Dotty pulled carefully into her driveway at 4247 Maplewood Drive, surveying the area and breathing a sigh of relief. No sign of Amanda's station wagon or Lee's Corvette. Not that she didn't want to see her daughter and her amazing long-term boyfriend, but she had things she needed to get done before the house was descended upon again by her family. She needed to get the curtains, comforter, and pillow shams in Amanda's room into the laundry so they could continue with their fall housecleaning. They had started that room yesterday, but as usual, Amanda had been called away on some sort of "emergency" at the film company and disappeared the minute she'd hung up the phone. "Just what kind of emergencies keep happening at a wildlife film company?" she had wondered, time and time again.

Not that she didn't enjoy Lee, either. Since he'd entered their lives a year or two ago, Amanda had been so much happier. She had a sneaking suspicion that he'd been in Amanda's circle (and thoughts) long before she started bringing him home, though. The boys, Philip especially, had been happier and better behaved having a man around who could also be an amazing father figure. He even helped them with their homework! Even Dotty had found that she had been enjoying life more. It was FUN having Lee around, and he seemed to truly love being part of a family for the first time. She really didn't know that much about him, though, for he was very guarded and kept his personal thoughts and feelings pretty much to himself. But on those rare occasions when the real Lee showed through any chinks in his armor, she liked what she saw. He had to have been hurt very badly at some point to have erected such a wall around himself. Truth be told, she was very much his admirer and prayed every night that he'd become her son-in-law.

As far as she knew, his moving in hadn't been talked about. Both Amanda and she wished that he would, so they could take care of him properly. The boys needed him, and they all had the same sneaking suspicion that HE needed them just as much. It was great having Lee over for dinner and watching him relax, but then he'd get all wound up when it came time to go home. He and Amanda would look at each other wistfully, then take half an hour saying goodnight out on the terrace. Philip and Jamie wondered out loud why he had to go "home" when "here" was where he belonged. Oh, there was the occasional pair of men's underwear and mateless argyle sock that migrated to the top of the laundry, but other than that, Lee Stetson seemed doomed to continue driving across the bridge to DC every night to his tiny, lonely apartment.

Still deep in thought, Dotty parked the car, opened the door and wearily stepped out onto the macadam. She was home, and it was time to get cracking. After going up the stone steps, she unlocked the front door, stepped inside, and tossed her purse onto the sofa before taking a deep breath and starting up the stairs to continue what should have been taken care of yesterday. Not pausing, she opened the door and went purposefully inside, striding towards the windows to start taking down the curtains. She was halfway across the room before she let out a blood-curdling scream.

There, on the bed, she saw the backside of a naked man, his buttocks firm and round, with a broad, muscled back and even broader shoulders. Female hands gripped his magnificent glutes tightly, and the man was humping and thrusting furiously, enough to make the bed shake and shimmy. She heard the heavy breathing, the gasping, the moans and groans of sexual ecstasy, and smelled the scents of two people joined in coital bliss as they soared through the heavens. It took her only a millisecond to turn-tail and flee the room, slamming the door behind her and stopping a few feet away to catch her breath.

There she stood, with her hand on her chest and her eyes wide, trying to recover from what she'd just witnessed. "Slow your breathing, Dotty!" she told herself. Images she'd never forget flashed through her mind, and even though she was squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she knew she'd never banish them completely. The shock was completely overwhelming her.

She heard the door close gently behind her. "Dotty," Lee's voice said softly, slicing into her reality. "We're sorry you saw that just now."

Dotty whirled around and saw Lee, his hair disheveled, his face showing a zillion emotions, and a too-small towel slung precariously low on his hips. He'd grabbed it hastily and was gripping it firmly with his left hand, and Dotty saw that the edges of the towel didn't even come close to meeting over his broad, strong thigh. She took every inch of him in, discovering that his torso didn't really look like she'd imagined. And she'd imagined it frequently enough. She already had been pretty certain that his chest wasn't hairy, but now she saw for certain his huge, smooth, sweat-slick chest, which was pock-marked and riddled with scars, his heaving pecs and big, dark nipples (which really didn't surprise her as she'd seen shadows of them through some of his too-tight shirts) and the bowl of his navel, which was a few long inches above the towel's hem. And the towel did a VERY poor job of concealing what was beneath it. His man mound pushed the white terry fabric forward, making the situation even more embarrassing than it already was. He was panting for breath, and of course as beside himself as she was.

Lee was determined to keep calm. "It's not what it looks like," he offered quietly, his eyes pleading with her.

"It most certainly IS what it looks like, Mr. Stetson!" she yelled at him. "I'm not THAT old that I forget what SEX is!"

Lee flinched as though he'd been struck. She'd called him "Mr. Stetson!" She hadn't called him that for months and months now. He'd fit into the family so very nicely, and he loved it here. And now everything was completely ruined. He felt his heart sink and the blood drain from his face. His heart pounded furiously in his chest as his anxiety ran amuck.

Struggling to pull herself together, Dotty continued to give Lee the once-over (actually, the twice-over) and her eagle-sharp eyes lit on the glint of gold on his left hand, which was still gripping the towel as fiercely as if his life depended on it. Horror swept across Dotty's face. "YOU'RE MARRIED?" she shrieked, her hand rising by her side. "And you're SCREWING AROUND behind her back WITH MY DAUGHTER!? YOU MONSTER!"

Lee saw it coming and had only a millisecond to make the decision. Drop the towel, lose every last bit of dignity, and protect himself from the impending slap, or take what assuredly was going to be Dotty's best shot ever. Hell, he deserved it, he thought, and he squeezed his eyes shut just as her hand came flying towards him.

There was a sharp crack of flesh-upon-flesh as Dotty's open palm struck Lee's left cheek. His head whipped to the right, and he struggled to stay on his feet and maintain composure. His right foot actually moved back a bit to give him a better stance. When he recovered, Dotty saw the severe red mark that her hand had left on him. She instantly felt sorry. Hurting Lee was the last thing she wanted to do. Ever.

"Please, Dotty," Lee began, running his free hand over his cheek, trying to soothe the sting before pulling it back to examine it for any blood she may have drawn. He looked at her with a kind of desperate intensity, his piercing green-brown eyes imploring her to listen. "Let me talk to you. Please?" he besought. A short silence followed, then he begged again, his knees about to buckle. "Please." It was just a whisper, but it was filled with hope.

They say that the eyes are the window to the soul, and Dotty never could resist Lee's. As she bored into them now, she saw exactly what he was saying: "Please don't take away the best thing that's ever happened to me. Please."

Dotty closed her eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to process the last five minutes. Just then, the bedroom door opened and Amanda emerged, wearing a pale pink robe and carrying a piece of paper. Somewhat ashamedly, she handed the document to her mother.

"He IS married, Mother," she stated simply. "to ME. We've been married since last Valentine's Day. We're sorry."

Dotty took the paper and collapsed into a nearby chair, fanning herself with it. Lee and Amanda stood with bated breath, silently waiting for her to respond and praying fervently that neither Philip nor Jamie would come crashing through the door. After a while, Dottie looked down at the paper and began reading it. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and she eventually put the marriage certificate down on her lap, digesting everything. Eventually, she smiled.

Her right eyebrow arched suspiciously as she looked over at Lee. "You've never been married? And no children?" she inquired sharply.

"No ma'am," Lee answered with perfect truth.

"I can only take so much, you know," she finally admitted when she looked at both of them, her wonderful daughter and her incredibly handsome but mysterious husband. "You've been living a lie for that long, huh? And you cheated me of the chance to see you two get married, which is something I will never have now," she bemoaned. After a long and regretful sigh, she continued. "Well, I guess there's no going back, is there? And you two getting married IS what I've been hoping for all along, after all."
Lee felt his heart start beating again. He was safe.

Dottie's tone grew sharper. "But don't take me for stupid," she continued, looking over at Lee, making his anxiety blossom once more. His nearly naked body, like his heart, bore multiple scars. Actually, it was sad and disturbing. His chest and shoulders looked like they'd been ripped apart, time and time again.

"You don't get shot-up and knifed-up like that working for a film company," she observed, getting out of her chair and putting her finger on the healed indentation under Lee's left collarbone. "Now's the time to come clean, BOTH OF YOU," she continued, her voice leaving absolutely no room for lies or shenanigans. Lee shivered; he knew that he could stand up to Russian interrogators for hours, but wouldn't last five minutes under one of Dotty's inquisitions.

Decidedly, Lee swallowed hard and began, his voice soft. "We work for the government, Dotty," he admitted, reaching for Amanda's hand with his right one. "Amanda and I had a chance encounter when she was taking Dean to the train station one day and things just kind of went from there."

"That's the reason we keep disappearing," Amanda added. "It was never an attempt to deceive you, Mother. It was all necessary to keep everyone in the family safe. Again, we're sorry. We really can't explain TOO much because of the nature of the work we do." She looked over at Lee, and he nodded in agreement. "Our professional lives have to be kept TOTALLY secret! And our personal lives, too."

"I think I get it," Dotty allowed, somewhat reservedly. "But it's going to take quite a while for me to adjust to this, you know." She looked over at her daughter. She needed to recover a bit and really wasn't ready for any more earth-shattering surprises at the moment. "Amanda, why don't you go get cleaned up and then we'll sit down and talk this out further a little bit? I want to talk to my son-in-law."

An overwhelming and all-encompassing surge of relief flooded Lee's body. Amanda patted his towel-covered rear and disappeared back into the bedroom.

"Lee," Dotty began. "I'm sorry I hit you."

"It's OK, Dotty," he answered. "I really do understand. I'm just . . . well, glad . . . so VERY glad . . . that you're not mad at us."

"Oh, I'm MAD as HELL!" Dotty exclaimed in a voice several decibels louder. Seeing Lee's face fall again, she quickly added "But that doesn't mean I don't love you. BOTH of you!" Reaching up, she put her hand around the back of Lee's head and pulled him down so his forehead rested on hers. "I do love you, Lee Stetson," she informed him, his nearly naked body brushing up against hers. "You are the son I never had," she whispered. "And much more of a son-in-law to me than Joe ever was!" Her lips reached over to his reddened cheek and kissed him gently. She had no idea how much he needed to hear those words, nor just how long he'd been waiting. "Now, go back to your wife and meet up with me later."

Her words were so reassuring, sincere, and comforting, it was all Lee could do not to cry. They were words he never thought he'd ever hear from anyone, and they penetrated to his very core. "I . . . love . . . you, too, Dotty!" he managed to get out, his body almost shaking. He was afraid to hug her because he was only somewhat wearing a towel, but his head came to rest on her shoulder in complete and utter relief. "I was so afraid you were going to make me go," he almost sobbed in a rare moment of self-reveal. "I don't think I could have lived through that."

"Never!" Dotty assured him. "Your place is here with us, Lee. There will never be any question about that." She turned to go down the stairs, then looked back at the man who was now actually family. "And if you want to . . . uh . . . pick up where I interrupted, please feel free." she told him, smiling broadly.

"Thank you, Dotty! Just knock if you need to come in," Lee grinned, his smile lighting up the hallway. "Maybe more than once, even?" He stood and watched as she went down the stairs.

Shaking his head in disbelief at how well things had actually gone, Lee entered the bedroom and locked the door behind him. Amanda was just coming out of the bathroom after her shower, wearing absolutely nothing and looking magnificent. An impish grin formed on Lee's face as he dropped his towel and went to embrace her. "Phew!" they both exclaimed together. "I guess we've got some more 'splaining to do!"

"You handled that VERY well!" Amanda complimented him, relieved.

Lee smiled, grateful beyond words. "Just goes to show you how well things can go when you have such excellent back-up!" he reminded her.

"Scarecrow," Amanda switched to her work voice. "Things were getting pretty heated out there, and then all of a sudden Mother calmed down. What did you say to her?" she asked, nestling into the comfort and secure embrace of her equally naked husband.

"Not much," Lee answered. "I just gave her the same look that I gave you that day in the train station."

"Ahhhhhh," Amanda smiled knowingly. "No wonder she caved!" She held her husband's head between her hands and kissed him tenderly. "Who could EVER resist that face?" she murmured. Her hands slowly migrated down his broad, strong back until they reached his glutes, then grabbed and squeezed his firm, incredibly male posterior. "Or that BODY!" she grinned.