John coiled the rope and tossed it aboard and went to grab the last lead as someone called his name. He turned and noted Green coming down the dock, a distinct frown etching over his face and marring his features. With a sigh John put his foot on the lead rope and folded his arms over his chest.

"Where'd you get that nerve?"

"Nerve for what?"

"Nerve to try and out me to the police."

"Inbred, with all the rest of the passion of the Irish in my blood." John raised an eyebrow. "What do you want?"

"I want to know what you told the police." Green jabbed a finger near John's face. "What lies you fed them so that they're now asking me questions about things we both know I didn't do."

"I don't think there's ever going to be a wewhere you and I are concerned." John snorted, "Unless it's to say that we'reboth going to think this conversation is an absolute waste of our time."

"Answer my question," Green stabbed John in the chest with his finger. "What lies did you tell them about me?"

"I think what you mean is what truths did we tell them."

Green managed a snort of his own, "I know you couldn't have told the truth because to do that would be to tell them your precious Anna's part in it all."

"That's the difference between people like you and Anna. She admitted to everything."

"Everything?"

"Every detail, down to the tiniest dusting of whatever poison you're trying to pump into people's veins for profit." John scoffed at him, "Especially about the part you conned her into playing in it all."

"You think they'll let her off so easily?"

"I think they'll be willing to give her a chance they won't give you." John looked around, "Though how you're walking free is a mystery to anyone."

"I made bail."

"They must not've set it high enough."

"You've made a big mistake Mr. Bates." Green was almost close enough to touch John. "I don't just mean by marrying that whore."

John gritted his teeth and the muscle in his jaw twitched. "I'd make sure the next words I said were chosen very carefully."

'There's about as much care here as there needs to be and it's this." Green's nose practically touched John's. "She doesn't belong here and she doesn't belong with you."

"As evidenced by the fact I married her, I'd say I think differently." John shook his head, practically sneering at the little man before him. "You're finished anyway so why don't you just run away and hide in some hole or something until they come to collect your miserable corpse?"

"You think you can chase me off?" Green stepped back and wiggled his fingers, "Scare me with some kind of threat?"

"It's not a threat. It's a warning." John crowded Green to the edge of the dock. "For now only the police want you and, with a good lawyer, you'll last maybe three years in prison. But if you come near my family or threaten them in any way, there won't be a dark place on the face of this earth you can hide where I won't hunt you down and skin you alive."

"What's a fisherman going to do to me?" Green's hand trembled in its white-knuckled hold on the post.

John glanced down at it and gave a chuckle. "I think I forgot to tell you how I'm so good with boats. I was in the Royal Navy you see, their Special Forces division. Do you know what that means?"

"No."

"It means I can take the filet knife in the cabin of my boat and peel the skin from your bones while you're still alive." John stepped back, "Can you swim, Mr. Green?"

"Can't everyone?"

"No, not everyone." John twitched his lips at him in a weak smile. "Get gone, Mr. Green, and don't bother me or mine again."

John grabbed the last rope, threw it onboard his boat, and followed after it. He caught sight of Green as his boat slipped into the grip of the water but John cast the small man out of his mind. His only focus was on the water and the possible bounty offered there.

When John steered his boat into the dock of his home inlet he smiled at the sight of the lights blinking cheerily from inside. Jumping to the dock, he grabbed the ropes and tied his boat in place before making his way to the house. He rapped on the door and smiled at the sight of Anna when it opened. His face fell immediately when he noticed she did not return his expression.

"Anna?"

"We've a guest." She stepped back and John sighed at the sight of Vera, chatting from her position in John's chair while Ondine rested on the sofa.

John eased into the house and moved toward the sitting room. Vera looked up as he kissed Ondine on the head and smiled at him. "Glad to see you finally made your way here."

"I've been working, Vera, like always."

"And your wife puts up with that?" Vera flicked her gaze toward Anna, just visible around the wall that led to the kitchen. "I wonder how she whiles away her time when Ondine's at school."

"Don't be crude Vera." John lifted Ondine and sat her on his lap. "Anna's got her own hobbies and she doesn't mind the work that I do."

"That's what women say." Vera turned to Ondine, "Do you mind if your father and I talk?"

"About what?" John frowned and noted Ondine did not move.

"About my plans." Vera's hand moved over the cane in her grip. "There's nothing for me here and my friend, Angela, wants to start up something in London. Says she's got a place for me in her shop and wants me to take it."

"So?"

"I want Ondine to come with me."

"What?"

"I want Ondine to come with me." Vera ran her fingers over her cane. "Honestly John, I thought you were quicker than this."

"Why do you want Ondine with me?"

"Because she'd have a better chance for a future in London. She'll have more opportunities for schooling and… everything else."

John managed a laugh, "I think the worst part about that is you don't even know what you want from her in London."

"I'm right here." Ondine craned her head back to see John. "Does no one care what I want?"

"The grownups are talking, Ondine." Vera held up a hand but John turned to Ondine.

"Do you want to go to London with your mother?"

"I don't want to go to London at all." Ondine turned to Vera. "I know why you're doing this but you can't take care of me."

"Ondine," Vera chided, "Show me some respect."

"You've never shown it to me." Ondine bristled and John adjusted his grip on her to keep her from moving.

"Ondine," he tried to warn but she ignored him.

"You had Da take me to every appointment, every dialysis, every inconvenience for you and then you'd latch your claws in when you could use it to your advantage. You never cared about when I was in pain or sick or crying. You'd just drink and smoke and f-"

"Ondine I won't have you saying that in my house." John warned and Ondine silenced but the rage quivered through her small body. "Now you've said your piece, like you deserve to, but you've got to give your mother chance to respond."

"She had her chance. You had over eleven years of chances." Ondine shifted on the couch, looking up as Anna entered the room, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "Anna, could you help me to my room?"

"I can." Vera offered but Ondine glared her into her seat.

"You're injured and crippled. You're no help to anyone and you've never been a help to me."

John bit at the inside of his cheek, standing to help Ondine. "I'll take her."

"No," Anna waved him off. "I think you've got a conversation to finish."

He sat back down and waited until Anna and Ondine had closed the door to Ondine's room before turning to Anna. "I don't know what you expected but I think you knew this was what was coming."

"And you're enjoying every minute of it?" Vera sneered and tried to stand but her cane slipped and John had to grab her arm to stop her falling over. "Get off me."

"Sit down." John helped her back into the seat. "Now you got off easy in the hearing. You and I know it and you also know you don't want Ondine with you in London."

"But I do."

"No, you've just recovered from your bout of self pity and moment of weakness to try and take Ondine back because you're upset that I'm happy." John sighed, "The court won't let you take her without my permission anyway."

"I could-"

"You won't fight it." John tramped down her argument. "You've not got the time nor the energy to put up with a legal battle. Especially since you recklessly endangered our daughter by drinking and driving."

"The other man ran into me."

"It doesn't matter who ran into whom. What matters is that they won't let you have her after you so blithely put her in danger." John stood, "And I won't sign anything that would give you the right to have her again. I don't trust you anymore than they do."

"You'd deny me my own daughter?"

"Isn't that what you've done to me our entire divorce?" John shook his head, "I offered you the olive branch and you've come here to spit in my face?"

"I won't have my daughter growing up around a drug dealer!" Vera finally got the cane under her and threw her finger in the direction of Ondine's bedroom.

"And I won't have her forgotten under the influence of your drinking, your smoking, or whatever boyfriend you're screwing." John shouted her down. "Now we'll arrange visitation and find ways to either get her there or get you here. When you're visiting here it'll be under the same rules the court set, either me or Anna with you at all times."

"That's the pot calling the kettle black."

John ignored her, "And when she's in London I'll take her and whatever activities or plans you have'll have to be approved by me." He waited, "Do you understand?"

Vera snarled, "You think your drug dealer wife is better than me?"

"Circumstances Vera. She chose not to be destroyed by hers and you let yours run you over." He stepped to the side, "Now get out and don't come here again unless you call first. That's what the court ordered and you know it."

"Right, because you'd come back from your precious boat to supervise a visit."

"I'd do anything for my daughter, that's what fathers do."

Vera only snorted and limped herself out the door. John locked it behind her and rested his head against it before turning toward Ondine's room. Once there he knocked on the doo and waited for it to open.

This time Anna's face held more joy. She turned over her shoulder a moment and then faced him again. "She says there's a password or something. I'm not entirely sure what that means."

"It's 'Open Sesame' and she can come out now since her mother's gone."

"Oh, in that case." Anna opened the door and John walked in to see Ondine under the sheet she strung between the wall and her desk chair. "I guess he's welcome in this place, my lady."

"He sent the witch away."

John sighed, easing himself to the floor. "That's no way to talk about your mother."

"She's nothing like a mother." Ondine turned a page in her book but John noted her eyes never looked at it, just flipped idly through the pages. "She treats me like a toy when she bothers to acknowledge my existence at all."

"I know." John took a deep breath, "Do you remember what I told you about Daniel?"

Ondine turned to him, "You mean my older brother?"

"That's him." John swallowed. "Your mother and I weren't responsible enough when he was coming and he didn't live."

"I know that part."

"But you don't know what it did to your mother." John took her hand, "She didn't know what to do with her grief and so she blamed me. She blamed me because there was no one else to blame. And when we were pregnant with you I made her change herself in ways she didn't appreciate."

"It was for me though…" Ondine shook her head, "Why couldn't she change for me?"

"Some people are so tormented that they can't look past their own pain. Your mother's been through a lot of things."

"That's no excuse."

"No," John agreed, "It's not. But it is an explanation and it's made her who she is. Let's just pray that one day she can find someone who'll help her want to change."

"Why couldn't I be enough?" Ondine sniffed and John scooted into the space to hold her to him.

"I don't know." He pulled his fingers through her hair. "But you need to know that you're enough for me."

Ondine snuggled into his chest, peeking under his arm. "And Anna?"

John craned his head over his shoulder to beckon Anna over. "Of course. We're a family, the three of us, and we'll always be enough for each other."

John waved to Ondine, bending at the knees to catch her as she jumped into his arms. He lifted her a moment before groaning and setting her back down. "Weren't you supposed to be light? I remember you much lighter."

"That's not something you tell a lady!" Ondine mocked fury but beat John to the truck. "I thought Anna was coming to get me."

"She was but the I got back early and told her I'd come and get you."

"What's she doing then?"

"Well," John buckled himself in and turned to him. "She's been talking to Mrs. Hughes and they've decided that Anna can be their bookkeeper since their bookkeeper got married and is moving to Dublin."

"Gwen got married? When?"

"When you were still in hospital recovering." John steered them onto the back roads toward home. "But her husband got a new job there and Anna needs something to do."

"Does Anna want to keep the books?"

"For now it's something until she finds what she wants to do." John drove them closer to home. "She'll find what she's wants and when she's knows then we'll know."

"What if she wants to move back to England?"

"I don't think she will."

"It's her home though."

John laughed, "We're her home now."

"So she'd never want to go back?"

"There's nothing for her there and we're here." John smiled but as he turned back to the house he frowned. "Ondine, has Anna been gardening in the conservatory?"

"She's doing vegetables in there but she's not been in there recently." Ondine, pushed herself up from her seat. "Why?"

"Because the door's open." John parked the truck. "Stay in here and lock the doors please."

"Why?"

"Because I want a look around to make sure everything's alright." John put a hand on her head and pulled it close to kiss it. "I'll be right back okay?"

He left the truck, tapping the window until Ondine locked the doors. Walking to the house, John pulled out his keys but when he pushed at the door he noticed the broken lock. John frowned and walked into the house.

An overturned chair near the table caught his attention and he righted it. But he noticed the broken dishware on the counter, the ripped blanket from the sofa, and the cracked pane in the window of the back door. His trail led him out the back and toward the creaking door of the greenhouse as it hung on rusting and now bent hinges. He pushed it open and listened a moment. As something that sounded like sobbing reached his ears.

"Anna?" John walked deeper into the greenhouse and noticed a table shift. He crouched and saw Anna cowering behind it, hand practically clawing at the wall behind her. "Anna?"

"Don't look at me." She covered her face with her hands and tried to get away from him but she backed herself into a corner.

John held up his hands, moving gingerly over the floor. "Anna, what happened?"

"I…" She shook her head and curled into a ball. "I can't… I can't…"

"Anna, who did this to you?"

"He told me I didn't belong here." Her fingers clenched over her eyes, as if she could try and claw them out. "He said I needed to leave, to take back what I'd said, and never say anything ever again."

"What?" John reached forward to touch one of Anna's hands but she twisted away from him. "Anna, it's me."

"It's not… it's not you." Anna risked a peek at him through her fingers. "It's me. He said if I don't leave, disappear forever, he'd kill you both and make me watch. Before he… before…"

Anna dissolved into sobs again, her body twitching and quivering as she desperately sought to sink into the very earth itself. John edged closer and finally managed to place a hand on her shoulder. In that moment she stiffened but in the next she clung to him and it was all John could do to hold her as she cried.