[July 4, 1992]

Karen thought Andrew would be too fussy if they forced him to stay up late on Independence Day, but Eric and Tami took Julie to watch the fireworks over Lake Grapevine. They swam in the lake and picniced on the shore before the show, and Julie dozed off on the blanket they had laid out. While she napped, Eric poured into two red, plastic cups the wine he had smuggled into the park past all of the signs announcing that alcohol was prohibited.

"You better not get us arrested," Tami told him.

"C'mon," he said. "We're celebrating our freedom." His eyes fell to her bikini top and lingered there.

"I'm putting on a cover up," she said.

"Don't," he pleaded, but she did. "Fine. Then I'm putting on a t-shirt." He pulled an old Baylor's shirt over his bare chest.

Forty minutes later, when the wine was gone, the show began. When the first boom of fireworks reached her ears, Julie awoke. Tami was afraid she would cry, but instead the girl stood up and clapped.

Tami leaned back against Eric's chest where they sat and looked at the sky with wide-eyed wonder. After awhile, she sensed that Eric was looking at her instead of the fireworks.

She craned her neck back to talk to him. "They're pretty," she said. "You should watch."

"I'm already watching something beautiful," he said. She smiled and he kissed her, and then she returned her attention to the sky.

Julie squealed and clapped again and said, "Fire! Oooooooh! Pwetty fire! Red! Gween! Ooooooo!"

Eric wrapped his arms around Tami and kissed the top of her head. Julie came and stood behind him where he sat. She wrapped her little arms around his neck and rested her chin on his head as she looked out over the lake at the bursting lights.

"I have a good family," Eric said. "I'm blessed." And then he finally turned his eyes to the sky.

Eric didn't go to the library at all that weekend. Tami hoped that perhaps he had quietly put his search aside.

[July 9, 1992]

When Julie turned two, Tami and Eric held the family birthday party at the parsonage in Tyler, in part to appease Tami's mother.

Shelley brought her fiancé to the party, and Tami had to admit that the man was handsome and debonair. He had their mother laughing and saying, "Oh, really Javier, you're too charming."

As they were driving back to Dallas later, Julie passed out in a sugar coma in the back seat, Tami asked, "What did you think of my brother-in-law to be?"

"I don't like him."

Tami raised an eyebrow. She was a little surprised by the decisiveness in his answer. "He was surprisingly intelligent and charming."

"Glib and manipulative, I think you mean."

"Really? I mean, he was a bit over the top," she admitted. "But manipulative? I didn't get that impression."

"Because you're a girl."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He pulled onto the highway. "Tami, trust me, I know that kind of guy. There were at least two on the high school football team. One of them was Mo."

"What do you mean one of them was Mo? How is Javier like Mo?"

He glanced at Tami. "Never mind," he said as he turned his attention to the road.

"Don't never mind me. You can't make a statement like that and not back it up."

"Look, all I mean is that Mo can be very charming when he wants to be."

"So can you."

"Yeah, but the reason I want to be isn't so I can get something."

"Yes it is! You're always charming when you want to get laid."

"Okay, so maybe it is," he admitted. "But the reason I'm charming isn't so I can get something I don't deserve."

She laughed and shook her head.

"And I'm not charming to hide my duplicity."

"Duplicity?" she asked.

"Duplicity. I did just fine on the SAT, you know."

"You think Javier is duplicitous?"

"So does Pastor John, Tami. We had a little chat on the matter."

Tami sighed. "And I was actually starting to feel a little less worried about this marriage. Now I'm more worried."

"Sorry," Eric said, and reached down from the wheel and squeezed her knee sympathetically. "Hey, the worst that happens is they end up divorced, Shelley gets her heart broken, and maybe he leaves her with a couple of kids, and she starts asking you for money to help support them."

Tami turned her head to him slowly. "Well that's bad!"

"Yeah," he agreed. "It's pretty bad."

"You're not helping at all!"

"No. I'm really not." He patted her knee. "Sorry about that." He put his hand back on the steering wheel. "Do you want me to call him up?" Eric asked. "Have a little Javier chat? Tell him if he breaks my sister-in-law's heart, I'll hunt him down like the dog he is, and….do…..something?"

Tami laughed. But then she looked at him a little more seriously. "I wouldn't mind if you did," she admitted. "Our dad's gone. Pastor John is the least threatening man I've ever met. It might be nice to have some male family member play that protective role for Shelley. I know it won't change the outcome, but...it would make me feel better anyway. I don't know why."

"Psychology," he said.

She smiled. "Yeah. Psychology."