Keeping Secrets—Part Six

IFF

7:40 PM

“Well I have to say that it’s certainly comprehensive,” Billy remarked as he closed the notebook.

“Yeah,” Lee said shortly.  “She’s certainly been very thorough, I have to give her that. Hardly missed a trick.”

“Runs in the family,” Billy replied.  “And you say that you had no idea that she was keeping this?” 

“Come on, Billy!” Lee snapped.  “If I’d had any idea I would’ve come to you long before this. I’m telling you I didn’t have a clue.”

“No clue at all? You did think that something was troubling her—you and I discussed that.”

“I knew there was something,” Lee ran both hands back through his hair as he paced up and down the length of Billy’s office. “I didn’t know it was this—not specifically.”

Not completely true—he thought, remembering the events of this last Saturday—he’d had an inkling then, hadn’t he? So why hadn’t he acted on it? He could’ve confronted Jenna then and there, questioned her— 

He hadn’t wanted to be right. Because part of him had been secretly hoping to dodge this bullet—to keep her in the dark—at least for a little while longer.

All of this was happening so fast. If only there was some way to pull back the reins a little.

“Couldn’t you at least stop pacing?”  Billy asked. “You’re going to wear holes in the carpet if you keep this up.”

“Sorry.” Lee slumped into a nearby chair. “I’m sorry—maybe if I had known I could’ve done something.”

“Something like what?”  Billy asked.  “What could you have done?”

“I don’t know—I don’t.  But something—anything to stop this from happening.”

“Like what?”  Billy sat facing his friend.  “Tell me how you could’ve stopped this from happening. You’re not in control of your daughter’s mind. You can’t stop her from wondering about things. “

“Billy, come on—that’s not what I meant.”

“Isn’t it?”  Billy asked.  Lee fell silent.  “Children are curious Lee. It’s natural. Sooner or later they’re going to start to ask the questions. It happens.” 

Sooner or later—part of Lee really wished it had been later. Maybe if Amanda has been here she could’ve run interference, stalled Jenna somehow—

Only she hadn’t been here, and no amount of wishing was going to turn back the clock and undo this.

“I’m just not sure what to do,” he told Billy. “I don’t know what I can do about this.”

“Well I think it’s obvious what you need to do.”

“No,” Lee shook his head vehemently. “Absolutely not—it’s out of the question.”

“Scarecrow—”

“Jenna’s not ready for this—she isn’t. Not now.”

Billy was silent for a moment, just looking at him. “Are you sure that it’s Jenna who’s not ready for this?”

“Come on,” Lee’s voice rose. “It wasn’t all that long ago that we were dealing with PTSD, the trial—this on top of everything else—this would just be too much.”

“It doesn’t need to be—not if you approach it correctly.”

“And what is the correct approach?” Lee asked.  “Huh? My daughter has been through enough for one year—she doesn’t need any more. She doesn’t need me turning her world upside down.”

“Right now, I don’t see that we have a choice. And it doesn’t have to turn her—”

“There has to be a choice,” Lee’s fist clenched. “Any choice but this. Have you ever considered that it could be dangerous for her to know?” 

“Oh, and I suppose it’s safer for her to be sneaking around and trying to investigate without any idea of what she’s getting into?”  Billy’s tone was incredulous.  “Look, Jenna already has some idea—all you’d be doing is confirming her suspicions.  But it has to be done regardless. The last thing we want is for her to go to her friends about this.”  

“Yeah, there is that.” Billy was right, Lee knew he was right, but still— “I just hoped it would be later,” he said finally.  “You know, when she was sixteen, maybe, seventeen—”

“And if she was seventeen you’d still be in here claiming that it was too early,” Billy reminded him.  “Jenna could be thirty and you still wouldn’t be ready for this. But the fact of the matter is that children do things on their own timetable—not ours.”

Their own timetable.  Lee remembered the way he and Amanda had broken it to the boys. That had been a matter of necessity as well—Amanda had been pregnant with Jenna and it was necessary to come clean about the marriage, their jobs—everything. It hadn’t been easy, but eventually Phillip and Jamie had come round. 

But Phillip and Jamie had both been older, not his biological children and the circumstances had been vastly different—

“I don’t know how to do it Billy,” Lee said. “How am I supposed to break this to her? What do I say?”

“I can’t tell you exactly what to say,” Billy replied. “Just keep it simple, be honest and direct with her.”

Honest and direct—not what he’d done when he’d told her where babies came from—

*~~*

“Listen, munchkin—when Daddy told you that babies come from the cabbage patch—I wasn’t telling you the whole story.”

“What’s the whole story, Daddy?”

His four-year-old daughter had looked at him, trusting him so completely…

“Well, babies,” he began “They come from inside Mommies’ tummies.”

“The cabbage patch is inside Mommy’s tummy?”  Jenna’s dark eyes grew wide. Amanda had to bite her lip to stifle a giggle—Lee had shot her a warning glance.

“Not exactly,” he’d told Jenna. “There’s not really a cabbage patch in there—it’s more like a place to grow the baby until it’s ready to come out.”

“Are there seeds?” Jenna wanted to know.

Lee’s face had turned bright red at that point— “Well—ahh—”

*~~*

“Amanda should be here,” Lee told him. “She would know what to do—the right words to say.”

Billy sighed. “I’m going to kid you—it won’t be easy.  It wasn’t easy when Jeannie and I had to tell our own children.”  As he spoke Billy picked up the picture from his desk, smiling fondly as he looked down at his daughters.”But you do get through it.”

“What made you decide to tell them?”

“Our oldest, Joanne –she had started to put it together,” Billy said. “But Jeannie and I decided to tell them all at once. They were sisters, after all, and since two of them shared a bedroom it seemed to make sense.”

“And how did they react?”

“Joanne was kind of like Jenna—she already sort of suspected something was going on.  At first she was a little annoyed we hadn’t told her before, but she took it in stride.” Billy said. “Angela was kind of quiet—she just listened and didn’t say much.”

“Why was that?”

“We found out later that she was mostly frightened, you know—that something was going to happen to me.”

“Makes sense.” Lee wondered what Jenna’s reaction might be, trying to picture her face—he couldn’t even imagine.  “What about your youngest?”

“Tonya?  She was close to Jenna’s age, around thirteen at the time, maybe fourteen,” Billy smiled at the memory.  “I think she was probably more curious than anything else—she asked us a lot of questions—and I do mean a lot.” 

So there were several ways this could play out, Lee mused. How was he supposed to know what to do?  And how she would react? 

“Billy, what if this triggers a flashback or something?” He asked.

“Can you think of any reason why it should?”  Billy asked. 

“Well no, but—”

“Lee, listen,” Billy said. “I can’t tell you the perfect way to do this. But I can tell you that if you’re honest and if you’re patient with her, she’ll listen. It will be all right.” 

It will be all right, Lee thought. He could do this, he really could.

He just had to keep telling himself that.

SMK  SMK SMK SMK

4247 Maplewood Dr.

8:40 PM 

“Oh munchkin,” Lee sighed as he looked down at his daughter, sprawled out on her bed.  Her eyes were closed; her breathing deep and even. Sound asleep, but then of course she would be at this time of night. One arm clutched her Scarecrow doll and her feet were bare, rolled up socks nearby—as usual she’d slid them off in her sleep.

‘Just when I’d worked up the nerve.’ But as Billy had told him, this was on her timetable—not his.  Lee covered Jenna with her blanket and bent down, his lips gently brushing her forehead.

“Good night,” he whispered.

“Dad?”  Jenna murmured, her eyes opening slightly. 

“Yeah it’s me—I’m here.”

“Everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, munchkin,” he took her hand in his. “Just go back to sleep—we’ll talk in the morning.”

“ ‘kay—love you.”

“I love you too.” 

He stood there a few moments more, holding her hand as she relaxed back into sleep.

SMK SMK SMK SMK

Wednesday, January 30, 2002 

8:30 AM

The smell of bacon wafted into her nostrils. Something fuzzy brushed against her cheek. Jenna opened her eyes to see a lavender teddy bear wearing a purple bow.

“Do you like him?”  Dad stood beside her bed, tray table in hand. 

“Morning,” she told him, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.  Sunshine spilled in through her lace curtains. She reached for the bear. “Oh, I love him, Dad—he’s adorable.” 

“Happy Birthday, munchkin,” Dad smiled, sitting down beside her on the bed and placing the tray table over her lap. “I thought you’d like some breakfast in bed. Your Grandma made it for you.”

“Thank you, this looks—” Suddenly Jenna’s eyes fell on the clock by her bed. Half past eight? On Wednesday?

“Oh my gosh—Dad, why did you let me sleep this late? I’m going to be in so much troub—”

“Relax, munchkin,” Dad said. “It’s okay—I called the school and told them you’d be absent.”

“Absent?”  Jenna repeated. “Why am I absent?” he was silent, looking at her.”Dad, what’s going on? Please tell me.”

Dad drew in a deep breath and let it out.  “Well, I thought you and I should have a talk—about this.”   Reaching into his jacket pocket he pulled out something. It was her notebook, she realized, her stomach sinking.

“Oh no—” Jenna could feel her cheeks growing hot—she clapped both hands over her face.  “Oh Dad, I’m so sorry.” 

“Jenna—”

“I know you must think I’m crazy—but you know, there were things that were happening—things you weren’t telling me and then I saw, you know, that woman in the house next door and I couldn’t help wondering –and so then I decided to write it all down and—”

“Just listen to me,” Dad urged.

“And I know I kind of spied on you,” Jenna continued. “And I know that was wrong to do that and not tell you but I wanted to know what was going on and no one was saying, so—

“Stop.”  Dad removed her hands from her face and took them inside his own. “It’s okay. Really.”

“I’m not in trouble?”  Jenna asked.  “You’re not mad at me?”

“No, of course you’re not in trouble.”  Dad squeezed her hands.  “And I’m not mad at you, I swear. But we do need to talk about this.” 

“Okay.” More silence—he just stared at her.  “Are you going to start?” she asked him finally.

Dad smiled. “Yeah,” he said. “So you’ve been curious about what’s going on?” 

Jenna nodded.  “There were just all these things—stuff that didn’t fit, that didn’t make sense. And the more I thought about it the more weird it seemed.” It sounded lame, she knew, but with her thoughts all tangled up that was as clear as she could make it.

‘Maybe I’m dreaming this,’ she thought. But something told Jenna that this was very real.

“And you decided to write it down,” Dad prompted. “To see if it could make sense, right?”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”  

“So—what’s your theory, then?”

“I wrote it down—you read the notebook right?”

“I read it.”

Breathe, Jenna reminded herself. Dad’s hands wrapped around her own felt reassuring—it gave her the strength to continue.

“Well at first I thought that maybe you were a cop—you know, when I found the holster in your drawer. I know what you thought I was looking for and I did—I did see that box, but honestly that’s not what I was looking for.” 

“I know that munchkin.  So you thought that I might be a cop?”

“At first, but then I thought about it and you don’t work in a police station. I know where you work because I’ve been there.  And then, after I saw Mom—what I thought was Mom—I came up with a different theory.”  

“The secret identity?” 

“Yeah, and that would sort of fit. The only thing is I didn’t know why you would have a secret identity—or why Mom or anyone else would.  So it made sense but it didn’t really make sense—if that makes sense?”

Dad laughed softly. “Yeah, that makes sense. And then your third theory—”

Jenna’s voice was low. “That you and Mom were spies. Believe me, I know how crazy that one sounds.” 

“What if I told you that your third theory was absolutely right?”

“Right?” Jenna stared at her Dad in shock.  “I’m right?” 

Dad nodded.

‘This must be a dream—it can’t be real.’ But it was real—very real, and Dad was looking at her, expecting her to say something.

“And you’re –you and Mom—you’re spies?”

“Actually I prefer Intelligence Operative,” Dad said. “But spy is basically the same thing.”

Jenna stared down at the tray—the breakfast in front of her—she had to keep reminding herself to breathe. Her heart felt like it was going at a zillion beats a minute.

“Hey—you okay?”  Dad’s voice was gentle, his eyes concerned.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Really.”

He released her hands. “Why don’t you eat something before it gets cold?”

“I’m not exactly hungry.”

“Try. You need something in your stomach.” 

Something in her stomach—the food did smell awfully good. There were pancakes with syrup, hashbrowns with cheese—even bacon. All her favorite stuff.  She took a bite of the hashbrowns and then a sip of the orange juice. 

“You must have some questions.”

‘Sure, only about half a million of them.’  Out loud Jenna said.  “What about the company you work for? The film company?” 

“We do make films,” Dad said. “You know that, you’ve seen a few yourself. But our real business is espionage.”

“Spying.”  Dad nodded.  “But good spying right?”  Jenna asked. “I mean you’re the good guys—of course you are.” 

“We’re the good guys, that’s right.” 

She cut into the pancake stack with her fork and popped the pieces into her mouth. “CIA?” 

“No, we’re a little more secretive than that—we’re just called the Agency. To tell you the truth, most people don’t know that we even exist.”

“And so that means that Billy is a spy too, right?”

“Billy is the head of the Agency.” 

“What about Francine?”  

“She’s my boss—she’s the Section Chief.” 

“And Leatherneck and that guy Beaman?”  Dad nodded.  “What about Mrs. Marston?” 

“She works for us—she’s the receptionist.”

“How about Dr. Pfaff? Is he a spy?”

“No, he is a psychiatrist. But he does work for our company.” 

“That sort of makes sense now,” Jenna said.  “I always thought it was a little strange—a film company having a psychiatrist. What about Grandma? And Phillip and Jamie?”

“No, they don’t work for us, but they do know what we do.”

They knew. So not everyone she knew was a spy, but they had been keeping a secret just the same. “When did you tell them?” she asked. 

Dad drew in another breath. “Back in 1988, when we realized we were going to have you. For security reasons we’d been keeping the marriage a secret from everyone but then you came and we couldn’t hide it anymore.”

“Pretty hard to hide a pregnancy, huh?” Jenna told him. She’d seen pictures of Mom with her stomach all the way out to there—it felt so weird to think about everyone before she was even born.

“Very true.”  Dad put his arm around her and hugged her briefly against his side.

“How did they react—Phillip and Jamie, I mean?” 

“Well they were a little upset. Mostly about the marriage because we hadn’t told them, but they adjusted.”   

“You kept it secret for security reasons?  Is that the reason you kept it from me too?” 

“Yes,” Dad told her. “I hope you know that we weren’t trying to lie to you, but we wanted to give you a normal life, munchkin—and we wanted to keep you safe. We didn’t want you to ever be in danger because of our jobs.”

In danger—maybe it was her previous experience, but actually she did understand.  “That’s why you won’t let me answer the door,” she said. “Or the phone.”

“That’s true. We never know who might be there and we don’t want to risk you.”

“But what about you?” she asked. “You and Mom?”  She thought back to the scars Dad had once shown her—and Mom’s gunshot scar. “You’re in danger too, aren’t you?”

“I’m not going to lie to you—this is dangerous work sometimes. But I can tell you that I have been doing this job a long time. Your mother and I are both very good agents—we watch out for one another.”

“But you’ve gotten hurt before, haven’t you? And Mom—she was even shot once.”

“Your Mom getting shot had nothing to do with our jobs,” Dad told her. “And yes, we’ve been hurt. But you can get hurt in a lot of jobs.”

“Lisa’s dad’s in construction—he fell and broke his leg once.” 

“You see?” Dad told her. “And he turned out all right, didn’t he?”

“Well yeah, but he doesn’t have people actually trying to hurt him either.” Jenna took in a deep breath and held it before letting it out slowly. “Just promise me you’re careful.”

“I promise,” Dad said.  “I’m always careful—your Mother makes sure I am.”

Jenna smiled.  “Yeah, she makes sure I’m careful too.” A sudden horrible thought hit her—she didn’t want to think it, but she had to know—had to ask.

“Dad?” 

“Yeah?”

She turned to look at him.  “The kidnapping—that had nothing to do with your jobs, did it?”

“No. Nothing at all—I promise.” Dad said. “But our jobs and our Agency did help us to find you.”

That made sense. “That’s why you were there—and why you had a gun.”

“That’s right. We found out where he had taken you and we took the Agency chopper so we could get there ahead of him.” 

Jenna thought about that night—what Gary had done—how close it had come to being all over for her—a shiver ran through her body and Dad’s arm tightened around her. “I’m so glad you were there,” she told him.

He kissed the top of her head. “I’m very glad we were there too.”

“What about the guys in the courtroom?”

“Guys in the courtroom?”

“The ones in suits and sunglasses—they stopped Gary when he tried to approach me in the courtroom?”

“Yes,” he told her. “They were agents. Billy and I wanted them there; just in case he tried anything.”

“Good idea.” Jenna took another sip of orange juice. “And that man you were speaking to? Was that about a case?”

“It was, yes.”

“Is what Mom’s doing is part of a case too?”

“Part of the same case.” Dad replied. “Your Mom and I are partners. I didn’t know where she was exactly—she was undercover.”

So when Dad had said that he didn’t know—he had been telling the truth. “I understand,” Jenna said.

Are there any other questions that you have?”

Did she?  Part of Jenna’s mind was still spinning; trying to process everything she’d been told.  “Not right now,” she said. “Maybe later.” 

“That’s just fine, munchkin—whenever you’re ready I’ll be here to talk.”  Dad paused. “Now there are some questions I need to ask you  about your notebook. Has anyone else seen it?”

“No—not except for you,” Jenna said.

“None of your friends?”

“Well I did mention something to Lisa about this.” 

“And?”

“She thought I was probably imagining things. We only spoke about it one time.” 

“One time—you’re sure?” 

“I’m sure—she didn’t even believe me. And at the time I really didn’t believe me either.” 

“Okay,” Dad said. “Jenna—this notebook. I’m afraid it’s going to need to be destroyed. We can’t run the risk of anyone finding it. I could ask you to hide it, but if someone ever broke in here and found it we don’t know what they might do.” 

“Okay.”

“Your Mom and I do have secret identities,” Dad took her hands again, his eyes looking into hers. “And now that you know the truth, you’re going to need to protect it just like we do. That means no talking to your friends about this—not even to Lisa or to anybody else. No emails, no text messages—nothing.”

“I understand,” she said again.

“This is for your own safety as well as ours.  We don’t want anyone to try and hurt you to get to us.”

“Dad, I really do understand.” 

“I know you do, munchkin.”  Dad said. “And there are also going to be things we can’t tell you—classified things that you can’t know.  And I don’t want you to go behind our backs and snoop—it’s not safe. All right?”

“All right.” 

Dad smiled. “Good. Is there anything else?” 

“One more thing. Do you have a name?” 

“A name?”

“Well, you know. You said you had a secret identity. Do you have a special name?” 

“Oh, I see,” Dad said. “Well I can tell you that it isn’t The Scarlet Pimpernel.”

“Da-ad,” Jenna felt the heat rising in her cheeks.  Letting go of her hands Dad reached down and picked up her Scarecrow doll, which had fallen on the floor. He handed it to her.

“That’s my code name,” he told her.

“Scarecrow?” Dad nodded. Jenna looked at her doll as comprehension dawned. Now that he’d said it, it all fit into place. A memory popped up—that one Halloween, trick or treating—hadn’t that man called him Scarecrow?

“That’s a good name,” she said. “How did you get it?”

“Someone gave it to me. It’s kind of complicated.”

Meaning he wasn’t going to tell her—at least not yet.  “Does Mom have a code name?”

“No, your Mom never really needed one.” Dad squeezed her hands and stood. “I have some things to take care of—why don’t you finish your breakfast and then the day is ours.”

“I will,” Jenna replied.  “I love you Dad.”

“Love you too, munchkin.”

SMK SMK SMK SMK

9:30 AM

“How did it go?”  Dotty asked him as she removed a load from the dryer, placing the clothes in a basket.  “You two were up there for at least an hour.”

“Actually it went really well,” Lee replied. “I think it came as a shock, but actually she seemed to take it in stride.” 

“You sound surprised.”  Dotty placed the clothes basket on top of the dining room table.  She cast him a sideways glance as she began to fold, sorting the clothes into their separate piles. “Did you expect more?”

“Frankly, yes. I remember how the boys reacted at first.” In his mind he could still hear Phillip’s accusing tone—the stunned look on Jamie’s face—the way that he’d run upstairs to his room and slammed the door.

“And I remember my reaction,” Dotty told him. “But that was probably more to do with the secret marriage than anything else.  Circumstances are different this time Lee; I think Jenna understands that you and Amanda were only trying to protect her.”

“You don’t think there’ll be some kind of delayed reaction?”

“I suppose it’s possible,” Dotty remarked. “Though personally I doubt it. I should warn you that you and Amanda might find yourself at the receiving end of at least a thousand questions or more.” 

“Prepared for that.” At least he thought he was prepared—though he’d learned from experience that you could never be completely prepared where kids were concerned. The time when Jenna had found that old letter from Candi and interrogated both him and Amanda about Brazilian waxes was still fresh in his memory.

“Well I have a question for you,” Dotty said. “Any idea when Amanda might be back?” 

“No—not exactly,” Lee admitted, running a hand back through his hair. “Though I can tell you that it should be soon.” Hopefully very soon—and he knew that Amanda would want to talk to Jenna as well.

“Thank  Heavens,” Dotty said. “There’s an awful lot to do, getting this house ready for the party Friday night with eight thirteen year old girls. The family room shelves, for instance—they need to be organized and dusted.”

“Eight?” Lee repeated. “I thought there was only supposed to be six or seven.”

“Well there was,” Dotty said. “But as I understand it there was a girl Tracy that Lisa wasn’t speaking to and now she is, so—” she shrugged.

“Great,” Lee sighed. Though in the long run eight really wouldn’t be that different from seven, he supposed.  Still, the thought of eight giggly girls staying up all night doing Lord only knows whatever it was that they did—

“You said you needed help with the family room shelves?”  He asked.

SMK SMK SMK SMK

10:40 AM

“Dad, you know these are an awful lot of shelves,” Jenna said. “And some of them are way too high for me.” 

“Well, I’ll take care of those, munchkin,” Lee told her. “You can take care of the stuff you can reach, all right?”

“But Dad—”

“It does need to be done before your party Friday, munchkin—we’ll go out to dinner after, what do you say?”

Jenna smiled. “Sure. It wouldn’t be fair, anyway, would it?  To leave all this to Grandma.”

“No that would not be fair.”  He tousled her hair. “Why don’t you get started on the video and DVD shelf? That could use some straightening.” 

“Okay. Umm—I guess I should I separate the home movies from the regular movies, right?”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Lee started taking pictures down from the top shelves—a layer of dust covered the frames—a testament to how long it had been since they’d done this. “So—your Grandma tells me there are eight girls coming?”

“Oh yeah, I meant to tell you. Lisa’s speaking to Tracy again, so she can come.”  Jenna looked up at him. “That’ll be okay, right?” 

“It’ll be fine.  Just please don’t add any more.”

Jenna giggled. “I won’t—don’t worry. I meant to tell you before, you know—but things came up and—”

“Believe me, you don’t have to explain. I understand what things came up,” Lee replied. “What kind of things do you do at these slumber parties, anyway?” 

“Play games, listen to music, watch movies—talk—that’s the gist of it. Christy says she’s bringing a lot of movies.” 

“Nothing scary, right?”

“No,” Jenna’s tone was vehement as she stacked a pile of cassettes on the floor.  “Definitely nothing scary—probably comedies. PG-13 is okay, right?” 

“Well you are thirteen now, so I don’t see a problem.”

“True—she said she might bring a movie called Dirty Dancing—I’ve never seen it before but Christy says her Mom likes it and that’s it’s a good movie and it’s PG-13.” 

Dirty Dancing—suddenly Lee’s collar felt a little too tight—he looked down at his daughter—still very much a child in size and build though Dotty claimed a growth spurt was just around the corner.

Growing up—

‘I did say PG-13 was all right—I can’t go back on it—’ Jenna was staring at him now. “What—ahh—what games are you going to play?” 

“Well—” Jenna sucked in her lower lip “No séances or anything like that.”

“Very good idea.  So what games?”

“Twister, Monopoly—maybe Pictionary though I can’t draw. Oh and some game called ‘Dream Date’ that Lisa really wants to play but she’s kind of boy crazy right now.”

Boys. He tried to keep his tone as casual as possible.  “You’re not. You know—boy crazy, are you?”

“Not crazy,” Jenna said.  “I mean, I like boys, you know. Especially Paul Davidson. But I’m not crazy or anything. I don’t think there’s any rush to, you know—run out and get a boyfriend or anything like that.”  

Relief washed over Lee. “No, there’s no rush. You have plenty of time for things like that.” 

“Yeah—and besides I don’t even know if any boys would like me that way.” 

“Oh, trust me— I don’t think you’ll have any problems with that.” 

Jenna smiled. “Thanks, Dad.” 

“Anytime. Hey—remember this?” Lee showed Jenna the photo.

“Oh yeah—that Halloween,” Jenna took the photo from him, a smile on her face as she studied it. “I was thinking about that when you talked about your name being Scarecrow.  You know that straw on my forehead really itched.”

“I remember.”

“You made a good Cowardly lion,” Jenna’s fingers traced the picture.

“And you made an excellent Scarecrow,” he told her.

“Hey, who was that guy that night?”  Jenna asked. “You remember—that weird guy who called you Scarecrow?”

He couldn’t believe she remembered that. “That was Dr. Smyth—he used to be the head of the Agency.”

“Before Billy?” 

“That’s right—Billy took the position after Dr. Smyth died.”

Jenna was silent for a moment.  “You know it still seems so strange.”

“What seems strange?”

“That you and Mom are spies—like one of Grandma’s  James Bond books or the movies. I guess I’m still trying to work it out in my head. “

“Well you know that James Bond is fictional, munchkin. Real spying is not always that exciting.” 

“Actually, I’m kind of glad of that,” Jenna said. “Being like James Bond all the time—that would be really dangerous.  Oh look—my baby book.” She pulled out the thin pink volume, turning the pages. “Oh I’m so sorry I scribbled on it.” 

“Well, you were three at the time—it happens. Come over here.”  He led them over to the sofa where they sat down.  “Your grandmother gave this to us the day we came home from the hospital.”

“Born January 30, 1989.three-forty PM, Galilee General Hospital,”  Jenna read aloud.

“Yeah, your mother went into labor that morning,”  Lee told her. “I was in Billy’s office when she called me.” 

*~~*

“It’s time.”  Those two simple words—and Lee knew that from that moment on his life would be changed forever.

*~~*

“What did you do?” 

“Oh, I tore down the hallway in a blind panic and sped all the way to the hospital.”

“That sounds like you,” Jenna replied.

*~~*

“Amanda if this keeps up, our baby will be born in the car.”   Driving behind a guy who must have been plodding along at about twenty-five miles at least—didn’t this jerk know that he had an emergency here?

*~~*

“I just wanted everything to turn out all right.”

“And it did—it all worked out?” 

Jenna had heard most of this story before, Lee knew—from both him and Amanda—yet somehow she never seemed to tire of it.   “Everything turned out fine. We got there in time and I was there when you were born.”

“And that’s me—what I looked like back then.”  Jenna turned a page in the baby book and pointed at the photo of herself in the hospital—cradled in Amanda’s arms.

“That’s you, munchkin—you were beautiful.” 

“I look all red and wrinkly.”

“Well that’s the way that all newborns look.”

“You held me and you cut the umbilical cord.”

“And I got to change your first diaper.” 

“Oh Dad—diapers.” 

“Yes—diapers. It’s all part of having kids—maybe not always the most enjoyable part—they can get awfully smelly.”

“Stop—please,” Jenna protested—but she was smiling.  “I’ll have kids one day.” 

“You will.”  Lee tried to picture Jenna all grown up—in a wedding gown someday—holding a baby of her own—that day would come sooner than he thought—maybe sooner than he wanted it to.  “Promise me one thing though.”

“What?” 

“That you won’t shut me out?  One of the things that bothered me this past week was that you weren’t talking to me.”

“I’m sorry,” Jenna drew in a deep breath—looking down at her lap and then up at him. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just thought maybe I was going crazy; imagining things. I was worried about what you might think of me.” 

“Jenna, nothing you could say would make me think badly of you—if anything is ever bothering you can talk about it.”Lee paused, looking at her. “I know that you’re getting older and more independent and that’s good—I know you’re not going to tell me everything, but I hope we can always talk to one another.” 

“We will—I promise.” 

“Good.”  He patted her shoulder.  “Now let’s get these shelves done, huh?  The sooner we finish the sooner we can go out to eat.”

TBC