Keeping Secrets--Chapter Seven 

IFF

Wednesday, January 30, 2002 

3:30 PM

“Thank you for the information, Amanda,” Billy said. “This really is excellent work.”

“Thank you, sir,” Amanda replied. “I just hope this can shut the network down.”  When she thought of what this man had planned on doing with ‘Victoria Greenwich’s’ money—the innocent lives that could’ve been lost—the very thought made her shudder.

“Well with this—” Francine held up the envelope “—as well as the information that Groesbeck provided, we should be able to move in on these fake charities and put DeVrees and most of his network behind bars.”

“And your cover wasn’t compromised?”  Billy asked. 

“No,” Amanda shook her head. “As far as DeVrees knows, I’m still Victoria Greenwich. Sir, what will happen to Groesbeck? He risked his life to get that information to Lee.”

“Groesbeck is going to turn State’s evidence and,” Billy told her. “After which we’ll move him to a different part of the country and provide him with a new identity. Were there any other difficulties?”

Other difficulties? Amanda thought briefly about seeing Lee’s car in Kenmore’s parking lot. Should she mention it?  Probably not. After all, it was only a possibility—she wasn’t absolutely certain that Jenna had seen her on the veranda and it wasn’t actually crucial to the case.

Even if Jenna hadn’t seen her, though—things were coming too close to home for Amanda’s comfort—something had to be done before anything else happened.

‘We have to tell her—there isn’t any choice.’

“No sir,” she said aloud.  “No difficulties.”

Billy smiled. “Good to know. In that case you should probably get home—I know you’re looking forward to seeing Lee and Jenna—and tell my goddaughter Happy Birthday from me.” 

“That goes for me too, Amanda,” Francine said.

“I will do that.” Was it Amanda’s imagination, or did both Billy and Francine have that ‘cat that swallowed the canary look’?  Did they know something she didn’t? 

But what could they know?

One thing she knew for certain, she needed to get home, see Jenna—and have a long talk with Lee about breaking the truth to their daughter.

Hopefully she’d be able to convince him to see things her way.

SMK SMK SMK SMK

4247 Maplewood Dr.

4:15 PM

“I’m home!”  Amanda called out as she entered.  For a moment she just stood where she was, drinking in the familiar surroundings. Almost a month since she’d been home—somehow it felt like forever.

“Hello there, stranger,” Lee sauntered in, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her body close to his. “You come here often?” 

“This is the way you normally greet strangers, Stetson?”  Amanda replied.

“It’s the way I greet you,” Lee let his finger trace her lips.  “I’ve missed you, you know.”

“Yeah, I’ve missed you too,” Amanda murmured and Lee smiled, his lips bending to brush against her own, lightly at first and then more firmly as he deepened the kiss, breaking off when the need for oxygen became apparent.

“Quite a welcome,” Amanda said breathlessly, looking up at her husband.

“Well—there’s more where that came from later tonight,” Lee replied. “Much more.”

The corners of Amanda’s lips turned up in a smile. “Looking forward to that.”   She paused. “Lee, there’s probably something we should—”

“Mom!”  Jenna barreled into the room—her arms wrapping around her mother. “You’re home! I’m so glad to see you.” 

Amanda smoothed her daughter’s hair as she held her close. “I’m glad to see you too, sweetheart—and Happy Birthday.”

“Thanks, Mom. So—did everything go all right?” Jenna looked up at her. “You’re okay, aren’t you?”

Odd way to put the question—Jenna was used to her parents going out on shooting locations and yet Amanda could hear the anxiety in her voice. Maybe it was because the mission had been zero contact , but nevertheless it was a little strange. “I’m just fine,” she told Jenna. “How are you?”

“I’m good—much better now that you’re home.”

Something was going on—over the years she’d developed a definite sixth-sense when it came to her children. Amanda opened her mouth to ask Jenna when Lee cleared his throat.

“Ahh, munchkin—your Mom and I need to talk—why don’t you go see if you can help your Grandma with anything?” 

“Okay.”  Jenna’s eyes darted from one to the other.  “Have a nice talk.”

“We will,” Lee replied. Jenna ran up the stairs. Once she was out of sight he turned to Amanda.

“There’s something we need to talk about,” Taking her hands he led her over to the sofa where they sat down.  “It’s about Jenna.” 

“What about Jenna?”Amanda asked. “Nothing’s wrong, is it?”

“No—no, nothing’s wrong,” Lee said. “But she’s been asking a lot of questions lately—especially with you being away on assignment—naturally she was curious about everything that’s been going on.”

“Well actually that’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Amanda said. “Jenna’s thirteen now—I know that in your head she’s still a little girl, but she’s a teenager now—before too long she’ll be a young woman.” 

“Amanda—” Lee began, but she continued.

“And I know you think she’s too young—that’s what you’ve said before but I think we can trust her to keep a secret and to understand why we’ve kept this from her. I really don’t think it has to be traumatic.” 

“Yeah, that’s what I think too—”

“Besides, if we don’t tell her soon and she starts investigating on her own she could really get herself into danger, which is the very last thing that we want to happen after all she’s already been through—”

“I agree.”

“So I think we just need to sit her down and explain all this to her and—” Amanda’s ramble broke off as what Lee had said began to sink in. “You agree?”

“Yes, I do—that’s what I need to tell you.”  Lee’s eyes looked deeply into hers as he spoke. “As a matter of fact, I actually told her this morning.”

“This morning?” Amanda repeated. Suddenly Jenna’s behavior, her questions—it all clicked into place. No wonder she had reacted that way.

“Well ideally—” Lee drew in a deep breath and let in out. “I would’ve liked to have waited until we could both tell her together, but it didn’t quite work out that way. I found a notebook that she’d been writing in. She had been investigating us.”

“For how long?”

“About a week—maybe a little more. She caught me talking to Groesbeck in the mall and then she saw you at the house next to the school and she started to wonder.”

“Oh my gosh—I thought she might have seen me but I wasn’t sure,” Amanda said. “What she must have  thought—”

“She didn’t know what to think,” Lee replied.  “But that sort of jumpstarted everything and she started wondering about other  things in her life that didn’t make sense—she even tried to follow me—to see what I did.”  Another deep breath. “And then when I found the notebook and went to Billy with it—”

“You had to tell her for her own safety, and for the Agency’s—for security reasons.”  Amanda finished her husband’s sentence. “Trust me, I really do understand. How did she take it?”

“It was a little bit of a shock I think,” Lee said. “But I was calm with her, and patient—and all in all I think she took it pretty well.”

“It sounds like you handled it really well,” Amanda told him. “Though I know you were worried that she wasn’t ready to hear the truth.”

“There’s a lot that I worry about,” Lee admitted, running his thumbs along the top of her palms. “There’s her safety, of course. But there’s also boys, clothes—when she starts to date or learns how to drive or goes to the prom—”

“Lee, some of those things won’t happen for years. You still have plenty of time.”

“I know that, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the prospect of her growing up frightens me—I mean, I remember the boys as teenagers, but they were boys and it’s—” he shrugged.

“It’s different with a daughter, I know,” Amanda replied. “I can remember myself at that age, some of the crazy things I did—though that doesn’t mean that Jenna will do the same things,” she said hastily as she saw the growing panic in Lee’s expression.

Lee sighed. “Maybe not—I just think of what’s coming up. She says she’s not interested having a boyfriend now, but there will be a time when she is. I’m just not sure I can handle that.”

“Aren’t you? Look how you handled this,” Amanda said. “Look at how much we’ve already dealt with this past year, Lee—all of us.  Having a teenage daughter won’t be easy but we’ll handle all this—we’ll do it together.”

Together, she thought.  They could handle anything together. Looking  into her husband’s eyes she could see that he believed it too.

“Together, Mrs. Stetson,” Lee replied as he lowered his mouth onto hers.

4247 Maplewood Dr.

Friday , February 1, 2002 

5:30 AM 

The bar was nearly deserted as Jenna strolled in—the only customer appeared to be a slim dark-haired woman wearing a black dress and slowly sipping from a glass of champagne. Nearly deserted was good—Jenna thought—less people meant less trouble.

Not that she was expecting trouble, but a good spy had to learn to expect the unexpected. 

The woman smiled as Jenna drew closer—it was Lisa.

“Join me?” She asked Jenna.

“In a moment,” Jenna replied. “I have some business to deal with first.” 

“I understand,” Lisa nodded sagely.  “Better watch out for Two-Face, though.  I hear she’s on the warpath.”

“Believe me, I can handle it,” Jenna said. “She won’t give me any trouble. I’ll be right back.” Slowly she walked up to the bar.

“I hear that the night owls come here,” she said pointedly

The bartender put down the glass he’d been polishing and stared at her. “All the night owls are out flying,” he replied.

Jenna shook her head.  “No, only the goose flies at night.”

“I’ve got just what you need, lady.”  Jenna watched as the man reached under the counter and drew out a packet; wrapped in newspaper and secured in twine. She reached for it—her fingers wrapping around the object.

At last—the object which would prevent the world from nuclear disaster.

Before Jenna could say anything else something hard was jammed into the small of her back.

“Well, if it isn’t Bond,” a familiar voice said. “Jenna Bond.”

“Two-Face Terri,” Jenna’s mind raced.  Should she try to go for the stiletto she carried in the top of her boot?  No—too risky.  Her eyes met the bartender’s—she could see the panic in his expression.

“It’s just Terri to you,” Terri retorted. “Only my friends can call me by that name.”

“And how many people is that?” 

“Shut up!”  Terri jammed the gun harder into her back.

There was only one thing to do.  “Can I have a milkshake?”  Jenna asked the bartender.  “A chocolate one—shaken, not stirred.” 

“Right away, ma’am.”  She could see the panic in his expression but at least he was holding it together.

“Enough fooling!”  There was a click as Terri pulled back the hammer. “Hand that package over. Now!”

She meant it. Jenna took the packet and handed it to the blond woman. 

“And now we’re leaving,” Terri told her. “You and me. I’m taking you for a ride.”

“But my milkshake is here.”  Jenna picked up the glass that the bartender had set in front of her.  “You have to let me at least drink it.” 

“No way, Jenna—that is not—” But before Terri could say anything more Jenna quickly turned, knocking the gun to the floor and pouring the contents over Two-Face Terri’s head—the woman spluttered furiously as Jenna quickly relieved her of the package. 

“You forgot to expect the unexpected—” she told Terri….

Jenna’s eyes opened. For a moment she stared around the familiar room, lit by the soft glow of her lamp.  Wow—what a strange dream that had been. Then her eyes fell on the book—the book she’d fallen asleep reading.  You Only Live Twice—a James Bond novel—and before that The Maltese Falcon—no wonder she’d had that dream—she must have spies on the brain.

A noise from downstairs. Someone up when it was still dark outside? Jenna’s eyes fell on her alarm clock.  Five-thirty in the morning.  Two hours left to sleep but after that dream she didn’t feel like sleeping. Sitting on the edge of her bed she slid her feet into slippers and put on her robe, making her way downstairs.  The noise was coming from the kitchen, she realized—and she could also smell chocolate and the faint aroma of peppermint.  Jenna walked into the kitchen. 

“Hello, sweetheart,” Mom put something into the oven and shut the door. “I hope I didn’t wake you, but I wanted to get a head-start on your cake.”

“No, you didn’t wake me—I just had a strange dream, that’s all.” 

“A bad dream?”  Mom’s eyes filled with concern.  Of course she would worry about a bad dream, Jenna thought—after the year she’d had who wouldn’t?

“No, it wasn’t bad.” She sat down at the counter. “Just weird—and a little funny, I guess. But now I can’t go back to sleep. Does that make sense?”

Mom smiled. “Perfect sense. Why don’t I make us some hot chocolate?” 

“That sounds good.”  Leaning her elbow on the counter Jenna watched as her Mom, wearing her familiar blue-fleece bathrobe, moved around the kitchen, grabbing the cocoa, the marshmallows—taking the milk out of the fridge.  Her ordinary Mom—or at least she’d thought so until recently.  Mom was a spy—they’d had a brief conversation about it on Wednesday, of course, but part of Jenna still—

“It’s so weird to think of you as a spy.” The words sprung from Jenna’s mouth before she could stop them. Had she said the wrong thing? Mom fell silent for a few moments as she poured the milk in the pan and slowly stirred the chocolate in. 

“To tell you the truth, sweetheart, it still seems strange to me at times,” Mom said. “It wasn’t exactly what I’d planned on doing.”

“How did you get into it?”  Jenna asked.

“Well, it was a little over eighteen years ago,” Mom replied.  “I took Dean to the train station that morning because it was raining—”

“Who’s Dean?” 

“He was someone I was dating at the time—before I met your father.”

It made sense that Mom had been dating, she reasoned. After all she had been married once before, to Phillip and Jamie’s dad Joe, who had passed away a couple of years ago.  He’d been a nice guy; very friendly to her even though they weren’t actually related.  Still it felt weird—to think of Mom with this Dean guy.

“What happened when you went to the train station?” she asked. 

“I went in my nightgown because I only thought I’d be dropping him off and going back home,” Mom continued as she placed the mixing bowl into the sink. “And I did see him off but then this man wearing a waiter’s suit ran up to me and asked me to walk with him. I didn’t want to at first, but he said that he was in trouble.” 

“Was that Dad?” 

Mom nodded. 

“What did you do?” 

“He asked me to take this package—I was supposed to get on the train and hand it to the man in the red hat,” Mom told her. “But when I got on the train there were at least twenty-five men wearing red hats and the train started to leave and I didn’t even have a ticket.”

“Did the package ever get where it was supposed to go?”

“Not exactly,” Mom poured the hot chocolate into two mugs, sprinkling tiny marshmallows on each. “But it did work out, and I helped to solve the case.  After that, I started helping out more and more.”

“As a spy working with Dad?”

“Not at first, no.”  Mom handed her one of the mugs and Jenna wrapped her hands around it, gulping the sweet liquid.  “We kept working together—and finally we became partners and I became a full-time agent.” 

“And then you married.”

“We did.”  Mom sat across from her.  “And then we had you not all that long after.” 

And all because of a chance meeting in a train station eighteen years ago—Jenna thought. That meeting had changed their lives—all their lives—forever.  She took another sip.

“I’m very glad you met that day,” she said aloud.

“So, am I,” Mom agreed.  “Are you looking forward to your slumber party tonight?”

“Yeah—it should be a lot of fun, I think,” Mom  said. “But please—no underwear in the freezer.”

Jenna’s eyes widened. “But how did you—”

“Sweetheart, I am a spy—and I also remember what  slumber parties used to be like,”  Amanda said. “So is that a deal?”

Jenna smiled. “It’s a deal.”

SMK SMK SMK SMK

9:30 PM

“Isn’t Patrick Swayze adorable?”  Lisa’s voice.  From his vantage point at the top of the stairs Lee couldn’t really see anything, but he could hear every word. The strains of ‘Be My Baby’ could be heard over the conversation.

“He’s still not as cute as Leo,” Christy replied.

“Are you kidding me? “ Another girl replied.  “Look at Patrick—that’s a man. Compared to him Leo just looks like a little kid.” 

“Stacy, face it,” Jenna’s voice. “You just want him to dance with you like he’s dancing with that girl in the movie.”

“Sure, don’t you?” 

Lee held his breath, his hand gripping the side of the wall—waiting for his daughter’s reply.

“Maybe, but I’d want to be older if I was dancing like that—not a kid.”

Lee let out his breath in a sigh.

“Well, duh—” Lisa retorted. “That’s kind of a given.”

“What are we talking about anyway?” Christy’s voice rose slightly. “This movie is old. Patrick Swayze probably looks decrepit by now.”

“Does not,” Lisa said. 

A hand tapped Lee on the back; startling him—he’d been so into the conversation that he hadn’t even noticed anyone coming from behind.

“Lee,” Amanda whispered. “We promised we wouldn’t spy on them, remember?”

“I know, Amanda—” But somehow Lee seemed to be frozen to the spot. Her hand tugged at his arm—Lee ignored her. 

“Listen,” Jenna was saying. “Why don’t we stop arguing about guys and play a game or something.”

“But not the dating game—we played that twice already.” Lisa said. “What about twister?”

“Can we watch Titanic while we play?”  Christy asked.

“Yes, Christy,” the girls chorused before they burst into laughter.

“Lee!”  Amanda hissed sharply, as she hit him on the back of her arm.  Reluctantly Lee stepped away from the stairway, following his wife back to their bedroom.

“Just what were you doing?”  She stood facing him, arms crossed.

“I just wanted to know,” Lee replied. “I wasn’t really trying to spy—but I was curious about what was going on—what they were doing down there.”

“And what did you find out?”  Amanda’s eyes looked into his.

“That they were doing normal things—talking about normal things.” Lee fell silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “To tell you the truth, it made me feel good.”

“In what way?”

“Well, it wasn’t too long ago when we didn’t think anything would be normal with Jenna,” Lee explained. “And after this—when she found out the truth—”

“You were worried it might set her back?”

A nod. “A little. I mean, all we’ve ever wanted to do is give her a normal life—granted this past year has been anything but normal, but I hoped we were heading that way. And Jenna having to find out the news like this—right now—I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t worry me.” 

“Does it still worry you?”

Lee laughed ruefully. “She’s my daughter and a teenager—I think worry comes with the territory. But on the other hand Jenna is very levelheaded—and she’s strong.”

“Yes she is,” Amanda agreed. “Look at how well she handled the hearing and the trial. I think she can handle this—knowing our secret.”

“I think you’re right,” Lee replied.  A sudden burst of laughter floated upstairs. “Doesn’t sound like they’re ready to slumber any time soon.”

“How about you, Stetson?” 

“Me?”

“Are you ready to slumber?” Her hand ran lightly up and down his arm—her touch sent tingles down his spine. Lee pulled her close.

“Well you know,” he told her as his lips grazed her neck. “Slumber isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

“Oh yeah?” Amanda asked, slightly breathless as Lee hit that sensitive spot just behind her ear. “Care to show me what you did have in mind?”’

Lee grinned. “Gladly, Mrs. Stetson,” he said as he lowered her onto the bed.