The Spies Who Love Me
By Merel Inglis
The day had started out so well. The sun was shining, and it was one of those January mornings that was cold and crisp and clear and that invigorated Lee. A beautiful Saturday morning and a great day to get up early and go for a ride, he thought as he strode towards the barn.
It was red, of course, as Amanda had insisted that all barns should be red. It had four stalls with Dutch-doors facing a large fenced in paddock. The top of all the stall doors were open, but there was only one horse that seemed to have gotten up as early as Lee.
Beau was waiting for him it would seem, having heard the back porch door open and close with a squeak. Lee made a mental note to add a bit of grease to those hinges. The roan gelding was tossing his head and whickering just in case Lee hadn't notice him standing there.
"I know, I know," Lee muttered to his equine friend, reaching for the halter that hung next to Beau's stall. "Food first, then a ride."
He was just dumping the grain in Beau's food bucket when he realized he'd forgotten to leave a note telling Amanda where he was. "Slow down, Beau!" he admonished the hungry quarter horse, before turning to make his way back to the house.
He walked through the large kitchen and headed to his study, which was just off the great room. He'd started a fire in the large stone fireplace before he'd left for the barn, and it was now burning brightly. Amanda loved to sit by the fire in her overstuffed chair, reading the paper and drinking her coffee on winter mornings. Lee always got the hearth ready the night before and lit the fire as soon as he got up.
He opened his study door to find Lauren, seated at his desk, staring down at a nondescript open folder, a puzzled look on her face.
His daughter seldom entered this room. She knew this was the place that her father worked, when not at the IFF office in DC. And also, where he took refuge when the house was filled with far too much estrogen. With a wife, a mother-in-law, and a teenage girl all under one roof, he considered his study the last bastion of male civilization as he knew it.
He approached the desk, his daughter still unaware of his presence. He glanced over her shoulder to see what she was so engrossed in.
The folder was open and on top was the coded message crypto had faxed him this morning – only half deciphered as they couldn't get any further. They'd been stumped but figured he should at least see what little they had been able to make out.
However, it seemed his daughter wasn't stumped. She was circling and scribbling text on the half-deciphered missive, with arrows pointing to additional words she'd added.
Bomb. Dulles Airport. Sunday. Lost Target. Alert Scarecrow.
The hairs on the back of his neck rose as Lee leaned forward even further. His eyes widened as he watched his 16-year-old daughter decoding what seemed to be an operative's report about a bomb being secreted into the United States via Dulles Airport.
He reached around and quickly plucked the paper from under her pencil, startling the young girl. Her erH head came up sharply and connected with Lee's chin.
"Oww!" they both said in unison.
"Daddy! You scared me; what are you doing?!" Lauren watched as her father rubbed his sore chin while simultaneously shoving the paper she'd been working on into his pocket. Her eyes narrowed. "What is that? At first, I thought it was some word scramble you'd been working on, but then—"
"That message is none of your business, young lady! What are you doing in here?" He allowed his tone to turn belligerent in hopes of putting her on the defensive and thus nipping her unwelcomed questions in the bud.
Lauren furrowed her brow, a stubborn pout forming on her lips. "I came in here because Mom asked where you were and I wondered if maybe you'd left her a note … which you hadn't, by the way. That's when I saw that piece of paper."
"Yeah, well, I, um," he started, amazed at how quickly his daughter had turned the tables on him and placed him on the defensive.
"That's not a Word Jumble, is it?" Lauren pressed her advantage, seeing Lee was set back on his heels with her questions. "It was on fax paper and from IFF. Why does it mention bombs?
Lee ran an agitated hand through his hair, which was undoubtedly turning grayer by the minute. "Um, it's a … a film idea." He paused for a moment to see if she was buying it. She wasn't. "Exactly," he rushed on, "it's a film idea about a bomb—"
"You said earlier it was a message." Lauren frowned. "Is the bomb at Dulles Airport?" She continued looking at him suspiciously.
"Yes—I mean no; I mean there is no bomb," Lee stated, raising his chin to nod at the young girl. He could tell she still wasn't buying it. Lauren was too damn much like her mother for her own good. He looked down at his feet, desperately trying to figure a way out of this mess.
"Scarecrow," Lauren said slowly, as if testing the word.
Lee's head jerked up from observing the carpet to stare into eyes so very much like his own. "What?" he responded quickly and with a bit higher pitch than he'd intended.
"Alert Scarecrow. That was part of the … message. Mom's nickname for you is Scarecrow." Lauren stated, slowly tapping the pencil eraser against her chin.
Two pairs of hazel eyes played chicken for a long moment. Currently it was a stalemate, but Lee was beginning to think he'd end up on the losing side of this battle of wills. He took a deep breath as a dozen thoughts raced across his now dazed mind.
Lauren was 16; it might be time to tell her the truth about what they did for a living. The boys had learned some years ago during an operation that came a little too close to home. But they'd been in a position where they needed to know; Lauren didn't need to know. But it would be a weight lifted off his shoulders to not have to keep this secret from his daughter. On the other hand, Amanda had been adamant that she didn't want to broach the subject until they had to. But, better to have them explain it calmly and rationally to Lauren, before she jumped to assumptions, right? But had that just become a moot point?
He was the first to glance away and if a look could have shouted 'I WIN!' it was the look that just crossed his daughter's face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I guess there's something you should know."
SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK
"Wait! Are you telling me you're a spy?!"
Lee grimaced. "I've never liked that word."
Lauren's mouth dropped open, and she stared at her father, eyes wide. "A spy," she whispered almost to herself.
"An intelligence operative," Lee corrected.
"Whatever, Daddy!" Lauren said dismissively. Throwing up her hands in frustration she turned away from him. "Oh my gosh. Oh. My. Gosh."
"Please stop saying that and please lower your voice, your mother—"
"Wait!" she twirled around pointing an accusatory finger at him. "Mom? Doesn't she know you're a spy?" she asked incredulously.
There was a long pause as Lee tried to find the right words. At his look, Lauren's eyes narrowed. "Wait. If you're a spy, does that mean Mom's a spy too?" She watched him closely and before he could even say anything, Lauren threw up her hands again. "OH. MY. GOSH. Mom is a spy too!"
Lee took a deep breath. "Lauren, please, calm down."
By this point Lauren was pacing the room, not really listening to him respond to her questions. "Are you all spies? How about Grandma? Is she a spy?"
"Your grandmother is not a spy—er, an intelligence operative," Lee said quickly.
Lauren stopped her pacing and looked over at her father skeptically. "Are you sure? Out of all of you, she's the one I'd put money on being a spy."
Lee couldn't really argue with her there. "Yes, I'm sure, Lauren. Now please, come over to the couch and sit down. I need to explain a few things to you."
"Ya think, Daddy? Explain a fewthings? That is the understatement of the century." She stalked over to the couch and plopped down, turning a sullen look up at her father. "So, explain to me how my entire life has been a lie."
"Okay, now that's a bit of an exaggeration," Lee responded. At her expression, Lee sat down next to her. "Sweetheart, there are lots of kids who don't know exactly what their parents do for a living."
Lauren rolled her eyes. "Daddy, please, I am not a child. Are you telling me that Steven doesn't know what Auntie Francine does for a living. He knows she's a producer at IFF." The words trailed off and she blinked once. Twice. "IFF. Aunt Francine works at IFF. That's where you work; it's where Mom works. Oh. My. Gosh!" Her voice started to increase in volume again. "That's where Uncle Ephram works and . . . Uncle Billy?!"
Lee looked at his daughter, her eyes wide as saucers. This was rapidly going from bad to worse. He took a deep breath. "I know this is a lot to take in, but I promise you, it will all make sense once I explain everything."
Lauren leaned back on the sofa, taking a deep breath herself. "Okay, I'm listening. But, Daddy, you have to swear to me to tell me everything."
"I will, Sweetheart, I promise, but let's take this one step at a time." He leaned back on the sofa, shoulder to shoulder with his daughter. Out of his peripheral vision Lee caught her profile as he began, "It all started one morning at a train station."
SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK
Lee watched as Lauren stared off into space, seemly trying to absorb all the information her father had just dumped in her lap. And he had only gotten past how he and Amanda had met and started working together. His mind quickly went down a black hole considering what more he could to tell her.
He knew he was going to need backup. Walking to the study door, he opened it up and called out, "Amanda, could you come here for a moment. We're in the study." He shut the door and walked back to sit beside his daughter again.
Amanda entered, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "What do you need, Lee—"
She stopped suddenly upon seeing her husband and daughter sitting on the sofa. Lee appeared tense and Lauren looked as if she'd just heard she'd gotten a failing grade on, well, any test.
"What's going on?" Her eyes continued to study her daughter and a kernel of fear began growing in her stomach. Her eyes shifted to Lee, who in his own way looked as if he was ready to jump out of his skin. "Lee?" she asked hesitantly.
"She knows," her husband replied softly, his eyes not quite meeting hers.
Amanda swallowed the sudden lump forming in her throat. "She knows what?" Her tone implored Lee to look at her and he did. But before he could speak her daughter jumped up from the sofa.
"I know!" Lauren blurted out.
Amanda was now even more confused, her glance darting between them. "You know what?"
"Everything!" Lauren shouted, stamping a foot for emphasis.
"Now wait." Lee jumped up and Amanda took a step back, her imagination running wild with what this little scene could possibly mean. "Amanda," Lee said, "she doesn't know everything—"
Amanda opened her mouth and was again interrupted by her daughter.
"Wait!" Lauren turned wide eyes to her father. "You mean there's still a part of this whole unsavory story I don't know about? You said you were being honest with me at long last."
"Lauren," Lee's voice got tense. "Tone down the drama for just a minute."
"Wait," Amanda began, starting to shake her head only for Lauren to cut in.
"Are you even my parents? Or am I part of some elaborate cover-story that just went too far?"
Amanda's mouth snapped shut. Cover story? Oh. Suddenly it was all beginning to make sense to her.
Lee shook his head at his daughter. "Of course not; don't be ridiculous."
Amanda grimaced, watching but unable to get a word in edgewise to prevent this conversation from careening off a cliff.
Lauren gasped. "You can't just tell me you're spy and then tell me Mom is a spy and then ask me not to be ridiculous! This is the perfect time to be ridiculous. And now you're saying I don't know everything? This is horrible. For all I know I witnessed some terrible crime being committed in a public washroom and now I'm in the witness protection program – you know like in that movie with Harrison Ford."
"Witness?" Amanda offered, happy to be able to insert anything at this point.
"Exactly," her daughter replied. "Witness. Only I was obviously adopted by spies and now will never know who my real parents are. Hopefully not some Amish family, because I don't think I can live without electricity."
Amanda put her hand over her eyes. This was beyond getting out of control. "Lauren—"
"Do Philip and Jamie know?" She turned on her mother, fears of bonnets and no television seemingly put aside for the moment.
"Yes, Lauren, your brothers know. We told them two years ago—"
Lauren gasped again and threw up her hands. "So they've known for years, but I didn't get to know?"
Amanda put a hand on her daughter's arm trying to calm her. "Lauren, a situation came up and we had to tell them. Kind of like now, with you, apparently." She shot an accusatory look at her husband.
"Later," Lee mouthed to his wife.
Just then the phone rang and Lauren answered it. "Stetson residence." Her eyes narrowed and slid over to Lee before she covered the mouthpiece and hissed at him, "If that's even our real name!"
"Oh, for the love of God," Lee muttered dropping his head into his hands.
"Oh, hi, Phillip. Funny you should call now." Lauren moved quickly away from her mother who was attempting to grab the phone out of her hand. "So, they finally told me the truth. No, I am not adopted. Stop saying that." She paused and looked at her parents again. "Although, wait, maybe I am and you've been telling me the truth all these years."
"Lauren," she heard the warning tone in her mother's voice and glanced over at her. Her father had laid down on the sofa and pulled a cushion over his head. Coward.
"No bird brain," Lauren focused back on her conversation with her brother. "They finally told me what they really do for a living. Something I found out you knew two years ago! Oh, please with the 'need to know'. Apparently, you needed to know. And Jamie needed to know. In what universe wouldn't I need to know? And my big brothers kept this life altering secret from me and now I'm the last to know. I know it isn't a contest, Phillip, cause if it was I would so be winning, because … well, because I'm finding today when I'm younger than you were when you found out—"
Amanda at last wrestled the phone from her daughter's grasp.
"Hi, Sweetheart," she crooned into the phone. "No, it's fine. She's fine. It will all work itself out. Was there something you needed? No, well, can we give you a call later? I love you too, Sweetie! No, I'm not going to tell her she's adopted, I've told you for years that isn't funny. Listen, say hi to Jill for us and I'll call back soon."
She placed the phone gently in its cradle and turned slowly toward her daughter. "I think we all need to take a break, maybe get some breakfast? We obviously have a lot to talk about, but we're not going to get it done in one conversation."
Lauren glared first at her father, still prone on the sofa, and then at her mother. "Uh huh…" was all she muttered as she left the room, slamming the door behind her.
SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK
"Well, wasn't that fun?" Amanda plopped down into the chair by the fireplace when they came back into the great room. The fire had waned a bit and Lee was stoking it with some fresh logs.
"So much fun," Lee groused, tossing the last of the wood on the fire. "Look, I'm sorry about that getting so far out of control without talking to you first."
Amanda sighed. "I'm used to things getting out of control with your daughter—"
"Hey, now, wait a minute!" Lee stood up from kneeling by the fireplace. "She's your daughter too."
"Is she? I think right now we still haven't convinced her that she isn't in a witness protection program, and we didn't adopt her from some Amish family," Amanda gave her husband a wry smile. She took a sip of her tea and changed the subject. "What did Crypto say when you called them?"
"An Amish family. Where does that child get her imagination?" Lee muttered, returning Amanda's smile with a sheepish grin of his own. "Crypto was equally parts happy and annoyed that our 16-year-old daughter was able to decipher a code when they couldn't. They wanted to know if they could talk to her." At Amanda's frown, he quickly added, "I told them I'd think about it."
"That child is too smart for her own good." Amanda continued to frown. "I thought it was lucky that one of the boys didn't try to follow us into the family business, but now I'm worried they'll want to recruit Lauren once she's done with school."
Lee shook his head. "I think it's going to take a lot to lure Lauren away from wanting to be a veterinarian. Nothing comes before animals in her world . . . well, except for that boy."
Lee's tone broke Amanda's mood and she laughed. "You mean Brett? Yes, she does seem quite smitten with him. But she's maintaining her grade point average and at this point, that's what I'm focused on. You know she's going to want to know more." Amanda stated.
"How much more?" Lee flopped down onto the sofa and beckoned Amanda to join him. "We can't—"
"Lee, I'm not talking about specific cases or anything," Amanda sat down beside him and swung her legs over his, laying her head on his shoulder. "But, sweetheart, we're going to have to come clean about our history together. Remember, up until a half hour ago, she thought we met at a film premier. She's going to question everything."
"Then we're going to have to get our stories straight."
Amanda pulled back and looked at him. "Lee, we need to tell her the truth."
Lee grunted. "I've always found the truth to be highly over-rated and, in this case, possibly dangerous."
Amanda chuckled, laying her head back on his shoulder. "What could be worse than her thinking she is an abducted Amish child?"
Lee sighed, his arm coming around her, his fingers caressing her waist. "You have a point there."
"Besides, what part of the truth are you worried about? She knows we're spies, what's worse than that?"
"Oh, that her father's an idiot and took three years to admit his feelings for her mother?"
Amanda smiled. "That's what you're worried about? Not questions like, have you ever shot anyone or killed anyone?"
He shrugged. "Those are easy questions. I'm worried about the when did you first kiss, when did you know you loved her, how did you ask her to marry you … all those things teenage girls seem to focus on."
Amanda smiled, shaking her head. "First, that is not what all teenage girls are focused on. I'm betting death and dismemberment are at the top of Lauren's list of questions for us. Do you even know your daughter?" Before he could respond she continued. "Second, you're not an idiot. And your daughter has more common sense than you give her credit for. She knows how you lost your parents; she'll understand why relationships might not have been easy for you."
"I guess," he sighed, kissing the top of her head. When she looked up at him, a trace of sadness in her soft brown eyes, he captured her lips with his own, kissing her deeply. When their lips parted, he whispered "You know—"
"I know." She smiled and tapped the end of his nose with her finger. "You loved me from the moment you first saw me."
"That's my story and I'm sticking to it." His hazel eyes glinted with amusement.
As his hand slowly traveled up under her blouse and he stroked her breast, Amanda sighed contentedly. "You know, Scarecrow, we have a lot more to get through today, you might want to conserve your energy."
He kissed her again and in one fluid movement rose from the sofa with her in his arms.
She laughed and mussed his hair. "Or not . . ."
The End