“Our son needed my help. Laurie needed my help. Kaimi wasn’t going to stop looking for her,” Albert argued.
“You put me, Laurie, Gabriella, and the boys all in harm’s way!” Emma huffed.
“I knew you could handle it, and you did. You did just fine without me,” Albert pointed out.
“No, I didn’t. I was staring down the barrel of a gun. If Laurie hadn’t choked him with a coat hanger, I would be dead right now!” Emma screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Really?” Dante looked down at Laurie. She nodded. Dante started laughing.
“Did you burst out of the closet and attack him?” he asked.
Laurie nodded sheepishly. Dante threw his head back and laughed, deep down from his stomach. He leaned against the wall. He laughed for several long minutes. It felt so good; he couldn’t remember how long it had been since he laughed that hard. Certainly not since he left Laurie’s side.
Laurie laughed with him now too.
“What is so funny?” Emma came inside the barn.
“Well,” Dante tried to get himself under control. “When I first took Laurie into custody, we were attacked, and she leapt out from the closet at the gunman. With a lamp. She used a lamp that time.”
Dante and Laurie started laughing again. Dante gripped Laurie harder as they shook together. Laurie tried to bury her face into Dante’s shoulder as if to hide herself from Emma’s gaze.
Emma tried hard to stay angry, but the sight of them together and happy—genuinely happy—made the struggle hard. She fought a smile. When she was able to keep a straight face, she ordered them all inside, out of the cold.
Dante slid his arm around Laurie’s waist and they walked together toward the house.
Once inside, the boys sat down next to their father and mother at the kitchen table. They begged for the details of their trip. Dante and Laurie sat down opposite them.
Emma began cleaning the kitchen, ordering Albert to make them all a late breakfast.
Laurie clung to Dante, wrapping her arm around him and laying her head on his chest.
Dante heeded the pleas of the two young boys. He told them about their trip to Hawaii. He started with the hike to the abandoned safe house, and pouring through the old CIA files on Kaimi. He told them about Albert going under cover as the gardener, and the meeting plans they overheard between Kaimi and his informant inside the Marshals Service. He glossed over the meeting back at the safe house, to only say that the informant died, but Albert and Dante captured Kaimi, tied him up, and left him for the police.
“Cool.” James bounced in his seat. “Did you have to shoot the bad guys?”
“Yeah, we did.” Bob rustled his hair. “We had to make sure they couldn’t hurt anyone else.”
“But who was Kaimi’s informant?” Laurie looked up at Dante.
Dante hesitated, taking a deep breath.
“Cheyn. It was Cheyn.” Sadness twisted its way down his spine. Laurie gasped.
“No! It couldn’t have been.” Laurie covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes widening.
“It was. He admitted it to me.” Dante shook his head.
His heart grew heavy. He ran his hand through his hair, as his eyes dropped to the table. Laurie hugged him.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she whispered in his ear. He held her for a minute, kissing her cheek. Then he tucked her back under his chin. He could smell the floral scent of her shampoo, and it made him feel at home. It couldn’t quite fill the ache in his heart, but almost. Almost.
“We’ll have to post watches tonight.” Albert tried to balance the plates in his hand as he walked over. “Just in case.”
“We can do that.” Bob put one arm around his wife. He stretched the other arm around both of his boys.
Albert set down a plate full of pancakes, and another full of eggs.
“I’ll make a copy of Cheyn’s confession tonight. Mail it to Rick.” Dante slid his eyes up to his father’s.
“Go a couple of towns over the state line before you do that.” Albert gave him a pointed expression.
“I know, Dad, I know.” Dante waved him off, smiling.
Albert walked back to the stove to get a plate of bacon and a pitcher of orange juice.
“Don’t spill any of it.” Emma waved a spoon at him.
“Yes, dear.” Albert sighed.
He set both items down on the table with the greatest of care.
“Now, get them some plates, Albert. They can’t eat without any plates!” Emma commanded from the sink.
“Right away, Emma.” Albert bowed his head.
Albert pulled out all of the plates, set them down on the table, then went back for silverware before his wife could say anything more. Having satisfied Emma, she allowed him to sit down. Everyone began heaping food onto his or her plates.
As they started passing around the eggs, Laurie’s stomach turned over. Her hand flew to her stomach.
“Laurie, do you want any eggs?” Dante pushed them toward her.
Laurie swallowed hard.
“No, I’m not hungry,” she whispered.
“Are you okay? Are you feeling all right?” Dante leaned in closer, eyeing her.
She looked at Emma with alarm. Dante looked between the two women.
“I’m fine.” She swallowed. “It must just be nerves from last night and everything.”
His eyes narrowed. He wasn’t buying it. Her face flushed.
“You and I have been attacked before. You’ve never stopped eating. What’s wrong?” Dante glared with impatience.
“Nothing. I just feel a bit queasy all of a sudden,” she stammered. She shrugged.
“Laurie, honey. How about I get you some of the biscuits you had yesterday?” Emma’s voice became soft and raspy.
Dante surveyed his mother. He couldn’t put his finger on what was going on here.
“Yes, please.” Laurie nodded, gratefully.
“Mom, she can’t just have biscuits for breakfast. What have you been feeding her? No wonder she looks thin.” Dante ran his hands across her back.
“Well, maybe she hasn’t been eating because someone left her here all on her own to worry and wait.” Emma got up from the table.
“No, no, it’s okay. Biscuits sound really good.” Laurie gave him a nervous smile.
“No, you can’t just have biscuits. At least have some eggs, or a pancake. Just a pancake.” He heaped eggs and a pancake onto her plate.
She put her hand to her mouth and turned away.
Dante sat back. His father’s eyes narrowed in on her.
“No, I’m not that hungry,” Laurie choked out.
“If she isn’t hungry, then you can’t make her eat.” Emma slapped the table.
Emma picked up the plate in front of Laurie and replaced it with two plain biscuits.
Laurie shoulders relaxed.
“Mom she can’t just eat two plain biscuits for breakfast. Have you not been feeding her?” Dante again asked his mother.
“Son, you better let your mom handle this one.” Albert gave him a warning glare.
“What?” Dante raised his hands in self-defense.
“I said, let your mom handle it,” Albert said slowly.
Dante looked around the table. He saw his mother shoot his father a grateful look, before she sat back down at the table. Then he saw Gabriella exchange a knowing look with Bob, who seemed to get whatever message she sent.
Bob then grinned at Dante, who was baffled.
“What?” Dante hunched his shoulders.
“Nothing.” Bob grinned, taking a drink of orange juice. “Nothing at all.”
Bob started chucking into his stack of pancakes.
Laurie cringed.
“What the hell is going on here?” Dante demanded, looking at Laurie for answers.
Laurie looked at Emma, with a silent plea for something.
“Laurie, why don’t you take Dante upstairs for a minute?” His mother’s voice became raspy again.
She sighed, turning to Dante with a look of resignation.
“Can we go upstairs?” She looked up at him.