Chapter 1: Amanda
There’s only one person I don't lie to now. We now lie to our co-workers, as well as our family. The lies are becoming easier to fabricate, but each one falls heavier on my heart. How do we stop? The most important part of my life that I don't want to lie about is the part we keep from everyone. How much longer can we do this?
I knew this marriage would be hard I just didn’t think it would make everything else so hard. At first all I had to do was remind myself that we’re protecting our family. That’s not enough anymore. While we’re protecting them, they’re missing out on Lee being part of their daily lives. He's watched over them for the last four years, and they don’t even know it.
After our secret wedding, he started coming over more often. I can tell Philip really likes him, and Jamie is becoming more comfortable with him each day. Of course, Mother adores him. He has her wrapped around his little finger; all he has to do is smile. At least twice a day, she hints about marriage. If only she knew! As it is, we continue to deceive our family. And oh, what I wouldn't give to find out if he would like to have a baby of our own. He’s so great with the boys. Yet, I wouldn’t dare ask him anything about that because of our situation.
Thinking of having a baby brings me back to our jobs. Which is the reason for all the secrets in the first place. No one at work knows the entire truth either. Ending the lies is bound to change our work environment. I’m not clear on all the rules about married couples working together. I'll have to ask Lee or find out someway on my own. We should’ve confided in Billy after the whole, "Whatever your relationship is, is fine with me," comment. That was before the wedding though, now things have changed.
To find a solution without causing more problems! Maybe, instead of telling everyone that we are already married we could get “engaged” and then “married” again. I mean, yeah, I know, it’s another lie. What’s one more on top of the rest? This is the one that will release us from lying and keep us from hurting people unnecessarily.
All told, I’ve figured out three things while laying here.
One: Laying awake all night isn’t solving anything. I’ve tried that for the last two nights and I’m still laying here.
Two: I can’t solve this by myself; I need to talk to Lee.
Three: The deception has to end, no more lies just the truth.
It’s midnight…wonder if Lee’s awake…
Chapter 2: Lee
Alone. I’ve been married for six months, and I spend most of my nights alone. I finally have a family, even if they don’t know it. It’s so hard to kiss my wife goodnight and come back here by myself. I’ve lived most of my life apart from those I care about or who care about me. I guess I can’t complain too much. After all, it was my bright idea. I just don’t know how much longer we can take this.
I don’t see a way to change our situation. When we made this mystery marriage decision, the reason was clear, to protect our family. It’s hard to focus on that when no one knows you’re a family in the first place.
I’d love for everyone to know that Amanda is my wife. Dotty’s been pushing for me to make a commitment to Amanda… if she only knew just how much of a commitment we already have. For Dotty to find out that we are already married would really hurt her and make her angry with both of us. Which puts a strain on the trust we have established. People don’t take being lied to very well.
Complicated, another word to describe our married life. As if we didn’t have enough complications already. Things married couples should be able to discuss with each other and their family are out of the question. Being around the boys has shown me how much I’d love to have a child of our own. I love the boys as if they were mine, but I wasn’t there when they were newborns. It’s something I’ve found that I’d love to experience. Yet, how do I tell Amanda that I want us to have a child? I don’t even know how she feels about it. If we were to have a baby, I don’t know if I could handle her staying in the field.
With that come the difficulties that our jobs toss in. The rules governing married couples working together are pretty specific, I wonder if we can find a way around some of them. We’d probably catch a lot of flak from Dr. Smyth just because he has never liked me. Billy wouldn’t say anything. In fact, I think it would make him happy to know that I’ve finally settled down. Francine, now that will be interesting. Who knows exactly how she’d react? Working for the government as Intelligence Operatives really complicates our lives.
Here we go with another word that has taken over our lives: deception. It’s sad to say, but the lies didn’t bother me before I was involved with Amanda. Now they bother me as much as they worry Amanda. Except that she has it harder, she is the one that has to tell most of them. We lie to family about our jobs and our relationship. We deceive everyone at work about our close bond. People are starting to wonder what happened to Scarecrow, the bachelor and water cooler topic. Damn, everyone is going to be upset when they find out what we’ve been hiding. The longer we continue to lie to everyone the harder it is going to be to finally tell the truth. Not exactly the best way to start a marriage…the important thing is we’re not lying to each other.
There’s no easy solution. Amanda and I have to talk and work this out soon. I’ll broach the topic tomorrow, at least let her know what is on my mind. I ‘d better try to sleep.
It was then he heard a loud rapping on his front door. Who’s knocking at this time of night? Oh well, I wasn’t asleep anyway, and the way the night has been going I doubt I would’ve gotten much shuteye in the long run, even though I’m exhausted.
Chapter 3: The Conversation
Having knocked to alert Lee that someone was there, Amanda inserted her key in the lock as the door was opened from the inside.
“Amanda!” Lee’s tired voice squeaked, “What are you doing here?”
Amanda had a sheepish grin. “Well, I couldn’t sleep and happened to be in the neighborhood…”
Lee eyed her suspiciously. “You live fifteen miles across town.”
Amanda’s grin turned mischievous. Seeing Lee and knowing she was doing something about the problem had helped lighten her mood. “That’s right. I drove for about half an hour then I ‘happened’ to be in the neighborhood.” Her expression then went serious. “Lee, I really need to talk to you.”
Lee smiled. Amanda was in better spirits than she’d been in for a while. This would help. “Well come on in. Shall I make some coffee?”
“I’d like that. I’ll help you.” They moved into the kitchen. The automatic task of preparing coffee helped ease the tension of bringing up her intended subject.
“Lee. I know we work in the intelligence business and lies come with that, but I can’t do it anymore. I never used to lie to anyone and now it seems like that’s all I ever do.” She said, expecting Lee to begin explaining why it was necessary.
Leaning against the counter, Lee was silent then he looked over at her, “I know. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately too. I don’t know if we should tell your…-I mean ‘our’-family everything about what we do, but I do think we should tell them about our marriage. I don’t know how the news will go over at work, but I’m sure Billy will support us. What were you thinking?”
“I don’t know. I was thinking we could have another wedding and invite everyone.”
Lee’s eyes twinkled. “A cover-up hmm? You’re too clever.”
Amanda blushed. “I didn’t mean it to be like that.”
Lee grinned. Amanda was so cute when she was embarrassed. “I know you didn’t, and at least now you understand better why we concoct stories for people.” Lee’s grin deepened. “Really, it’s not that bad an idea. We can announce our 'engagement' to everyone, your mother can plan our wedding, and then everybody can attend.” He winked. “You know we’d get gifts this time.”
Amanda got redder. “You’re terrible!”
Lee went into mock indignation. “I’M terrible? It was YOUR idea.”
Amanda walked into the living room and sat down on the couch with him to sip her coffee. “We really can’t do that, can we?”
“Sure we can, just hide the original marriage license.” Lee tilted his head and looked at her, “We could do both.”
Amanda looked up. “You mean tell them we’re married, then get married again so they can participate?”
He shook his head, “Why not? It would smooth a few ruffled feathers.”
Still slightly skeptical Amanda agreed, “It’s probably our best option. So how do we tell them?”
Lee’s grin faded, “Isn’t this where we came in?”
Amanda shrugged, “At least we know WHAT we’ll tell them.”
“Telling everyone we’re engaged will be much easier than telling them that we’re already married.” Lee said as he gave her a quick peck.
Lee reclined back on the couch and slid Amanda into a comfortable reclining position in the crook of his arm. Amanda stifled a yawn as she cuddled in against him, “I’m exhausted. I’ll set the alarm clock an hour early so I can make it home in time to change and go to work. There’s no way I’m going to make it home right now.”
Smiling at the thought of Amanda staying the night Lee gave her a small hug, “We can finish discussing the ‘hows’ and ‘whens’ later. Right now we both need sleep.”
Not hearing any response from his wife, Lee looked down at her face. Amanda was sound asleep. Easing her into his arms while making sure not to awaken her, Lee carried his wife into the bedroom. After settling Amanda in for the night Lee slipped into bed himself. He barely remembered to set the clock for an hour earlier than normal.
Lee turned and pulled Amanda into his arms. Things weren’t right yet, but they would be soon. The deception would end and that was enough for now.
The End
Story Notes:
Disclaimer: Scarecrow & Mrs. King is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot The Moon Production Company. The original portions of this story, however, are copyrighted to the author. This story is for entertainment purposes only and cannot be redistributed without the permission of the author. No infringement of copyright is intended.
A line was borrowed from “Billy’s Lost Weekend” Written by: Tom Chehak and Directed by: Christopher Hibler.
Setting: 6 Months after Marriage
A line was borrowed from “Billy’s Lost Weekend” Written by: Tom Chehak and Directed by: Christopher Hibler.
Setting: 6 Months after Marriage