From Rockville to Stockton 15

At 8:00 that evening Danny entered the home he was sharing with Jarrod for the next few weeks until he went back to Harvard to finish his last semester. Then he would be graduating with his law degree. He saw the lights were on in the living room, but also there was a light on in Jarrod's study, so he knew that Jarrod was still up.

Danny almost went upstairs to his room, and even though he knew it was not that late, he thought he would just leave Jarrod alone and they would talk in the morning. When suddenly the door to the study opened and Jarrod came out to greet Danny.

"Well, there you are, I trust you enjoyed spending time with your momma," Jarrod said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Jarrod couldn't help but notice the nervous look on Danny's face. He had a strange feeling that something might be wrong, and he knew he needed to be very cautious in the way he approached the situation.

"Danny is something wrong?" Jarrod asked as the two men sat down on the sofa.

Slowly Danny let out a deep breath, then looked at Jarrod and started to speak.

"Jarrod, seeing my momma today was a surprise to me, I just hope you don't think that I planned it," Danny said. He looked up to see a solemn expression on Jarrod's face, then couldn't miss the sneaky smile on Jarrod's face as well.

"Now Danny I can tell by your reaction that seeing your momma today was a surprise to you as well, so please think nothing of it. Of course, I have a feeling it was a shock for her to see me!"

Danny couldn't help but grin then he said, "It was a shock to her seeing me and then seeing you also, she recognized you too, Dakota!"

"Danny, why do I get a feeling you did not tell your mother that I was the one you were interning for?" Jarrod had a sneaky expression on his face again.

"I wanted to surprise her by letting her see you again before I told her."

Jarrod shook his head then laughed a little as he looked at Danny.

"Danny, your Momma may have felt like making you stand in a corner or something!" Jarrod said, laughing harder now.

That's when Danny started laughing as well then, his mind drifted back to his visit with his mother earlier in the day.

Earlier that day visiting with his momma at one of the many Cafés in San Francisco:

"It's so good to see you Momma, I was going to come to visit you in a few days, while I was here in San Francisco!"

"And what would Mr. Barkley say about that?" Libby Matthews asked her son, giving him a stern look, hiding her real feelings.

"Oh, he said that would be fine for me to visit with you since we came here," he said happily.

"How long are you going to be here in San Francisco?" Libby said curiously.

"Well, I'm not sure, I think Jarrod plans to go back to Stockton in about two weeks. I had thought I would come to Rockville then to surprise you, but then you surprised me here," he said with a grin.

"You mean, we surprised each other." She was now grinning.

As they both laughed for a few minutes Danny noticed a certain look in his mother's eye that he hadn't remembered ever noticing before.

"Momma, why don't I come by in the morning say around ten and pick you up and take you to the law office just to show you where I have been working here, and so for you to see "Dakota" again and…"

"Daniel Scott Matthews, you are here to work and complete your internship before your graduation in a few months," was her response. But there was something in her voice as Libby said that.

"But what Momma?" Danny was sounding disappointed at the thought that his momma didn't want to see "Dakota."

"You don't need to play matchmaker, as a matter of fact I don't think that's a good idea."

Danny looked as if he was defeated in a way, he wanted to see his momma happy with a man in her life. But he also really did want to show her the law office there in the big city.

"Oh, Danny I'm sorry of being so insensitive to your feelings, I know you have always looked out for me wanting me to be happy, and now you are in the process of fulfilling your dream career." She bowed her head, became quiet for a moment. Danny immediately became worried.

"No, Momma, it's all right, really it is. I tell you what, if you don't want to see the office here that's fine, maybe sometimes we can go to Stockton together and I'll show you around there. I can introduce you to some of the people I have met there. And speaking of people I have and have not met, I haven't yet met Jarrod's family," he said as he took a drink of water.

"You haven't what!" Libby was not that happy with what her son had just told her.

"Momma it's alright really it is, when I arrived Jarrod was already involved in a case that took up quite a bit of our time, then we came here."

"Well, alright I would have just thought that he would have introduced you to just about everyone that he knew."

Libby felt ashamed of herself, thinking that Jarrod should just do a job and not have any social life at all, which of course she knew that that was all wrong.

"As I was saying, Jarrod introduced me to Mrs. Weaver, the lady that owns the boarding house in Stockton, and of course the boarders that were staying there. And then there's the Sheriff there, and I can't forget Robyn, Dakota's secretary in Stockton." He became excited again.

"Momma let me tell you about the case that Jarrod was working on when I arrived in Stockton."

After telling his mother about the McMillans he saw Libby yawn, realized it had been a long day, and so he kissed his mother good night.

Danny came back to the present, saw Jarrod looking at him, waiting, and he grinned. "Just remembering today."

"You should bring her to the office, if she has time, and have her join us for the celebration on the 4th," Jarrod said. Then he noticed the look on Danny's face, "If she's comfortable doing that…"

"I'll ask her", Danny replied, "that's all I can do."