perhaps unwillingness to pull away from a case. It took Martha getting sick to realize what she'd put up with for all those years. I had put the needs of everyone else above the needs of my own family. Then to make it worse, I checked out when she died. I shut out just about everyone who was close to me. All of that is something I'm trying to remedy now. Though I know I still fail sometimes, I think I've finally learned that I don't want to miss any more opportunities to be with the people I care about." I cannot keep my eyes from straying once again to Vic, "But, that's enough about me. I'd like to hear more about the Morettis."

"Oh, I'm not sure how interesting we are. You already know what it's like to be in law enforcement. That's pretty much all our lives seem to center around."

"Well, then, why don't you tell me how Vic earned her nickname when she was growing up."

Lena smiles while Vic gives me another eye roll. This is going to be fun.

For those of you that may not remember, In My Arms has a different history for Walt and Martha than what I explored in Barlow (If you read it). It is also different from CJ's novels where Walt is much older than he is in the television series.