Conner had a long and tiring day traveling from the West Coast to the East Coast, and even though it was late by the time he arrived in Burlington, Katie had kept the boys up and insisted on meeting him at the airport. Katie stood in the baggage claim area with a little boy on each hand…a cranky, tired little boy on each hand.
She looked like a teenager to him, like a little girl with her long, soft brown hair, makeup-free face, large blue eyes. And when she saw him, she started to cry. Her mouth twisted, her nose reddened, and her eyes grew very wet.
He kissed her forehead. “Don’t,” he said in a hoarse whisper. And then he fell to his knees and pulled the boys into his arms. “I missed you!” he told them, nuzzling their necks.
“You’re itchy,” Andy complained.
“Why do you have this?” Mitch asked, touching his goatee.
“I want to be cool,” Conner said, fighting emotion. “Look at you. You grew. Which one of you is bigger?”
Andy giggled. “We’re identical. We’re the same.”
“I don’t know,” he said, frowning at them. “I think Mitch is getting taller.”
“Naw, but I’m smarter,” Mitch said.
“Are not!”
“Am so!”
“Can we fight at home, please?” Katie asked, emotion tugging at her voice.
Conner stood and enfolded her in his arms, hugging her close. “It’s so good to see you, to know you’re okay. Let’s get these monsters home.”
She nodded, tears in her eyes. “Let’s get Uncle…” She stopped and looked around, clearly giving a second thought to saying his name out loud in a public place. “Let’s get the bags and go home before you two turn into pumpkins.”
“I never done that, but she says it all the time,” Andy said to Conner.
“You better look out. You just might one of these days. Honey, take one of them to get a cart. I’ll take the other one to get the bags.”
“You have a lot?” she asked.
He looked down at her. “Everything. I have everything. I’ll explain later.”
Her eyes got round for a moment, but then she was all about business, taking Andy with her to get a cart while Conner grabbed Mitch and went to the carousel, praying his duffels made it, and he wouldn’t have to deal with lost baggage.
Once they had three large duffels and a carry-on, they made their way to the car. Conner insisted on driving; Katie seemed emotional and tired. She gave him some directions to get them started, and they were hardly underway five minutes when both boys passed out in the backseat.
“Everything?” Katie asked softly. “You brought everything?”
“I’m going straight to Sacramento from here. They want to prep me for the trial, which should be starting soon. There was no point in paying rent on a cabin just to store my jeans and boots.”
“But you’re going back, aren’t you? You love it there!”
“I hope to, but one day at a time….”
“What about your girlfriend? Couldn’t she hang on to it for you?”
“I’m sure she would’ve been happy to, but I didn’t want to load that on her. She’s a little stressed about this whole thing as it is.”
“Aren’t we all! I’m still a little nervous about you doing this, coming here. We weren’t supposed to see each other until this was over. More to the point, we weren’t supposed to be seen together, the four of us. A big guy with a short woman and five-year-old twin boys—we stand out.”
“Look, I know Mathis must have a lot of connections, but I find it hard to believe any of them have traced us to Burlington, Vermont. Thinking about it, I agree it’s smart to get us out of Sacramento—that’s a hot potato. And they did demonstrate they’d burn down a building to make a point. But I doubt they have a huge interstate network of thugs and investigators trailing us both.” He reached across the console and squeezed her hand. “Why do that when they can wait in Sacramento for me to show up for the trial? That’s where I could be a sitting duck.”
“I’m so scared, Danny.”
He squeezed again. “Don’t be. This will be over before you know it. And, this might be hard for a while, but I’m keeping the name Conner now. We’re going to change. You don’t have to, but I am.”
“Why?” she asked, surprised.
“Well, all my new ID is in that name and while I don’t plan to hide forever, I think it makes sense to leave Danson Conner behind….” He looked over at her. “And…that’s what Leslie calls me. I’m keeping it. It’s convenient and it’s who she knows.”
“Wow. I think you’re in love again.”
He shook his head. “Not again. In love for the first time.”
Anyone would have had to be blind to miss Leslie’s melancholy, and she knew it. Conner had only been gone twenty-four hours, but she’d pulled into herself the minute he’d driven away from her house. Paul was good enough to ask if she was all right, and she said, “Of course, I just hope everything is all right with Conner’s family.” Brie called her at work and asked how she was holding up, and she said, “I miss him, of course, but I can live with that easy. Is he in danger?” Brie answered that he’d benefit from the best protection law enforcement could offer. Leslie stopped by the bar for a glass for wine and takeout, and Jack said, “So, your boy had family business. He okay?” And she said, “He made it there safely and said everything is going to be fine. He should have things sorted out in a week or so.”
“What kind of family business?” Jack asked, because he was Jack. “I hope there isn’t illness involved.”
“He didn’t give me any details. He left pretty quickly. But I understand there’s some kind of domestic situation.”
“Ah,” Jack said. “Sounds like a divorce brewing or something.”
“It does sound like that, doesn’t it? We’ll get the full story when he’s back, which hopefully won’t be long. I sure got used to having him around in a hurry. I admit, I miss him already.”
So due to that and a nagging worry that she simply couldn’t ignore, she was quiet and knew it. She also knew she wasn’t going to be able to spend a lot of time talking to Conner while he was away, so she’d have to suck it up and think positively.
The very next morning before work, she was out in the front yard, pulling dead blossoms off some of the flowers they’d planted together, every thought on him. She heard someone coming down the street and looked up to see an elderly woman walking with a young woman who held the tiny hand of a two-year-old and carried a pudgy, smiling baby in a backpack. She’d seen them before; sometimes the young woman had one of the kids in an umbrella stroller. She stood up and smiled at them.
“Well, hi,” she said, brushing off her knees.
“Hello,” the older woman said. “I’ve been meaning to get down here to say hello. I’m Adie Clemens and this here is Nora and her babies. Nora forces me out of the house almost every morning.”
Leslie lifted her eyebrows. “Is that so? I’m Leslie.” She put out a hand to the older woman first, then the younger.
“Doc Michaels said she should walk every day and if I don’t walk her, she manages to forget. Nice to meet you.”
“Are you two related?” Leslie asked.
They looked at each other and laughed. “No, I’m just a thorn in her side,” Nora said. “Adie’s blood pressure and cholesterol have come down since she’s been eating less pound cake and walking. And now that spring is officially here with summer right around the corner, the girls and I sure can use the vitamin D. Your flowers are so beautiful. Adie and I have admired them every morning since you planted them.”
Leslie surveyed the yard with a longing in her heart. “My boyfriend, Conner,” she said. “This was his idea of bringing a girl flowers. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“The young man with the great big pickup truck?”
“The same. We work for the same construction company. I assume your husband works around here?” she asked, looking at Nora.
Adie laughed. “Not a husband between us,” she said, trading smiles with Nora. “Maybe that’s why we lean on each other a little bit.”
“I work part-time at the clinic and will work more part-time at the school when they open up. They’re going to do summer school with preschool just to get started and test the waters. Adie and Martha Hutchkins sometimes keep the girls for me.”
“She’s excellent with children,” Adie said, giving her arm an affectionate pat.
“I apologize. It was silly of me to assume…”
“No worries, I probably would’ve assumed the same. This is Berry,” she said, ruffling her little toddler’s curls, “and this is Fay Lynne. You have the most wonderful front porch. Best one on the block. And the weather is so great—we should christen it with some lemonade and cookies one of these afternoons. Are you up to some old lady chatter?”
“Excuse me, madam,” Adie said indignantly, drawing herself up to her full five feet.
Nora just laughed. “Like I said…”
And Leslie immediately thought, a friend in the neighborhood sure wouldn’t hurt, especially right now when she was feeling too alone. “I would love that. I usually get home by five. Six if I stop off at Jack’s for dinner or takeout.”
“Ah, Jack’s,” Nora said almost wistfully. “Back in the days before motherhood, I had been known to stop at a tavern or two. I vaguely remember….” Then she laughed.
“I would love to have you over to test the porch. Invite Mrs. Hutchkins and Puff,” Leslie said.
“We’ll be in touch,” Nora said. “Come on, Adie, let’s log those miles! See you later, Leslie.”
She watched them go and thought that Nora couldn’t be twenty-six, and here she was, a mother of two with no husband. Of course she hadn’t asked if there was a man somewhere, but she got the impression there wasn’t.
And then she heard the phone in the house ringing and dashed for it. Only two people called her—her mother and Conner.
“Hey, baby,” he said in his low, sexy voice. “I caught you before work.” He laughed. “Caught you alone without work crews in the trailer, so you can talk dirty to me.”
“Conner!”
“I’m alone at the moment, which is hard to manage around here. What are you wearing?” he teased.
“Oh, stop,” she said with laugh. “Tell me about Katie and the boys.”
“Ah, the boys—not a real quiet pair, that’s for sure. We’ve been doing a lot of wrestling and I think my sister is about to throw us out of the house. This is a small house, about the size of yours—just two bedrooms and a small living room, which we manage to fill up completely when the three of us are rolling around on the floor. And they get wound up and can’t settle down. She’s gone to run them around the park to see if she can wear them out a little. She took the day off today to spend time with me and to cook a nice dinner for me and her boss…the boss she says is keeping things very professional while she’s working up a crush on him. I’m going to get a chance to look him over.” Then he chuckled again.
“You sound…you sound so wonderful,” she said. But the image she conjured of him hugging his younger sister and rolling around on the floor with his nephews made her wonder how he was going to make himself leave them. “It must feel so good to be reunited with them.”
“They should have me completely worn out by Sunday, when I leave. Speaking of Sunday—are you checking the news?”
“I look online every day,” she said.
“They published my name before the preliminary hearing, but I haven’t seen it again in reference to the pending trial. And no picture. At least not yet.”
“Why would they publish your name?” she asked with a tinge of anger.
“It’s not malicious, Les. It’s part of public record. They needed the name of the witness to get the search warrant to collect all the other evidence. It was news. Once something like this happens to you, you begin to notice things, like the names of victims published, if they’re not minors. I’m just grateful they haven’t run a picture yet, because I look an awful lot like Danson Conner. And if I can keep all my Virgin River friends from figuring this out before the trial…”
“But, Conner, no one from around here would wish you any harm!”
“Of course not. I just don’t want pretrial publicity to lead to you.”
“I don’t know what you mean….”
He took a breath. “I don’t want your safety compromised to get to me. You don’t watch cop shows, do you?”
“No. Lately I haven’t watched anything but you.”
“Well, don’t start watching them now. In another week and a half, this will be over, and I’ll be back.”
“Are you sure, Conner?”
“What do you mean, am I sure?”
“It’s going to be so hard for you to leave your sister and nephews.”
“It was always going to be hard,” he said. “When she married Charlie, she was only twenty-six, and off she went to Fort Bliss in Texas. Less than a year later he brought her back to me, pregnant, and left her with me while he deployed. For the past five years I’ve tried to prepare myself for the day she’d meet the right guy. The chances have always been good that she and the boys would move away.”
“You sound more like a father than a brother,” she said.
“I felt like that sometimes,” he said. “Maybe I got a little stodgy—I had a lot of responsibility at a young age….”
“You’re not stodgy now….”
“Until now, I was tied to that store. It was our legacy—I had to make it work to ensure the future. Not just mine, but the whole family’s, because there was an equal chance Katie wouldn’t meet the right guy and move away….”
“It’s different now,” she said. “You’re free to go anywhere.”
“Yes, I am. And I’m coming back to you.”
Conner felt as if he could’ve stayed on the phone with Leslie for a long time, but not only were Katie and the boys coming up the walk toward the house, Leslie did have a job to attend to. He reluctantly said goodbye with a promise to call her at his next opportunity.
He saw them from the living room picture window—they were running, of course. They didn’t walk anywhere. Katie was bringing up the rear, much more slowly. The boys blasted in the front door and tackled him, one kid on each leg. He laughed and said, “Yeah, you’re tired out. Right.” When Katie came in the door, he smiled at her and said, “You did a good job of wearing these guys down.”
“I need a nap,” she said. “Where do they get the energy?”
They ran off to the TV, firing up their current favorite movie, Avatar.
“I think we should stop feeding them,” he said.
“I’m going to make lunch, then with any luck we’ll have some quiet time! Sandwiches?”
“Anything, honey,” he said. “What can I do?”
“You can tell me what you think of the house, the neighborhood, the area.”
“I think it’s great and have no trouble understanding why you feel comfortable here. But once the trial is over you probably can’t stay in this house.”
Her hands full of cold cuts from the refrigerator, she turned slowly toward him. “But I can,” she said. “I checked. This was a six-month lease, which is available again when I move out. It’s a warm, friendly town, Danny. I mean, Conner.”
He smiled indulgently at her struggle with the new name. “And there’s a guy here,” he reminded her.
“It’s not like we’ve dated or anything, but we have a couple of complications. One—I work for him. I get the sense that there are lines he won’t cross and that’s one of them. But I like that. If I’m going to be involved with anyone, he has to have really strong principles. Like Charlie had. Like you have.”
“I have?” he asked.
“You have definite limits,” she said, pulling out the mayo, mustard and lettuce. “There are things you just won’t compromise.”
“I think you have an idealized vision of me,” he pointed out to her. “Right now I’m getting it on with my boss’s secretary. And have absolutely no guilt.”
“Tell me about her,” Katie said. “All. Tell all.” And she began dealing out bread on the counter to make sandwiches.
“Well, she’s beautiful. The second I saw her, my knees started to feel soggy. She has blond curls—big, loose curls. Brown eyes—when she smiles her eyes get almost black, they’re so dark and wet. She’s not short like you—she’s a few inches taller and when I dance with her—”
“You went dancing?”
He chuckled. “Long story—I’ll tell you later. Les is beautiful, but the best part about her goes way beyond looks. She’s very feisty—she runs that construction company and all those men, and believe me, they don’t give her any trouble.”
“Is she bossy?” Katie asked.
He shook his head. “She’s confident. Funny thing is, she told me she’s always had a confidence problem. Maybe in other parts of her life, but not with me, not with her job. And she’s very funny. She’s kind of a wiseass. I like that. And this might seem kind of incongruous—she’s very kind. There was a housewarming party for one of our guys and his fiancée recently, and even though Leslie hadn’t met her, she called her and offered to help out before and after the party. Thoughtful. Sincere. She’s sweet but very strong. I didn’t even think about how much I like strength in a woman until I met Leslie.”
“I’d like to be stronger,” Katie said.
“Oh, sweetheart, you’re strong enough,” he said. “You’ve really made lemonade with what life handed you. Better than anyone I know.”
“I’ve always had you,” she reminded him.
“And you always will have me,” he said. “Even if we end up on opposite oceans.”
She was quiet for a second. “So, are you saying there’s absolutely no chance Leslie would consider a major relocation?”
He put his hands in his pockets. “She’s an only child. Her parents are a long way from needing her, that’s my guess, but they are in their late sixties and it’s something she thinks about. She’s close to them—yet another thing about her I love. With any luck they’ll be in their late eighties before they call on her for help, but I think Les and her parents need each other emotionally. I know if Mom and Dad were alive, I’d feel that way.”
Katie’s head tilted to one side, and she smiled. “Did you finally find someone who feels the same way about family that you do?”
He leaned his big hands on the breakfast bar. “Katie, even if I live in California and you live in Vermont, you can always depend on me. You know that, right? That you’ll never be stranded and alone? All you have to do is call me.”
“I know that,” she said. “Keith is like that, too. He’s very close to his mother and his sister and he looks out for them. You’ll like him, I know you will.”
Of course Conner liked Keith. He was easy to like. He arrived on time, brought a nice bottle of Chardonnay, because that’s what Katie liked. The boys ran to him, hugging his legs, and he bent to receive them. When he stood up he was holding Andy with one arm under his rump and ruffling Mitch’s hair while he had a bottle of wine tucked under one arm. He stuck out his hand toward Conner. “Nice to meet you,” he said. “Katherine can’t stop talking about you.”
Katherine? he wondered. That wasn’t an alias, but her given name, the name that appeared on her driver’s license. Katherine Malone—her married name. “Don’t believe everything you hear,” he said with a laugh. “Nice to meet you, Keith.” And then he reminded himself that not all men had hard handshakes; not all men did hard physical labor for a living. In fact, there were many times Conner wished he didn’t have to toil so hard, wished he could take it a little easier.
Keith Phillips wasn’t a large man like Conner. He was around five-ten and had the slim build of a runner/skier and a dental perfect smile. He seemed just right for Katie, who was a little five foot four. And like Katie, Keith looked young.
“You sure you went to dental school and everything?” Conner asked him.
He chuckled. “And everything,” he said. He put a hand on Katie’s shoulder, gave a squeeze and smiled at her. He handed over the wine. “Rombauer Carneros Chardonnay—2009. I think you’ll really like it,” he said.
“How sweet, Keith, thank you!”
“Do you have a favorite vineyard?” he asked Conner.
“Not much of a wine drinker, actually,” Conner said. “More of a beer connoisseur.”
“Imported beers?” Keith asked.
“Pretty much any beer,” he said. “My first choice would be a Mich, but if push comes to shove, I’m not all that fussy.”
Keith laughed and said, “Caught me—I’m trying to impress Katherine.”
“Well that’s pretty easy,” Conner said. “One of her virtues is that she’s easy to please. She takes great pleasure in every little thing. She’s the one person I know who is so completely positive and happy it puts me to shame. In fact, it’s pretty hard to bring her down.”
Keith smiled appreciatively. “What a gift,” he said. “That’s how it is around the office. And that’s why everyone loves her. Katherine, can I help with dinner? Do anything for you?”
“Not a thing. If you two wouldn’t mind keeping the boys busy for a little while, I’ll finish setting the table and we’ll have dinner in just a little while.”
This was a good idea, Conner decided. It would give the men a chance to talk without Katie listening. So they took the boys into the small backyard. Andy and Mitch lit out for the play set. It wasn’t quite as nice as the one that had been left behind in Sacramento, but it worked. It was a heavy wooden bar supported by four legs and sported hanging rings, a climbing rope, a bar to swing on.
“Look at them go,” Keith said. “What a couple of monkeys.”
“No children in the family?” Conner asked.
“Oh, I’m an uncle. My older sister has two teenage daughters, age thirteen and sixteen. It’s a whole different ball game.”
“I imagine. And I have no experience with girls.”
“Katherine told me you’re like a father to these boys,” Keith said.
He gave a nod. “Pretty much. What else did Katherine tell you?”
“That you’re in Colorado working. Sorry to hear about your company going out of business—it’s a rough economy right about now. Hopefully we’re headed for a recovery.”
“It’s not going to be quick,” Conner said.
“But we all do what we have to do. Even dentistry has taken a hit, Conner. People tend to put off things like that as long as possible.”
“But you’re doing all right?” Conner asked.
“Not bad, considering. Pediatric dentistry isn’t exactly a high-dollar practice like, say, periodontics.” And then Keith launched into a conversation about the different types of dentistry, their individual complexities and specialties, how much more lucrative some practices were than others. Conner, to his credit, did not go to sleep.
“And you chose your specialty because?” Conner finally asked.
“I’m good with kids,” he said with a smile. “When I did the pediatric rotation I knew that was the best place for me. I actually have to push the kids out of the practice to adult dentists at some point—most of them would stay with me forever. They’re not afraid of what’s going to happen to them in my office.”
Well, at least the boys will probably grow up with good teeth, Conner thought.
And then, thankfully, Katie’s voice broke in, calling them all to dinner.
