They took the Wagoneer to Goofy Golf. "You fellas go in first. See if you can spot her. I'll wait until you go in and then I will go in. If you spot her. Start talking to her. I'll come over if she doesn't flee." Phillip nodded.

They walked into the arcade. It smelled like pizza. This place looked like so much fun. Matty wished his arm wasn't broken so he could play some of the arcade games. "Do you see her?"
Matty looked around. He spotted Irene at a table eating pizza and looking nervous.

He ran over to her. Matty hugged her hard. He really missed her. "Sunshine is your father with you?" Matty nodded no. Phillip came over. "Hi Irene. I'm Phillip King." he extended his hand for her to shake.

Irene took his hand and shook it. Phillip and Irene's eyes met. They looked at each other a little too long before Irene spoke. "It is nice to finally meet you, Phillip King. I have heard a lot about you. You are not at all what I pictured. But you should not be here. I wanted to speak with Lee. Where is he?" Phillip was smiling at her and still staring a little. Then Phillip realized she had asked him a question. "He's recovering from being shot. He sent me to bring you back to the house with us. You can see him there."

Irene made a face "No, it is not safe. I do not want to put your family in even more danger." Phillip sighed. "It's safer at our house. Lee renovated our whole basement. It's a converted bomb shelter. If you come there. Nobody can get to you. I really like your accent by the way. You sound like a Bond girl. You kind of look like one too." Irene gave him a confused look but smiled a little. "I sound like a Bond girl?" Matty could tell Phillip had not meant to say that last part out loud. Phillip looked a little embarrassed.

Then his mother came over to the table. "Hello Irene." Irene looked extra nervous when she saw his mother. "Who are you? ""My name is Amanda Stetson. I am Matty & Phillip's mother. Lee's wife." "But you are supposed to be dead? Is this some sort of trick?"

Matty tapped on Irene. "My mother's alive. Come with us. My dad will explain everything." Irene stared at Matty, and she nodded ok. She got up from the table. Matty pointed at her leftover pizza. Irene smiled at Matty and nodded yes.

Matty took the slice of leftover pizza and started eating it as they made their way back to the car. Matty got in the back seat with Irene put her arm around him. She tapped on Matty. "I cannot believe your mother is alive. How is that even possible?" "It's a long story. We will tell you when we get back to the house. And your brother Phillip is much more handsome and older than I expected. I was expecting that he would be more like an American version of Tony from the stories your father has told."

Matty tapped back on her, "Oh he totally is the American version of Tony. You'll see. He is just on his best behavior right now." His mother spoke. "You can do the tapping thing with Matty like Lee does?" Irene smiled. "Yes, in the beginning it was much faster to learn that than sign language. I am not quite as quick with the tapping as Lee & Matty though."

They got back to the house. They took Irene in through the secret entrance in the garage. "This place is marvelous." Irene was looking around amazed. Then they went into the game room. "Lee designed this yes?" Amanda nodded. "Yes, how can you tell?" Irene smiled. "This room especially is designed very similar to the guest house at the Hamilton Estate. The television is almost as big, the style of furniture is similar, and there is a little kitchen in the back. Just like this."

His mother smiled at her. "It's safe down here. You can stay down here as long as you need to. Nobody can get to you down here. But Lee has already done too many stairs today. He's in the bedroom upstairs. I will take you to him."

Matty followed them up to the bedroom. Jamie was sitting on the bed with Lee, and they were talking quietly. His dad was no longer shirtless. He was wearing the top to his pajamas now. He was sitting on the bed quietly talking with Jamie when they all came in.
Irene went over to his dad and gave him a big hug. Her eyes filled with tears. "I am so very sorry Lee. For what my brothers did. I hate my family. I do not care about the money." His dad looked at her. "Hey, they aren't your family. We are. Matty & me. Always. Ok? "

She wiped her tears. "You will help me to disappear?" His dad nodded. "If it comes down to that. Yes of course. But you're innocent. And it just so happens that I know a good lawyer. Stay here at the house with us. It will all be alright. We will figure it all out." She hugged him again.

Then Irene spoke, "I cannot believe your wife is alive. How is that even possible?" His dad smiled. "She survived the explosion but just barely. I should have checked in on home or had you check up on them. But well you know how I was when I first went to you and grandfather. But you and my wife are going to get along great. These are my other boys Jamie & Phillip. Phillip, you met at Goofy Golf. But this is Jamie."

Irene smiled at Jamie and shook his hand. "I have seen some of your work. Your stepfather cuts out everything that you do from the NY Times. He has a scrapbook. You are very talented." Jamie smiled at her. "Thanks. At the park earlier today. You could have told me who you were. I would have helped you." Irene nodded. "Thank you. I just did not want to cause your family more trouble."

His mom came over and put a hand on Irene's shoulder. "Well, you are part of this family now, Irene. Your troubles are our troubles. We will help you. I will help you get settled downstairs."

His mom and Irene left the room. Phillip looked at his dad. "Your grandma, Lee. Is she seeing anyone?" His dad laughed. "Well, that depends on if she is still engaged to Matty or not. So, you might have to fight your little brother for her. You might want to move fast before that arm of his heals and he gets his ninja moves back. And I did go on a date with her once but that was a disaster. She is way too young for me and your mom has ruined other women for me."

Matty laughed and pretended like he was ready to fight Phillip. He had been around seven years old when he proposed to Irene. His grandfather had been worried about what would happen to Irene if he died. His grandfather was an old man. He had wanted Lee to marry her to protect her in the case that something happened to him. Had even forced them to go on a date. That date had gone really badly. His father had told grandfather that he was never going to get married again. He couldn't do that to the memory of his mom.

Matty figured he would step in. Irene had turned him down but she told him to ask her again when he was eighteen. But afterwards his father and great-grandfather liked to tease Matty about it. Irene was very pretty but she was more like a big older sister to him. If Phillip ended up with her that would be alright with him. Plus, Matty knew teasing Phillip about it was going to be fun.

Notes:

Apologizing now for having Lee put his shirt back on. Shirtless Lee will return later in the story.

Where were Leann and Dotty this chapter? Shouldn't they have come home by now? They did. Lee just asked Dotty to take Leann to her loft while everyone was at Goofy Golf.

Next chapter - Matty gets to see Dotty's loft over the garage.
It is really nice. Lee hooked Dotty up when he moved into the Maplewood house.