Chapter 74

Grace, Janice, and Abby worked around the home all afternoon. Janice was growing more comfortable with the home and her place in it. She was still a little hesitant about not having to pay rent or anything like that, but she was comfortable. Most importantly, she was off the street and safe.

"Janice, would you mind to go to the store with me? I need to pick up a few things for the home."

"Sure Grace. I would enjoy getting out."

"Perfect. We also need to stop by Harrison's."

"Harrison's?"

"Yes, Janice. Mr. Harrison operates an agency that hires from a pool of day labors for construction and a pool of secretaries for businesses. He is always looking for help. I believe you may find a job."

"Really?" The cautious excitement was very evident in her voice.

"Yes, I have known him for years. He is always looking for help. I do believe he will be able to help you find employment."

"When are we leaving?"

"Now if you're ready."

"I'm ready."

Grace couldn't keep from smiling at this eager young woman. She had the feeling that Janice was sincere in her desire to change her situation. Grace watched Janice walk toward the front door. Abby smiled watching from the kitchen. This was what Grace dreamed of when she imagined this place. A safe place for a young woman who desires to improve their life. She truly felt like they were making a difference instead of just giving money to a charity. She knew her donations were beneficial, but his was a tangible way to help. She felt it like never before.

"Alright young lady, keep that attitude and you will get a job very quickly.

"I need this."

"You do, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. You don't want too much pressure that you won't be you. Remember, Mr. Harrison needs employees as badly as you need a job."

"Thanks for the advice."

"Alright dear, let's get going."

…

"Let's see…you are making the cake." Abagail looked at Elizabeth.

"Yes."

"And you are decorating."

"Yes." Mrs. P nodded. "With Bethie's help as she works around the cake. And Mr. P is working on a small project for JJ."

"And I'm working on the meal."

"Bethie, this is a lot of stuff for a six year old's birthday party." Mrs. P stated as she looked at the list of decorations.

"I know but I can't dial it back."

"Really?" Abagail challenged.

"Fine…I won't dial it back."

Mrs. P and Abagail both nodded their heads. They understood Elizabeth's desire to make the day special. Elizabeth looked up at the clock in the café.

"I better get going. I need to stop by the mercantile and then head home. JJ knows to come home, but if he comes here, would you please send him home?"

"Sure."

…

"Elizabeth!" Faith called out.

"Hello Faith. How are you doing?"

"Fine."

Elizabeth looked at her while tilting her head. She could hear something was off in Faith's voice.

"Faith, are you ok?"

"I am." She sighed. "Mostly." She let out another sigh.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

Faith looked around. When she knew no one was paying them any attention, she motioned for Elizabeth to take a seat on the bench where the stage platform was. Both ladies sat down and repositioned themselves until they were comfortable. Elizabeth felt Faith needed to talk, but she didn't want to push her. Their friendship was new. She didn't know how much to push. So, she remained quiet until Faith began to open up to her.

"I'm worried about Reed…and Jack."

"Why?"

"You know what they're doing today right?"

"I do. How much do you know?"

"Not too much. Jack didn't share too much information. He came by this morning…" Her voice trailed off.

"Why did he come to talk to you?" Secretly, Elizabeth was grateful Jack didn't share too much with Faith. It made her feel more special that he confided more with her. Then she corrected herself. She knew she was with Jack. She had no reason to think that way.

"Well, I don't know what they are up to, but he asked if I could stay close to the infirmary for the next few days, especially today."

"Really?"

"Evidently, they are on a dangerous mission."

"They are Faith." Elizabeth sighed. She loved her husband and what he did, but she hated the danger he would often find himself in.

"So, he wanted me close by in case someone was injured."

Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to say yes. So, she nodded her head.

"How do you do it?"

"Are things further long with Sam?"

"No. I haven't talked with him. I just know he's with Jack. If Jack is asking me to stay close, it can't be good."

Elizabeth reached for Faith's hand. After giving it a reassuring squeeze, she continued holding her hand. "It's not easy. To be honest, I don't handle it very well. I hate it when he leaves for work. I know most days there isn't anything too bad, but any day could be the day where danger will seek him out. I know he's leaving the mounties in a few days, but he will be sheriff. That may be less danger, but there is still could be danger lurking behind any corner."

"How do you do it?"

"I wish I did it better. All I know is that I love Jack with all my heart. I also know he is called to help people as much as I am called to be a teacher. That was part of our problem when you met him in Hamilton. That whole fiasco with Charles was a comedy of errors and fears. I'm still afraid, but that fear doesn't come close to the love I have for that man. He is my world."

"God forbid…but what would happen…" Elizabeth cut her off.

"I would have the most precious memory of a man who truly loved me. I have my son and this little one." She placed her hand on her belly. "I know Jack is good at what he does, but I still worry. For me, I just can't dwell on that thought. It's always there, but I can't feed it by constantly thinking about it every waking moment."

"Yeah…"

"So, you and Sam?"

"I care for him…I guess this morning was just a little eye opening for me."

"Those little reminders will pop up every so often. When they come up, I just can't ignore them because I know they are real. I just don't dwell on them. I think of all the good between me and Jack."

Faith nodded her head. She understood what Elizabeth was saying.

"Give it time. You and Sam are early in this process. You will figure out if he is someone worth the worry."

Faith nodded her head. If you would asked her before Jack arrived this morning, she would say yes. Now, she was just afraid.

"Whatever process you use to figure out what you want, just don't do what I did and allow fear to have a controlling part of your decision. It will force you into horrible decisions that takes a lot of effort to overcome."

"Thank you, Elizabeth."

"You're welcome, Faith. If you ever want to talk about any of this, just come and find me."

"I will. Oh, you need to come and see me soon. We need to make sure your little one is doing well."

"I will."

…

"JJ! You need to stop!"

"Emily, why is it that you are always telling me not to do things?"

"Because you are the only person not paying attention. You don't think two seconds ahead."

"That's not true."

"Oh yes, it is. How many times have you fallen into the pond chasing after a ball or anything else?"

"Several…"

"And how many times have you recovered what you wanted without falling into the pond?"

"None."

"Yes. Why are you doing this? We are trying to fish here. If you fall into the pond, you'll scare all the fish away."

JJ huffed. Emily wasn't wrong, but that didn't make it fun. Fishing wasn't going great. He was a little bored.

"Fine. But the fish isn't biting."

"Maybe we should listen to Mrs. Hogan. I'm not sure Pastor Hogan is correct with this one." Emily shrugged her shoulders.

"You may be right."

JJ and Emily fished for another few minutes. They lost patience when they didn't even get a bite. They needed to go home, but they figured they had a little more time before they would get in trouble.

"Hey, what are your parents doing for your birthday?"

"I don't know. Mommy is tight lipped about it. I know she's up to something. I just don't know what."

"Mrs. Thornton will do a good job. She always does."

"Yeah."

"What do you say?"

"About what?"

"Why don't we go to Abagail's Café."

"Oh yes, I bet she has some cookies ready." JJ rubbed his hands together.

"She always has cookies for you. You better be careful or you're going to weigh a ton."

"Not possible, I'm too busy being busy." He laughed. "That's what mommy says."

…

"Any questions? Comments? Statements? Concerns?"

"Mr. Thatcher…"

"William." He corrected the young man who raised his hand.

"William…you stated earlier that you need a vision statement. Is that really necessary?"

"I'm here because I lost sight of what is important. In business and my family. I was sidetracked and only looked for the next customer or the next way of earning money. That led me to take my eyes off what's important."

"But isn't the next customer important? If you don't earn that next dollar, you can't pay your employees."

"The most important aspect of our lives is our family. My company grew from my kitchen table to a massive company. All while I went to every recital and dance lessons of my three children. When I lost track of what was truly important, I lost everything. I began to think I knew everything. After all, I grew a company from nothing to be the largest shipping company in all of Cananda."

"Isn't that something?"

"Not when I am in here. I lost everything. I'm just now reconnecting with my wife. Reconnecting with my middle child and her son. My oldest and youngest hasn't come to visit me once since I've been in here. My oldest is embarrassed by my actions. My youngest ran away and married a man I wasn't wanting her to. I have learned from my wife that she is doing great with her new husband. So, let me ask you…what's the most important part of your life?"

The young man thought about it for a moment. He was in prison for embezzling money from his company. He wanted a bigger house. He loved it when people looked up to him. However, his first child should be born within the next month or so. Like William, he has lost a lot. For the first time, he realized while money is important. It isn't the most important. The conversation struck a nerve with him. William noticed the moment when the full weight landed on his shoulders.

"The company is important, but not the most important. A vision statement isn't a fix all. However, I tend to believe it may have helped me keep my mind focused if I would have paid close attention to it." He looked around. "Anyone else?"

"No." He heard and saw other young men shake their heads. "Go…go…it's time for food."

William was gathering some papers he had on the small desk when he noticed a guard come to him.

"William, do you think the vision statement would help?"

"I do if I would have followed it. I'm not certain, but I made a lot of mistakes because I lost sight of what was important in my life."

"You're doing good in here."

"Yeah, but I'm missing out on so much."

"Thank you for doing this for them." The guard nodded toward the men as they walked out of the room."

"This sounds strange, but I get more out of it then I give them."

"Well, from what I see and hear from them, they are getting a lot out of it. Plus, I think you enjoy pouring part of you into them. You may have messed up William, but you are redeeming yourself by helping them. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a man of power come in here only to grow more cold and lose himself more because he didn't rise above his situation. William, you have risen above your situation."

"Thank you. That is very kind of you to say."

William had felt that way to a small degree, but it felt nice having someone notice, especially a guard. Their contact with prisoners was supposed to be a relationship of guard and prisoner. The two men were almost talking like friends.

…

After the crates were unloaded in the last cave, Jack turned to look at Roy. "You know what to do."

"Yes, sir."

"We'll be at the first cave."

"Yes sir."

"Don't screw this up." Sam added.

"What is he doing? Silas stated. He gave Cody a questioning look as the four men turned to walk toward the horses. Roy turned his attention toward the cave entrance.

"Placing a trigger so we will know if anyone goes in that cave and touches our merchandise."

"Wouldn't you know if someone did? Wouldn't part of your merchandise be gone?"

"If he does his job correctly, they'll never make it to the crates." Jack stated nonchalantly. The tone of his voice was a little cold. "Plus, the only people who know there is anything in that cave is us. Three of us aren't going to steal from ourselves. That leaves you two."

"We're getting a cut, why would we still from it?"

"You can get the whole thing instead of just a cut."

"If you cross us, so help me we will hunt you two down and exact our loses on you!" Sam stated in just as cold of tone as Jack. They wanted to come across as cold and uncaring as possible. They were both succeeding.

"You know…" Silas stated hesitantly. "…if you two are as bad as you want us to believe, why haven't we heard about you?"

Jack stopped and turned his full attention to Silas. He ignored Cody. He knew Sam was staring at him.

"You haven't heard about us because we are good at what we do. You two have to run around the back country and hide out from towns because people know who you are. People don't know us. We don't have to play hide in seek."

"You know who we are?"

"Of course we know who you are. You're Silas and Cody Anderson." Sam stated.

"The Toronto Six." Jack finished the statement.

"Huh…"

"We don't work with people we don't know. I swear, if you cross us, we will end you." Jack glared at the two men.

"How did you know that in such a short period of time."

"There you go…asking stupid mountie questions again." Jack glared as Silas as he placed his hand on his weapon.

"What's going on?" Roy asked as he stepped out of the cave. Jack and Sam ignored him. They were playing their role perfectly. Roy saw the tension in the air. Roy wanted to stay in character even though every mountie cell in his body was demanding he pull his gun. So, he just stood there not saying anything else. He did pull the guard on his holster.

"At some point you are going to have to trust us."

"Silas, you earn that trust. Asking stupid mountie questions and stealing our merchandise isn't gaining our trust."

"We are just as deep as you are. Remember, we're running whiskey."

"Untaxed whiskey isn't the same as stolen weapons from the R. C. M. P. and the U. S Military."

"That's not the only thing the Toronto Six does."

"Shut up Cody." Silas hissed.

"Really?" Jack softly stated. "This could be interesting."

"You'll have to earn our trust before we do more than help you move weapons."

"Fair enough." Jack nodded.

…

Grace and Janice walked into the offices of Harrison's Agency.

"Mrs. Thatcher. How are you today?"

"I'm well, Mrs. Jackson. How are you and the children?"

"We're good. What may I do for you today?"

"I would like to see Mr. Harrison. Is he available?"

"For you he is. Please just give me a moment."

"Thank you."

Grace and Janice watched as the young lady stood from her desk and walked through the door after she knocked on it. She was only gone for a few moments.

"You carry a lot of power in Hamilton, don't you?"

"Janice, my family did before my husband's mistakes."

"Was the newspapers correct?"

"Mostly. William wanted his daughter to follow his plan instead of hers. He lost sight of what is important and thought he could manipulate everything and bend it to his will. He was finally caught, and he is being punished. He has three years in prison to serve and then parole following his release."

Janice slowly nodded her head. "So, you're not perfect?"

Grace couldn't keep from laughing. "Oh dear, we are far from perfect. We are all paying a price for those mistakes. The secret is that we learn from those mistakes. Be truthful and admit to those mistakes and face the circumstances from them. All of those things are just as important as the other. However, I do feel that we need to learn from those mistakes. William and I have done that. Or I should say we are learning from that. We never want to make those mistakes again."

"And the home?"

"I was coming back after my husband was arrested on the train alone because he was already in jail. I meet a young woman on the train that is in the same type of situation you are in. I listened to her and thought there should be something out there to help her."

"They're homes out there, but they are not the best."

"That's what I thought. So, I felt led to start something."

"Learning from your mistakes huh…" Janice whispered. Grace wasn't sure if the red haired lady was speaking to herself or her. She could see Janice's mind working. Things were beginning to connect.

"A mistake is just that…a mistake. It may alter your life, but it doesn't have to destroy your life. Our mistake certainly altered our lives." Janice was a little confused by Grace's small grin. "But not all changes are bad. My husband has changed for the better. He began to ball me Gracie again. He hasn't done that since we were first married. He's teaching a business class to the younger prisoners hoping to help them when they get out."

"So, not all mistakes are life ending?"

"Absolutely not if you learn from them. Look at your situation, the pregnancy has changed your environment. But you will have a precious baby to love."

"Yeah." Janice smiled.

"See? The mistake may come with its costs, but you also can receive a blessing too."

"Yeah…my true blessing." Janice stated as she placed her hand on her still flat belly.

"Good morning, Mrs. Thatcher. How may I help you today?"

"Mr. Harrison, I was hoping to have a word with you."

"Yes, please come with me into my office."

"This is Janice."

"Hello Janice. Please, come with me."

Grace smiled at Mr. Harrison's kindness and friendship. They followed him into his office and sat down in the offered seats that were in front of his desk.

"Grace, how are you doing?"

"I'm good, Pat. Things are getting more settled. Thank you for asking."

"What may I do for you today?"

…

The next few moments were intense as the men stared at each other. Silas and Cody wanted to be part of the shipping of the weapons. There was a lot of money in moving that type of merchandise. Plus, they also thought it would bring them prestige. Jack and Sam wanted their opponents to talk. The more they knew about the Toronto Six, the better they would be moving forward. They had deliberately kept this conversation on the intense side, but knew they were moving closer to gaining these two men's trust. They just had to play it cool and follow the plan. Roy continued standing by the cave entrance watching everything unfold in front of him. His out of sight out of mind routine was paying off perfectly. Ever since his question was ignored by Jack and Sam, no one has looked in his direction. He was able to see and listen to everything without being noticed.

The intense staring contest was only broken when they heard a rustling sound immediately followed by the sound of a twig snapping. Immediately Jack and Sam pulled their side arms and pointed them directly at the forehead of Silas and Cody.

"Wow!" Silas stated holding his arms outstretched in a sign of surrender. "Wow…don't shoot." Jack and Sam continued holding their guns aimed at the whiskey runners' foreheads.

When they heard the same sound again, they all turned their heads to Jack's right. That's when they saw a deer feeding through the patch of clover. The two men slowly lowered their weapons and holstered them. They didn't snap them back in.

"What has you two jumpy?"

"We're just not moving the merchandise, Silas. We stole these weapons and moving them over province lines. We have a lot more skin in this process than you do."

Sam finally took his eyes off Cody and laid them upon Roy who was still standing by the cave entrance. He and Jack noticed him when he first stepped out but didn't say anything. "You finished?"

"Yeah. Everything is set."

"You did it right this time?" Hissed Sam.

"No worries. If anyone goes into that cave more than ten feet, they won't step back out of it. The product is much further in."

"Good. Now, let's go and get a drink."

"I'll gather the horses and wagon." Roy stated never making eye contact with anyone."

The four men watched Roy walk away towards the horses and wagon. When he was out of sight, Jack turned his attention toward Silas.

"So, what's the schedule?"

"We leave at nine in the morning."

"Ok. We'll be here at eight thirty to load our product." Jack emphasized the word 'our'.

"That'll work. We will make it just outside of Medicine Hat late tomorrow afternoon or early evening. We'll camp out tomorrow night and our next leg of men will meet us. We will take both of our products and load them on the train. They'll ride with it to British Columbia."

"What about you two?"

"When those men take the product, they'll have something for us to bring back east. That's how it all works. We constantly move products both ways with a small certain group of people. We trust that group."

"How will they get the crates on the train?"

"Our two men in Medicine Hat are contractors for a large construction company. They will paint "construction materials" on all these boxes. They will add it with all of their true construction material boxes. They just look like all the other shipping crates. That's the beautiful aspect of the whole process. We ship things in broad daylight. No one is going to look at seven small crates with construction materials painted on the side when there are thirty other boxes riding along with them. They ship containers all the time."

Jack and Sam shared glances. That made perfect sense. It also was a perfect way to ship things. They would just get lost in the sea of other crates. No one would have any reason to look at a few crates with so many others stacked beside and on top of them.

"We'll have our guy in British Columbia meet them at the train station."

"Jack, with that type of speed, we could move a lot more product."

"I agree. Do you think we can get more product?"

Sam thought about it for a moment. "I think so."

Jack and Sam had their conversation in front of Silas and Cody but didn't pay them any attention. If they had, they could see the greed coming over their faces. They saw dollar signs.

"Come on Sam. I'm hungry. Let's get that brother of yours and find some food."

…

"This is Janice. She is in need of a job."

"Hello Janice. I'm Pat Harrison. What type of work do you do?"

"I was training to be a secretary."

"Perfect. I think I can help you with that. Can you type? File? Schedule? Have good phone communication skills?"

"Yes sir. I wasn't finished with training. I only had two weeks left in my training."

Pat looked at Grace. It was odd for someone to quit training when they were that close to finishing it.

"Janice is in need of a job. She is our first resident at the Next Chance."

Pat nodded his head in understanding. He knew about Grace's undertaking with the young women's home. He could easily guess the circumstances in Janice's life. He leaned back in his chair for a moment. He quickly looked at this young woman. She seemed pleasant enough. She was kind and well spoken. He could tell she was a little nervous. He turned his head to look at Grace. She slowly nodded her head. He barely noticed it.

"Janice, my front office worker is retiring in four weeks. What would you say that you come to work here for me. She will use those four weeks to train you. You will be responsible for typing letters, scheduling, talking with varies companies and individuals to plan employment. Basically, you will run the front office and help me find people and place them with companies who is looking for workers."

"Mr. Harrison, I must be honest with you…"

"I know. We can work around that. We have paid insurance after three months. We will work around your pregnancy, delivery, and raising your child. Are you interested?"

Janice looked toward Grace. She nodded her head.

"I'll take it, sir. Thank you!"

"Thank me by doing a good job for me and for our clients."

"Yes sir."

"Perfect, Can you start Monday?"

"I'll be here."

Grace could only smile at the young red head's huge smile. She could sense and see the pride in this young lady. Grace noticed that Janice was sitting a little taller in her chair. She was taking the first step in redirecting her life in a path that was improving her circumstances. Grace felt pride for this young lady.

…

Jack, Sam, and Roy began their journey back to town. Silas and Cody made their way to their campsite. They didn't speak of anything until they were in town. They walked into the jail through the back door. They could easily see if they were being followed by doing that. Littleton and Collins were already sitting at the desk. They had coffee already made.

"You two are good." Sam stated.

"Yeah, I knew where you were hiding, and I couldn't see you." Roy added.

"That's the plan. How did it go?"

"It went well." Jack stated. He spent the next few minutes sharing everything that happened and what was discussed. The two mounties that were hidden could only hear part of the conversation. When he shared the process of moving the crates, he had Littleton's complete attention.

"That makes sense." He whispered. "We thought they were going through Medicine Hat, but we couldn't figure out how they were doing it."

"It's perfect in its simplicity." Collins stated.

"It is." Sam added.

"Now, Sam go to the mercantile and call this in to headquarters."

"Jack, that should be you. You are the superior officer here. Plus, this is your town."

Jack nodded his head. That was standard operating procedure. He was thinking like a sheriff and not a mountie even though he was using his mountie training.

"I'll go now. We may be able to enact this plan sooner since we know how they ship things now."

"True Jack, unless headquarters wants to wait and see what else the Toronto Six is doing."

"I guess we will have to see what the higher ups want to do. I'll bring back sandwiches from Abagail's."

"Not for me." Sam stated. He was hoping to see a blonde nurse later. If he was lucky, he would see her and have dinner with her. Jack nodded his head in approval. He knew what he was hoping for.

"Anything special for you three?"

"No. We've eaten there before. Everything Mrs. Hogan makes is great."

"True."

"Hey, what did you two do when we pulled our guns on them?"

"I had the guy on the left." Littleton stated with confidence.

"I had the guy on the right." Collins stated with the same confidence.

"Those two men would have never touched their guns."

Jack nodded his head in agreement. He turned around to walk to the mercantile. "Hey you two." Jack turned at the door and looked at Sam and Roy. "You two played your roles perfectly."

"Thanks." Both men stated.

"He really is as good as I've heard." Roy stated after the door closed.

"He really is. He just doesn't know it." Sam stated.

…

After the phone call and delivering the food to the jail, Jack made his way to his home. He was looking forward to seeing his family. As he turned the curve in the road, he heard children's laughter traveling through the air. He could easily pick out his son's laugh. His smile grew at the joy floating in the air. As he approached, he noticed Elizabeth was sitting on the step just below the top step. She had several pieces of paper in her head. He assumed she was grading papers.

"Hey beautiful." He stated when he was close enough for her to hear him without him having to scream.

"Hey handsome." Her face let up at the sound and sight of her husband.

"I came home as soon as I could." He stated as he sat down beside her. He kissed her gently on the lips.

"I see." She smiled. "Good day?" She asked.

"Yeah…busy but nothing bad happened." He took her hand.

"I'm grateful no one had to see Faith today." She stated glancing down at her small stack of papers.

"How did you…" He began and then stopped. "Yeah…it was a good day. No one was hurt and all is well." Of course she would know. She can read him like her favorite book. He thought back to the time when she came back to Hope Valley after going to Hamilton with Mr. Jaw. They lost the ability to read each other so well. He smiled gratefully that part of their relationship was strong again. He explained as much that happened as he could. Elizabeth knew Jack didn't share every little detail. She also knew that he shared as much as he could. That brought comfort to her.

Elizabeth settled into Jack side as he told her about the events of the day. She loved evenings like this. She was with her husband, and they were sharing the events of their day. JJ was in the field in front of the row houses playing with the other kids. He waved when he noticed his daddy, but he didn't leave the kids. He was playing with three four year olds. They loved playing with him.

"Hey…how are the plans going for his birthday party?"

"Jack! Don't say that too loud. He'll hear you."

Jack looked at her surprised. He looked at his son who was a good fifty yards away being chased by three little ones. He was giggling. "Elizabeth, he can't hear me."

"I think he knows." She looked towards her son.

"That he has a birthday coming up?" Jack teased with his patent silly grin.

She playfully slapped his forearm. "Of course, he knows he has a birthday coming up."

"And you don't think he knows you are doing something for him?"

"Why would he know that?"

"Seriously?" He playfully mocked. "You are the most loving person I know. This is his first birthday with us as our son. How many times have you used the word 'perfect' in describing his party?"

"Well…"

"You are his mommy, and you want every little aspect of the day to be truly perfect."

"I am his mommy."

"JJ, baby Thornton, and I are truly blessed to have you in our lives."

Elizabeth snuggled closer to Jack's side at his kind words. She let out a contented sigh.

"Faith said I need to come in soon to check on this little one."

Jack placed his hand on her little baby bump. "Is everything ok? Are you feeling ok?"

"I'm feeling fine. It's just a checkup. Faith just wanted to check on this little one." She placed her and on top of his hand.

"Ok." He sighed in relief. He moved his right hand and placed it on her lower thigh close to her knee. He gently squeezed it and then rubbed her leg with his thumb. They were busy watching their little boy play with the other kids. They sat like that for a few minutes just catching up on each other's day. Jack heard something and turned his body to see what it was. Two kids were running and playing. When he turned his body, his hand slid up her leg a little more. Now it was on her upper thigh. Jack gave her leg a tender squeeze when he turned back around to look for his son. He once again began to rub her leg with his thumb.

"Jack, I think JJ needs to go to bed early."

"JJ!" Jack called out.