© 2026 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. All characters are original. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. This story or any part thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary.

This is an all-new addition to the Stormwatch series. If you haven't read Stormwatch Chapter 1, through Stormwatch Chapter 11, please take this chance first. All chapters are listed in the correct reading order in the Stormwatch Series List. Chapters one and two are updates to existing chapters with 50% new material in each, and a corrected timeline. Chapters 3, through 10, are all new and hopefully they rekindle the joy of the series and expand on the story.

Stormwatch Chapter 12

Reunion

Josh awoke to find Veronica's mouth sliding up and down his hard cock. He lay back and enjoyed the intense sensations before he pulled Veronica up and placed his mouth on hers. He loved kissing Veronica after a blowjob; her mouth was so warm, her lips swollen and warm. "Good morning, Nica," he said as she pulled him on top of her.

"Good morning Ephie." and they made sweet pre-dawn love. They didn't last long; they had been apart for far too long. They spent the first two weeks of their marriage doing other things, he in North Dakota and she working on Andi Jarecki's campaign for mayor. As they lay panting in the pre-dawn darkness, Josh said, "It's going to be six flavors of hell at work." He was sure that Fabian Bernsdorf, the VP of Production, had screwed up everything in his weeklong absence.

"The new call center is supposed to make life easier on you all. It's supposed to free up in-shop techs so they can help the field techs."

"I just have a bad feeling about this Bernsdorf guy, he has his own agenda," said Josh as they got out of bed.

"I'm going to go for my run, then come over to Andi's and congratulate Madam Mayor."

"Is it official? Did she win?" asked Josh.

"It was official at midnight, she won in a landslide," said Veronica happily. Now they can fix the mess that idiot Windecker left the village in.

They got up, and Veronica went for her pre-dawn jog. Josh pulled on sweats and followed her. He hated jogging. As far as Josh was concerned, the only time a man needs to run is if someone is behind him with a knife, but something told him to follow Veronica. He stepped outside, and it was cold. North Dakota cold. Wondering what the frigid air would do to his lungs, he followed Veronica and remained behind her by a block.

Veronica was running and listening to a workout mix on Spotify. She didn't recognize most of the music, but it kept her in rhythm as she jogged. She did a lap around the village and, as the sky started to lighten, a dark green patrol car pulled up alongside her and the window rolled down. "Hey honey. Nice job you did for the hooker!" called the patrolman, referring to Adrianna Jerecki as "The Hooker." It was R.J. Reynolds, a self-professed law enforcement super-stud. He thought of himself as a walking Lenny Briscoe and Danny Reagan rolled up into one uniformed demi-god.

Veronica pointed to her headphones, then shrugged and said, "I don't play snooker."

"Hooker! I said Hooker!"

Veronica turned quickly and started jogging down an alley. Mister Supercop didn't see Josh coming up behind the patrol car with a mitten full of snow. R.J. tapped the gas to speed up; he wanted to turn onto a street that ran parallel to the alley that Veronica was jogging on. As he hit the gas, a handful of snow reached into his open window and washed his face with snow. Patrolman R. J. Reynolds panicked and pressed down on the gas instead of the brake and slammed into the back of a brand-new Ford F-250 that was parked in the street, destroying the front end of the village cruiser and causing thousands of dollars of damage to the cruiser but very little damage to the F-250.

Reynolds got out of the patrol car to inspect the damage as Josh followed Veronica up the alley between Third and Fourth streets. She didn't see him until she turned to head back home. "When did you start jogging?" she asked.

"I didn't feel like lacing up the skates this morning," puffed Josh. He was getting better at skating, and much better at horsing around in the snow. Washing someone's face with snow can be quite annoying; it was something that John Jerecki taught him.

"We have to hurry, the press is going to go nuts at any moment," said Veronica as they entered the house. Josh playfully pinched that beautiful ass of hers as they went in the front door, and they ended up racing downstairs to Mike's apartment. The shower they put in for Veronica's dad is incredible, so they use it every chance they get before he moves in with them in a couple of weeks.

In the shower, Josh soaped Veronica up and pulled her close, her warm soapy body rubbing against his. The sensation of her warm body pressing against him was incredible. She felt it too; his hard, thick cock sliding between her soapy, sensitive thighs made her want to give it all up and make passionate love right there. They had a quickie when they first woke up, and she knew from experience that Josh was going to take a nice long time for round number two... and three... and four if she's lucky. But she pushed him away.

"Honey no, not today of all days."

"Today is the perfect day... it's Wednesday!"

"What makes Wednesday so special?" Veronica asked.

"You're here, I'm here, I just got back from the arctic... the frozen soldier returning to kith and kin... celebrations must be had."

"Today they announce that Andi won the election for mayor. I need to handle the onslaught of overeager, under-smart reporters that are going to be demanding a private interview."

"Awww honey," groaned Josh, but he was rinsing her off and reaching for a towel. She makes so much more money than he does, and pride isn't a big thing with him, so he pampers her. They wandered upstairs, toweling themselves and each other off, then they went into the bedroom and got dressed. Josh pulled on his red Andalon Data Systems polo shirt and cargo pants with the "tech pocket" for his phone.

"Where's my beige bra?" asked Veronica.

"Beige?" Like most men, to Josh there are six colors: red, blue, yellow, green, black, and brown. White isn't a color; it's a shade of nothing.

"My nudie bra?" she demanded.

"Oh! That one." He called it her nudie bra because it matched her skin tone perfectly. "I put it in your go-bag." Her go-bag is an overnight case she has packed in case there's a sudden need to travel. Josh has a go-bag as well. It's mostly a place to store clothing he doesn't wear.

"Let's go congratulate Madam Mayor, then you can get to work."

"Yes, ma'am," said Josh, and he held her blouse up so she could get her arms into it, then button up and tug on a jacket. She'll touch up her hair and makeup over at Andi's house. Macy and Veronica touch up each other's hair and makeup, then they both work on Andi, who has no patience for hair and makeup.

They got in Veronica's Navigator and rode over to Andi's house. Andi would probably have a thousand interviews, so Veronica was going to drive her around. After congratulating Madam Mayor, Josh was going to zip back to the house, hop in Spartacus, and head off to work. They entered the driveway and pulled in behind John and Macy, who were getting out of their van. Josh helped get Cholly out of his seat in the back of Macy's van, and the little guy dashed off. "Don't you want your puppy?" called out Josh.

"Oh, yeah!"

Cholly's reaction sounded exactly like Madeline, which caused Josh to laugh. The little guy dashed back to the van and held his arms out as if he were going to haul a huge armload of firewood. Josh put the big puppy in his arms, and Cholly teetered under the weight of Chiot, a three-month-old Newfoundland puppy. Wobbling with his puppy in his arms, Cholly made his way to the back door of the Jarecki house.

FBI Special Agent in Charge, Frank Colella, was sitting at the table sipping coffee and talking with Sandi and Madeline as they ate breakfast. Andi was just coming down the back stairs as John, Macy, Josh and Veronica entered the kitchen. Frank stood and said, "Good morning, Madam Mayor."

"I went to bed before the results came in. Do you mean that I won?" asked a surprised Andi.

"In a landslide. You slaughtered him. You didn't expect that?" asked Frank over the cheering of the twins. Even Danny squeaked his happiness.

"No! Not the way our luck has been going."

There were cheers and hugs all around, and John said, "please raise your coffee to toast the hero of the hour, the engineer of her victory, Veronica!"

Veronica just shook her head, "I just did what needed to be done."

"Honey, without you we couldn't have come close to victory... now what do I do?" asked Andi.

"You have weeks to worry about that, you have plenty of time to study the continuity book," said Veronica.

"The what?"

"Continuity book. It's like an instruction manual for oncoming mayors, so there is continuity between administrations."

"We'll have a special service at the church tonight and seek a blessing on your new administration," said John happily.

As they made their plans, an FBI agent came into the kitchen and handed Frank a phone. "It's the boss," he said as Frank took the phone.

Frank lifted the phone to his ear. "Agent Colella..." Suddenly Frank stood and snapped to attention. "Yes sir... yes sir... I understand... right away sir, and thank you, mister director." He hung up and handed the phone back to the other FBI agent. Josh noticed that all the FBI agents and the two Town of Concord cops on Andi's protection detail were at the doorways to the kitchen, watching.

Special Agent in Charge Frank Colella turned to Andi and said, "Missus Jarecki, I just spoke with Whitaker Vitale, the director of the FBI..." The room suddenly went silent. They knew this was going to be big. "We have him. Your husband is alive and the kidnappers are in custody."

The room erupted in loud cheers. Andi threw her arms around Macy, and they hugged and wept with joy. Veronica turned to hug Josh, but he was gone. Overcome with relief that his old friend was safe, Josh sank to his knees and wept. Veronica knelt with him and hugged her man. "Ephie, are you ok?"

"I'm just..." he tried to wipe away the tears. "This never happens to me; I don't get friends back... I usually end up carrying their caskets."

"Where is he?" gasped Andi between the tears. She was hugging the twins as Frank Colella patted her shoulder.

"He's at the University of Florida's north hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. He's in pretty rough shape; it looks like they were pumping him full of drugs to keep him under control. They're weaning him off the junk now and should be ready to transport in seven to ten days."

"Oh Ephie," gushed Veronica, and she held Josh tight. Finally, she said, "You've got to pull it together. I'm sending you to Jacksonville with Andi."

"What? I have to go to work." Josh slowly got to his feet.

"I'll handle that. Paul is in Jacksonville, you are going to go as Andi's valet, babysitter, and driver." She looked and saw Madeline walking Wonka around with his Support Dog vest on. "And dog walker. You run home, get your go-bag and a suit and grab at least one laptop and two sets of earbuds. We're going to be on the phone a lot. Get all that and get right back here. I have to help Andi."

"Yes ma'am." He got up and zipped out the door. He took Veronica's navigator home, ran in the house and grabbed his overnight bag and checked it, added some extra underwear and socks, low quarter shoes, shaving kit... "Stop overthinking it," Josh ordered himself. He grabbed a backpack and made sure there were two laptops, chargers and other assorted electronic toys, including a tablet, then headed for the door. Halfway down the stairs he remembered, "Suit!" He dashed back up the stairs and grabbed a hanging suit bag. He's got two suits: one boring everyday gray suit with a SPEBSQSA tie, and his uniform.

He backed into the Jarecki's driveway and popped the rear hatch as Veronica stepped out with a baby seat and plugged that into the back seat. "Help Andi with her bags, will you?"

"No problem-o," said Josh, and he went into the house and upstairs to find Andi zipping up a large suitcase. "Are we going out to dinner a lot down there?" asked Josh.

"This is Danny's bag," said Andi. She pointed to a smaller suitcase. "That one is mine."

"Yes ma'am." He helped her zip up Danny's suitcase, then he carried both suitcases downstairs while Andi followed with a laptop case over her shoulder and Danny wrapped up in several blankets in the other arm. Two months old and the little fellow knew something good was happening.

Josh closed up the navigator and returned to the house as goodbyes were being said. He grabbed a coffee, and John came up to him. "Tell my brother I miss him," said John. "But don't tell him of the things that happened while he was gone. Let's get him home and safe before we tell him that stuff."

"I will let Madam Mayor determine what news he gets to hear."

Madeline handed him a leash connected to Wonka in his support animal harness. "Here you go!" said Madeline happily. "Wonka will fix poppa."

"He needs poppa," said Sandy sadly. "He cries without papa."

For some reason, that struck a chord with Josh. Fighting back the tears, Josh took Wonka's leash and said, "He'll be with your papa in time for lunch." Then he took Danny from Andi. "I'll go put the boys in the car," he told Andi, and he headed out with Danny and Wonka in tow.

"When did I lose control?" asked Andi.

Macy gave her sister a hug and said, "You never had control. You're just along for the ride like the rest of us. Now go get your man!"

"Go mommy! Go!" cried the twins as Andi nervously stepped outside and saw that they had put her luggage in Veronica's big Lincoln Navigator and the boys, Danny and Wonka, were in the back with Josh, ready to go.

She gave each of the twins a kiss and said, "I know you'll be good for Aunt Macy. Be good for Miss Yi. Please? Maybe if we're all good, we can bring poppa home soon."

"K!" chimed the twins.

Andi turned to Macy and Yi and was about to say something, but John just said, "GO! Your husband is waiting!"

Andi nodded and hurried to Veronica's Navigator and sat up front. "Do you mind if I set up a few phone conferences and zoom meetings? This is solid PR gold, and we don't want to lose the opportunity," said Veronica as she pulled out of the driveway.

"I'll be on a plane," said Andi as she searched through her purse for a charger and cable for her cell phone and earbuds.

"That's ok, we got a flight with high-speed Wi-Fi. Do a zoom call from the plane for Channel Seven at nine AM. When you're on the ground and heading to the hospital, give me a call and we'll do a quick interview with WBEN."

"I'm not running for president," said Andi. "Besides, you have enough work at Andalon Data Systems."

"For me, this is fun. I used to be on your end of things. Once we get Paul back and you running the village, we can take a break."

"I don't know how to be mayor!" said Andi.

"In the back seat is your briefcase. The mayoral continuity book is in there, as are the village constitution and the village council by-laws," said Veronica. "Your personal and your business check books are in there too. When Paul is sleeping, you can study."

"How am I going to carry all that?" demanded Andi.

"Josh is going with you. He's your driver and your valet. If you need anything, let him know. If he can't get it, we'll work together to get it for you."

"He doesn't have to," said Andi.

"Yes, he does. He's been sick over this whole thing. I don't think he slept at all. It took three FBI agents to keep him from killing those jerks that tried to kidnap Yi and the twins. Oh, and by the way, I hear that two local fellows found Paul and kept him alive until help arrived. That's why the check books are in your briefcase. Someone from the Duval County Sheriff's office will brief you on what happened."

"Doooo Vall!" cried Josh from the back seat.

"I can see why you're Anthony and Marj's executive assistant. Where are we?" She just noticed that they had turned off the 219 Expressway and were heading east. This wasn't the way to the Buffalo Airport.

"Orchard Park airport," said Veronica. "And that's your plane." She pointed out a beautiful Cessna Citation CJ4, the gold standard of executive airplanes.

"That's a rocket! We can't afford this."

"Yes, you can, dear," scolded Veronica. "You are acting CEO of a very successful business, you're going to need this rocket." But she knew what Andi was going through. A life of scrimping and saving and counting every little penny doesn't teach you how to spoil yourself, not even when you can justify the reason.

"That's the same kind of plane that Paul and Min took to Portsmouth," said Veronica as she stopped the Navigator. A couple of fellows came over and helped with the suitcases while Josh unbuckled Danny's carrier from the rear seat and carried the little guy and led Wonka over to the business jet. As he climbed onto the jet, he was met by a young girl in an indistinct uniform. "How would you like the seats set up?" she asked.

"As long as they're bolted down, I'll be happy," said Josh. There were six seats, three on each side of the narrow aisle, and not a gun or gun-port in sight.

"We can turn the seats around and make a family or office setup."

"Yeah, turn the first two around and we'll figure the seating when Missus Jarecki gets on board."

"Is she the woman that ran for mayor against that bastard?" asked the flight attendant as she turned the seats around and showed Josh how to set up the table. "I hope they find her husband."

"They found him," said Josh. "We're heading down to Florida to reunite them. Can I get some water? I need to take some medications."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

The plane jumped to the side, slamming Josh's forehead into the GAU-12 "Equalizer" 25mm Gatling gun, and suddenly everything went dark. Not from being slammed in the head, even though Master Sergeant Gravely came very close to being knocked unconscious. "I don't have time to bleed," from the movie Predator was Josh's method of operation. Get the job done first; apply Band-Aids later. Normally, the gun deck of Ghost Rider Zero Four was dim, but the moment the ship jumped, it went pitch black. The intercom shrieked for a moment and went silent. The only light he had was his flashlight, which was sent rolling when the AC-130 got slammed and jerked to the side.

Josh grabbed his flashlight that was jammed up under the feed system of the GAU-12 and freed it. He then got to his feet and began to pick his way aft. Everything seemed wrong. The only sound was the wind roaring, which was weird. Did a hatch get opened? The GAU-23/A 30mm Bushmaster was in the ready position, but the M102 105mm howitzer was in a strange, cocked position. Then his flashlight found the Double You's, Wayne and Wyatt. The kids were both staring at something in horror... something on the deck.

Josh trained his light down, and there on the deck was...

"Your water sir?"

Josh almost shrieked in horror, but somehow he held it together. "Pardon?"

"The water you asked for? Here you are," said the flight attendant, and she handed Josh a small bottle of water.

He tried to act cool and took the water, then he took his bottle of pills out and looked at them. Enough to get him down to Florida and back to Buffalo... he's got another trip to Florida coming up... he's going to have to get more pills from Dr. Lennox before they head down to see Ellie... and he's got that trip to Denver coming up... maybe he can talk Veronica and the guys into taking the train. Yeah! A cross-country practice session...

Outside, Andi was talking to Veronica about what she had to do. At nine AM, make sure she was logged into Zoom for an interview with Channel Seven News.

"We'll be over Maryland by nine AM," said the Co-pilot as he came up and introduced himself to Andi. He was overjoyed to discover that she was now the mayor of Springville. "Any relation to Paul Jarecki?" asked the co-pilot.

"He's my husband," said Andi.

"I flew him to New Hampshire back in December. He's got us on retainer now," said the co-pilot with a smile.

"I'll let him know you flew us down to Florida." Then Andi grew serious. "The fellow flying with me... his last mission was pretty rough; can you avoid turbulence for him?"

"Oh? He's got it bad?" asked the co-pilot.

"I overheard a conversation," said Andi. "He was on gunships and was shot down. He told my husband he didn't mind most things, but he hates bouncing airplanes."

Veronica was a little shocked. This was the first she heard about this, so she's going to make a point of talking to Josh about it.

Finally, Andi and the co-pilot climbed aboard, and the pilot leaned out of the cockpit. "Are we ready to rock?"

"In a moment," called the co-pilot, and he walked over to where Josh was sitting. He leaned over and asked, "You flew?"

Josh looked up at the guy, and shit... with that look in his eyes, he knew. "Yes, AC-130," Josh finally said.

"MC-130," said the co-pilot, and he extended his hand to shake. "Not exactly the same mission," he said.

"No, but we did chew up the same clouds on occasion," said Josh. The MC-130 was a ride that Josh did not want to take at all. The MC-130 was for clandestine mission support, inserting troops, supplying them, getting them back out, and refueling 'whirly birds' of all types, helicopters and tilt rotors.

"We'll get you back on the ground quickly."

"Hey guy, we're anxious to get to JAX, but the only record we want is the safest flight to the land of gator tail and Lynyrd Skynyrd."

"Sounds like you know the area."

"Yeah, and I'm not in a hurry to get there. I'm an alumnus of the Mayo Clinic and I would rather avoid the place."

Just then, the pilot came over the intercom. "Madam Mayor, Mister Gravely von Köster, welcome aboard November Niner Charlie Echo Mike. We will take off in a few minutes. Flight time is approximately two and a half hours, and we will land about ten thirty AM. We will take off as soon as Jacksonville can fit us into their busy schedule. In the meantime relax. Our flight attendant Clairese can provide you with snacks, baked goods and liquid refreshment."

Andi had sat in the left seat that was facing forward, and she put Danny in the seat across the aisle from her. Josh took the seat across from Danny facing aft, that way he could keep an eye on the little guy while his mom chatted on the air with Channel Seven. Once that hits the air, every news outlet in Buffalo was going to want to Zoom with her before she lands.

He could feel the Ambien working, unfrazzling his nerves as the plane's engines fired up and the telltale screeches and whines of the different systems came online. Normally he'd want to be digging his way to an exit, diving over seats and shoving people out of his way, but his panic was being relaxed by a mellow buzz in the background. He was so relaxed he was going to fall asleep. Then his phone rang. It was Veronica. "Hi Nicca, we ain't left yet," said Josh.

"I know Ephie. I need you to act as engineer on the calls and videos that Andi does."

"Like what - lighting and stuff like that?"

"I can't access the Zoom meetings from here so I want you to keep an eye on the calls and if the interviewer decides to go 60 Minutes you give them one warning, after that you pull the plug."

"I can do that," said Josh with a grin. He would love to ruin the day of some punk local broadcaster who thought he/she/it could use Andi as a steppingstone to a network job. "I thought you were going to do this from Andi's house."

"I'm in the police station," said Veronica.

"For what? For that thing with the Park Patrol car? You tell them that was me."

"No, I'm talking with the chief of the Town of Concord police department about Andi's future plans. What's this about a patrol car?"

"Huh? Nothing, I just saw a new patrol car this morning and was wondering what Andi had planned for them," said Josh, glad that Veronica couldn't see his embarrassed blush.

"We're working on what Andi is going to do with the village park police when she takes office. There's a few people we're worried about."

"Oglethorpe?" asked Josh.

"I'm not going to mention any names but if I could I'd say yes," said Veronica slyly.

That caused Josh to laugh. "Ok, what do you need me to do?"

"Check your email, I sent you a list of all the scheduled interviews, two zoom calls, and a third is iffy, plus one phone interview while you're flying. After you land you have the interview with Don Bowerly. You call into the station with Andi's phone and set up the interview. They know you will be on the road."

"Do they know it's only a couple of minutes from the airport to the hospital?"

"They will when you call them," said Veronica.

Soon the plane moved out to the runway, and Danny, who was getting fussy, fell right asleep. Both Josh and Andi had their laptops open, and Andi was assigning emails to Josh to answer. Josh had two email accounts open, Andi's and his, and he was answering the emails that could be answered with generic pleasantries; she was answering email that needed personal information. Josh set his phone to do Wi-Fi calling and, as Veronica promised, she forwarded her phone to him. "Jarecki for Mayor," said Josh.

"I'm trying to reach Missus Jarecki. I'm FBI Divisional supervisor Grace Hollingsworth."

"Oh! The Air Martial! We met in Minneapolis. I'm taking calls for Missus Jarecki while we fly to Jacksonville."

"I would like to speak to Missus Jarecki for a few minutes if I could," said Grace. Josh must have cried out because Grace asked, "Is everything ok Mister von Köster?"

"Yeah, we're taking off and this little Cessna is wobbly. Here's Andi, if something comes up I'll have to interrupt your call." Then, he forwarded the call to Andi's phone. "Boss, I have a field director with the FBI that wants to talk to you. I can vouch for her; I met her in person a couple of weeks ago."

"Ok," sighed Andi, who was dealing with a letter to the Town of Concord detectives about the actions of Mayor Samael Windecker. "Send her over." Josh transferred the call and went back to answering 'nothing' emails that Andi had marked for him to deal with.

Then he saw an email from the warden at Upstate Correctional Facility regarding Francesco Liberatore Rosetti. "Shit," Josh swore under his breath and forwarded that to himself and deleted it from Andi's email account. Josh had a few long talks with Andi's friend Nicoletta Atherton, the retired judge. She hated Frank Rosetti with a passion that burned white-hot. Nicoletta will probably throw a kegger the day that Rosetti gets shived in his jail cell.

He was making headway with copy/paste responses when suddenly everything happened at once. His alarm went off, warning him that there were ten minutes until the interview with WKBW-TV. It was with Amy Harrison. At the same time, Danny woke up crying. Andi looked over at Danny, but she was still on the phone. "I'll get it," said Josh, and he scooped Danny out of his carrier. The little guy was soaked.

"It's been a long time since I did anything like this buddy," Josh said to Danny. In fact, Josh couldn't remember the last time he had changed a diaper. Had he ever changed a diaper? Yes! He changed Cholly a few times, but Cholly was wearing Pullups, not exactly a diaper. "Here we go little guy..." He unsnapped Danny's sleeper and took the wet sleeper off and then, using a wipe, he cleaned off the little guy. Then he studied the micro-diaper Danny was wearing... He's a lot smaller than Cholly and he looked horribly fragile.

As he worked on Danny, the screen on his laptop lit up as the feed went live on the Zoom call. "Are you ok over there?" asked Andi.

"He squirms," said Josh. He was sitting sideways on his airline seat with Danny lying on his thighs, squirming and wriggling.

"Hello?" called a voice from the Zoom call.

"Stop tickling him," said Andi.

"But he likes it." Josh looked over and saw that it was Amy Harrison, the morning news anchor on WKBW-TV. "Be right with you," said Josh. "Little busy here."

"We go on the air in three minutes," huffed the pretty news anchor. Josh looked, and she was pretty enough to play an assistant district attorney back when Law & Order was good. "The emergency is done," and he hoisted Danny up and held him in the crook of his left arm and typed with his right hand.

"Oh, how precious!" gushed Amy. "Is that yours?"

"Nope, this is Danny Jarecki, but none of the mayor's children go on the air. Madam mayor will come on in a couple of seconds. If you want to continue this interview there's a couple of things that Missus Jarecki does not want to talk about."

"Such as?"

"The pending FBI investigation into the corruption of the previous administration," lied Josh

"FBI?" asked Amy in a gasp.

"She's on the phone with the FBI right now but we're not going to talk about it. We're not going to talk about the village park patrol harassing Vietnam veterans either." Josh was inventing an entirely new category of lies. And he continued piling it on. "I don't think that made big news yet, but Missus Jarecki isn't ready to talk about it. You may want to talk to Captain Hernandez in Springville about that."

"What about Missus Jarecki's husband?" asked the young newsreader as she hastily scribbled notes.

"Ooo, that's touchy. We're heading down to Florida to identify a body, keep us in your prayers. Instead, ask her how she met Paul, it's a great story and will cheer up your audience. It's a perfect Western New York romance." Amy's eyes grew enormous as half-dollar coins as she scribbled notes. With a couple of clicks, Josh brought up Zoom on Andi's laptop. "You have one minute ma'am," said Josh.

"How did you do that?" asked Andi as she ended her call with Divisional Supervisor Grace Hollingsworth.

"FM," said Josh as he pulled a bottle out of the baby bag and fed Danny so he'd be quiet through the interview. He has used the answer FM a few times with Andi, so she should remember that it stands for "Fucking Magic." FM is anything you don't want to talk about.

The news director appeared on the Zoom screen and muted Josh's Zoom mic. "And we're live in 3... 2... 1..."

"Welcome back to AM Buffalo, I'm Amy Harrison and we are live and on your side. Yesterday the village of Springville held a special election for mayor and we're talking with the winner right now. Doctor Adrianna Jarecki, you picked up the bid for election after your husband was abducted. What led you to decide to run for mayor?"

"Someone had to step up and do it. John, my husband's brother wanted to step forward and run but he's a pastor and the by-laws of his parish won't let him get involved in politics, he would lose his job and he couldn't afford that with a toddler and a newborn in his house. I was familiar with my husband's platform and desires so I said I'll do it."

"We understand that you are in constant contact with the FBI about your husband, and our thoughts and prayers go with you, but could you tell us about how you and Paul met?"

Andi glanced over at Josh, who gave her a wink. He hijacked the interview. Amy couldn't ask Andi uncomfortable questions about Paul's abduction and got Amy to concentrate on how they met. "Two years ago I came to Western New York with my daughters to visit a friend and spend Christmas here. Getting off the 219 in Springville I turned the wrong way in the middle of a lake effect blizzard and ended up stuck in a ditch out in the open countryside..."

Just then, Josh got a text: "This is Sid Johnson, news director for WIVB, how soon can we start the interview with Mayor Jarecki?"

"Let's give her five minutes. Please keep the conversation on the election and there will be no problem. She's very touchy about her husband right now." They set up a link on Zoom, and Josh got to speak with Jayna Todd, the newsreader for WIVB. "Missus Jarecki is very touchy about her husband, please keep the conversation on the election and the scumbag she replaced. If you want to make Buffalo smile, ask her how she and Paul hijacked a church for their wedding a year ago."

Jayna, a beautiful black woman, smiled and said, "You're a lot easier to work with than Miss von Köster. Oh such a darling! Is that Mayor Jarecki's son?"

Josh shrugged. "Ronnie is tough, that's why I married her. And yes, this is Danny, but no, you can't film him." Over at Andi's seat, she finished up her interview with WKBW. "Madam Mayor, can you take another interview? WIVB is ready to go."

Andi looked over and Josh had Danny on his shoulder, and he was patting the baby's back. "Sure," sighed Andi. "Let's set it up." Andi was shocked by the entire thing. She was the mayor of a little village down in the hills south of Buffalo, so why was this drawing so much attention? And how did Josh get so good at burping a baby?

As she prepared to do the interview, she noticed that Josh had dressed Danny and was now training him. "We open the email and look, is this a threat? Is it some pervert looking to pounce on your mommy? No? Okay, we go to this file with generic responses, choose one, copy, paste, send, we're done!" Andi gave the flight attendant her phone and asked the attendant to get a photograph of Josh and Danny.

"It's perfect," said Andi, and she sent the image to Veronica.

"This is Jayna Todd, WIVB Four Buffalo, and this morning we're talking to the newly elected mayor of Springville, Doctor Adrianna Jarecki. Doctor Jarecki..."

"Andi is fine."

"Thank you, Andi, you picked up the bid for election after your husband who was running for mayor was abducted. What led you to decide to run for mayor?"

It was the same thing as WKBW, just with a different newsreader. Josh was able to put a sleepy Danny into his carrier and strap him in. Then, as Andi told WIVB how she and Paul were able to piggyback their wedding ceremony onto the back of the church's Christmas candlelight ceremony, WGRV texted looking for an interview with Andi on their morning news show.

Leslie McCormick was looking for an exclusive, and Josh said, "How about a Human Interest exclusive?"

"I would love that," said Leslie, a blond in her mid-twenties, hoping for a network job like the other two newsreaders he talked to this morning.

"Andi's son Danny was born in a blizzard back in November. The story of getting her to the hospital where her husband delivered Danny is pure gold."

Andi looked over from her interview with WIVB. "Are we done?"

"One more, WGRZ wants you on zoom, then we have WGRQ holding on for a phone interview."

"Of course," she signed and used the camera on her laptop as a mirror to adjust her hair and makeup. These were things she never cared about before she met Macy and Veronica. The Zoom meeting for WGRZ popped up, and she was soon talking to Leslie McCormick. Andi was polished and grateful to the voters of Springville, and Josh knocked off two dozen emails by the time she got up to the part where she went into labor in a hospital with no OBGYN on staff during a blizzard and Paul delivered Danny.

Andi finished the story of Danny's birth on her Zoom call with WGRZ-TV, then switched to her phone where Bill McDoyle, a sportscaster at WGRQ-FM, wanted to ask her everything that was covered on the preceding Zoom interviews. For human interest, Josh had told him to ask Andi about her introduction to sailing. Josh was thinking of her first day on her huge yacht, but Andi was thinking of sailing around Nicoletta Atherton's island topless. She somehow got a coherent, family-friendly story out on the air. As she finished up, the flight attendant came back and said, "We will be landing in about ten minutes, so you may want to get your stuff packed up."

"Thank you," gushed Andi. She got a long breakdown from the FBI and four big interviews accomplished, and Josh responded to over forty emails, so she realized how useful a corporate jet was. "I wonder if we can use this to fly the kids down to Florida," she said aloud.

"Of course, but as Veronica says, 'think of the optics,'" said Josh.

"Screw the optics. We have the money and we earned it honestly," insisted Andi. Then she felt something on her foot. She looked down, and Wonka was using her foot as a pillow. During the entire flight, Wonka lay curled up at Andi's feet, a depressed dog in a world not of his making.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

They landed at Jacksonville International Airport, also known as JAX, around noon. Jax was about the size of Buffalo International, but the terminal was built to handle more flights. That didn't matter because they landed gently, just a little late, and taxied to the civil aviation ramp, where their rental SUV awaited them. Josh met with the flight crew and thanked them for a smooth ride. "My last mission was a shot up AC-130. That landing soured me on flying."

"At least you walked away," said the pilot.

"Not all of us did," said Josh. He shook his head. "No serviceman should die in an east African shithole like that."

"Africa?" asked the co-pilot, and Josh nodded. "Ghost Rider Zero Four?" Again Josh nodded. "I heard about it, that was a rough ride," said the co-pilot. "Are you Sergeant Gravely?"

"Yeah, that was me," sighed Josh.

"Who?" asked the pilot.

"This guy, his plane was shot up, he put out the fires, performed first aid, hauled a wounded airman..."

"Stop... please stop," sighed Josh. "It's over, I just want to be known as the guy who can fix your network problems, maybe sing you a song to make the day go by." The pilot had opened the cargo compartment access panel, and Josh reached inside to pull out their bags.

The co-pilot was shocked; he clearly knew about Josh's Medal of Honor and what he did to earn such praise. "You did some incredible..."

"I did the same thing anybody else would have done," said Josh. "And for that, they named an American Legion Post after me." He pulled their suitcases out of the cargo compartment. "I'm just the guy who loaded bombs and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time." He loaded up the suitcases in the back of the SUV, made sure all their carry-on baggage was in the car, that Danny, Wonka, and Andi were in the car as well, then Josh turned back to the flight crew that was getting ready to leave. "I don't mean to be rude; it's not fun to remember, and I lost my best friend and a damn good crew."

"I apologize, I didn't want to dredge up bad memories," said the co-pilot.

"You wouldn't know. The Air Force made it sound like John Wayne was up there hanging out that big gaping hole and putting tourniquets on his friend's leg. A macho, studly superhero. It weren't John Wayne, just some redneck from Saint Mary's Georgia, about forty miles that-a-way." Josh dug some bills out of his pocket and handed them to the pilot. "Here, for the three of you from Mister Jarecki. Hopefully you'll be bringing him back to Buffalo soon." He slowly eased into the SUV driver's seat and drove off.

The pilot looked at the money in his hand and realized that Josh had handed him three fifty-dollar bills.

<><><><><>

"And we're back, I'm Don Bowerly and this is the Don Bowerly show on WBEN. While we were out, the new mayor of Springville, New York, called and she's still on the line with us now. Doctor Jarecki, Madam Mayor, congratulations on your sweeping victory."

"Thank you Don. It was a crazy time, but we did it. I want to thank my wonderful sister-in-law Macy Jarecki, who stuck by me through thick and thin, and my public relations manager Veronica von Köster, who trained me on these interviews, then set them up for me. She and Macy were the driving force on my campaign. I want to thank all those wonderful volunteers who helped us get the word out and the money in. My campaign was 100% voter funded and Veronica helped us raise the funds as well."

"Ah yes, Veronica," said Bowerly. "Smart, beautiful, a wonderful woman."

"Veronica is back in Springville wrapping up the campaign and her new husband is sitting right next to me. Josh is my driver because I'm so nervous I can barely hold my phone." They were heading out of the Jacksonville airport, and Josh pointed out where they were going to turn to get to the hospital.

"And why would you be so nervous? You won your very first election. It's all behind you now." Don Bowerly knew why she was nervous. He was drawing it out of her, trying to get her to say it without being prompted.

"Because they found Paul!" She almost screamed the news. "He's here in Jacksonville and we are heading to the hospital to see him now. I can see the building in the distance."

"Is it over? The manhunt is done?"

"Yes, it is. Paul is free. His kidnappers left him in a swamp and drove off. I don't know his condition, but he's free and his kidnappers are now in prison. I want to thank Special Agent Colella of the FBI and his entire team, Detectives Klafka, Gaulin, Tanaka, and Morris of the town of Concord for their diligence, and my ex-husband Frank for providing the information that led to the kidnappers arrest."

<><><><><>

Back in Springville, Nicoletta and Don Atherton were packing up to head back to Nisi Arcadia, their private island in the Bahamas. Now that Paul was found, Andi and Paul were due to visit the island in a month, and they wanted to make sure everything was ready for them and their guests, which included Veronica and Josh. They were having fun catching Andi's interviews on the different morning shows. The laughs came from Andi's expression when the news reader asked her, "I understand you met your husband in a blizzard," or "You were married during a Christmas eve service," and "Doctor Jarecki delivered your baby in a blizzard two months ago."

"That has to be Josh feeding them info," said Don Atherton.

"Why would he be doing that?" asked Yi as she watched along with the Athertons. "He was in it for kicks?"

"It kept them from asking questions about Paul's abduction," said Nicoletta. "She may not have held up under those questions. Instead, she got to talk about something that made her very happy."

"So that dumb-ass redneck isn't so dumb?" asked Yi.

"Not in the least," said Nicoletta with a laugh. That's when Andi thanked her ex-husband for providing the information that led to Paul's rescue. Nicoletta and Don Atherton froze.

"Did she just say what I thought she just said?" gasped Donald Atherton.

"Yes, she did," said Nicoletta as she nodded in poorly hidden awe.

"She just sentenced her ex-husband to death!" cried Donald.

"What do you mean?" asked Yi.

Nicoletta grinned grimly at Andi's seemingly innocent remark on the radio. Ever since Andi discovered that Frank Rosetti was involved with Paul's disappearance, she's been planning that simple sentence. "Frank ruined her life. He used her as a whore to cover his gambling debts. He left her pregnant with twins, running off with a cocktail waitress in Minneapolis. He tried to weasel five million dollars out of Paul, basically selling him the twins. Paul shoved it back up his ass by purchasing that yacht and naming it after Andi. Then he released those videos... that man is scum. All Andi did was tell the truth. Prison society will clean up the mess for us."

<><><><><>

"You must be excited!" said the host, Don Bowerly.

"I have been hoping and praying since the day he disappeared. Paul's brother Pastor John Jarecki should be here with me, he's the one that kept me focused on my children, their father, and the lord." She started crying for the first time in days. This time it was tears of joy and relief.

"Mayor Jarecki?" asked Don nervously.

Suddenly her tears stopped with a girlish squeal. "Stop it!"

"I didn't do anything this time," said Don.

"No, it was Josh, your friend Veronica's husband was poking me. It's his weird way of getting me back on track. There's so many people to thank and I suppose I'm going to have so many more to thank when I meet Paul's medical team in a few minutes. We're pulling up to the hospital now."

"We are all excited for you Doctor Jarecki, our hopes and prayers go with you. And we hope the next time you give us a call it will be with more good news."

Moments later, Josh pulled into the parking lot at the University of Florida hospital and found a place to park. Andi released Danny from his seat, and the little guy was alert and excited. He was looking around because he knew something was happening. Josh led Wonka out, and he was curious, too. The smells of Florida weren't new to Wonka. He's been to Florida several times, mostly down in Jupiter. They walked across the parking lot, enjoying the warmth. The temperature in North Florida is normally in the sixties through the winter, and to the residents of Springville it felt tropical. They entered the hospital, walked up to the reception desk, and asked what room Paul was in.

"He's not taking any visitors," said the receptionist.

"I'm his wife," said Andi. "He'll see me."

"Room four twenty five, they may ask you to wear a mask."

Josh glared at the receptionist for that remark, but he held his comments in check. He just led Andi and Wonka through the lobby and to the elevators, and nobody said a word to them about the dog. Florida is a dog-crazy state, and you'll see dogs everywhere wearing vests that say "Service Animal" but few have been properly trained. Wonka had received years of training, and the poor dog was terrified that he'd lost another buddy. His first handler, a cop, was gunned down, and when Wonka recovered, he was retrained from drug dog to support dog. As a support dog, Wonka finally learned the joy of playing with children, but his man, Paul, was all that truly mattered to Wonka.

The last time Josh had been here, the security had been unbelievable. He was trying to see a doctor and almost gave up on trying to get in because of the senseless post-quarantine precautions. This time, nobody said a word to them as they strolled through the lobby with a dog.

They took the elevator up to the fourth floor and followed the signage to Room 425. As they turned the corner of the hallway, Wonka suddenly came to life. He whined and whimpered and started yanking at Josh. "Wonka, heel!" demanded Andi, but Wonka would have none of it. Crying and barking, Wonka yanked at his leash, his feet slipping and sliding on the floor. With a howl, Wonka cried out to Paul. Josh couldn't hold the poor dog back anymore and dropped his leash in sympathy and let the poor dog loose.

"Go get daddy boy," said Josh, a tear of sympathy for poor Wonka in his eye. Josh spent all of his available free time sitting with Wonka as the poor dog healed. Josh would sit on the floor next to Wonka's bed, and Wonka would lie in the bed with his head in Josh's lap. Josh was sure the worst damage to Wonka was to his heart. The poor dog had lost another companion and was depressed.

Wonka took off like a shot. He dashed down the hallway and slid into the turn, his feet skittering, searching for traction, then he dashed into room 425. The excited dog danced around the bed, weeping with excitement. Paul reached down to pet his old friend, and Wonka couldn't contain himself and jumped up on the bed. His tail wagged so hard it shook his entire body. Andi could hear Wonka squeaking and crying with joy as she tried to catch up with him. When she entered room 425, she saw Wonka standing on the bed crying in joy as he licked Paul's face.

Poor Paul! He looked like he hadn't eaten for the entire two weeks. He was scrawny, pale, and drawn, and he was the most wonderful man she had ever seen. He was laughing at Wonka's antics and finally said, "Wonka, down." Wonka whimpered and lay down next to Paul.

Paul looked up, and a vision swam into focus. He hoped it was Andi, because he had fallen in love with this image. He couldn't speak; the words wouldn't come other than, "Is it you? I missed you so much."

"We missed you too," and she laid Danny in Paul's arms as their lips met.

With his chest bursting with emotion, Josh got the picture of the long-awaited reunion kiss. It was a perfect photograph of Andi kissing Paul while Wonka and Danny watched. He sent a copy to Andi, Macy, John, and Veronica, then he left. Andi and Paul were going to be busy catching up, so they weren't going to need him for a while. If he remembered correctly, there was a nice little diner nearby, where he could get some traditional Southern cooking.

Josh stepped out of the hospital and looked around. The little diner he remembered was now a joint with a faux-Mexican name that sold burritos. It was crazy; a huge mall sprang up around the hospital. There were restaurants and shoe stores everywhere, and he didn't see a single southern-style diner, unless you considered Mexican or Italian to be 'southern.'

Josh walked across the vast six lane street in front of the hospital to a strip-mall where several restaurants were attached. Only one looked like his kind of food and went in and ordered a roast beef sandwich with macaroni salad on the side and a drink. The seating was wide open, and when you ordered, you were given a number, which you displayed at your table. Josh was sitting at a high-top table with his back to the wall so he could see people enter and exit.

The drinks were huge, and the cups were collectable, so he made a note to keep his, plus an extra lid and a few straws. He was going to need it in the hospital for ice water as he sat and studied. He opened his tablet and searched for a Wi-Fi signal when a feminine voice broke his concentration. "May we join you?"

"Pardon?"

"We were wonderin' if'n we could join you." Josh looked up and there stood two beautiful angels of mercy, nurses obviously, dressed in scrubs wearing hospital name tags. A tall, slim brunette, and a shorter, curvaceous blond stood smiling. The blond had a southern lilt to her voice that Josh once heard described "as southern as pouring sweet tea on a banjo."

"Uh, sure. Sorry, ah'm spread out lak a hot lunch..." and he picked up his tablet and magazines. "Set down, by all means."

The blond chuckled, "Ah hain't heard that expression since my gran'pappy died."

"Tain't often ah can express ma'self like'n ah was raised," said Josh.

The brunette just looked from side to side and finally said, "I'm going to have to call for a translator."

"Where are y'all from?" asked Josh.

"Cleveland," said the brunette.

"Kings Ferry," said the blond.

"Ah'm from jes' across the river in Saint Mary's. The old village," said Josh.

"Ah was raised in a double wide right next to the river."

"Ah was in the single wide right across from you," said Josh with a smile. "Ah hit the road at seventeen so we probably never met. But ah'm sure y'all didn't join me just to be able to talk funny."

"Well, I could eat the north end of a south bound goat," said the blond.

"I caught that one!" said the brunette proudly. "It means you're ready to eat."

"Close enough, I'll give her marks on that. A'm Josh Gravely-von Köster. An' you are?"

"Lacy Higgins," said the blond.

"Veronica Davis," said the brunette.

"Ah married me a Veronica," said Josh.

"How's that workin' fer ya?" asked Lacy.

"Our one month anniversary is coming up soon, and we spent more time apart than together," said Josh with a grimace. "So how can I help you?"

"We saw you go into Mister Jarecki's room and..."

"DOCTOR Jarecki," scolded Josh. "He's a damn fine cardiologist even though he donates his time to the VA."

The two nurses looked at each other, and realization spread over their faces. "He's not a vagrant?" asked Veronica.

"Doc Jarecki was livin' in high cotton. He and his wife own three houses, sixteen car dealers, and a yacht the size of the Forestal. He's a cardiologist with a law degree, she's a pulmonologist and they have three kids. But he's a regular guy. His cabin is just a garden barn that he converted. He hunts his own turkey and deer, taps maple trees and boils down the sap for syrup, plants a garden about an acre in size, and he didn't buy no mansion, he bought a broke down Victorian and rebuilt every stick in the house before he went and looked for a Missus. He and the missus and their three live just a three minute walk from my front door.

"Whoa," said Veronica.

"T'aint all. He was mad as a wet cat at our mayor so he decided to run against him. Just a little village in the hills and suddenly shit gets real. A fellow looking for Doctor Jarecki turns up shot dead and dumped in a snowbank. His wife was poisoned with fentanyl and the fellows baby son was left alone in a tiny apartment with his dead mother."

"What did Doctor Jarecki say when he found out?"

Josh looked saddened and frowned. "The guy was a friend, what do you think he said?"

"Why was the doctor kidnapped?" asked Lacy.

"Don't know. We believe he was filled with drugs to keep him quiet so a tox screen will let us know if that's the story." Their meals came, and as they ate, the nurses took notes from what Josh was able to tell them. "He's been riding around the East Coast tied up in the back of a truck. We believe they were pumping a cocktail of drugs into him to keep him quiet."

"What were they holding him for?"

Josh shrugged. "Revenge. Last month before Christmas, Paul opened a new dealership and while he did that, he broke up a drug ring... a really big drug ring. I've heard there's more, but that's all I know for sure." Josh frowned at his sandwich. The sandwich was small, and the portion of macaroni salad was tiny. The sandwich was quite tasty with a freshly baked brioche bun and horseradish mustard. The macaroni salad needed something, anything, so he dashed it with some Texas Pete's Hot Sauce. Texas Pete's fixes everything. "I was really hoping for proper southern cookin'," muttered Josh. "Used to be a place out on Seventeen called Steve's."

"It's still there," said Veronica. "I had shrimp and grits there last week."

Josh looked at the blond Southern girl Lacy. "Do they still have the deep fried pork chops?"

Lacy just shrugged. "Ah don't think ah've had the privilege of eating there."

"I shouldn't say this but I had them yesterday," said Veronica with a guilty smile. "They're so good."

"You've never been to Steve's?" Josh asked Lacy.

"Ah never heard of it before," she said as she looked brightly at Josh.

They finished their lunch, Josh said, "I had best head back and fetch Missus Jarecki's lunch. She won't eat if she's not reminded."

"You're Missus Jarecki's butler?"

"No, that's silly. I'm her troubadour."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

The news van pulled up in front of Amelia's house. It was growing cold, and the snow was falling. "This is the place?" asked Harris Lockwood. As always, she was double checking her makeup in a mirror and adjusting her stocking cap to make sure it looked perfect.

"Yep," said her producer, Mike McFee. "This is where Pastor Jarecki said he'd meet us at one pm." The house was tiny and narrow; it reminded Mike of a single-wide trailer with a peaked roof. It even had skirting like a trailer. The entire neighborhood was made up of tiny houses like this, and Mike guessed that these were houses built for mill workers or railroad workers. He didn't know it, but his guess was correct.

As they waited for the time to count down to one PM, a couple walked up the street. It was a short man with dark hair walking with a tall, slim, black woman. He was pulling a sleigh with an infant wrapped up in the sleigh, and between them a small child toddled along holding hands with the man and the woman. They stopped in front of Amelia's house, and the fellow trotted up to the porch and grabbed a shovel, and he quickly cleaned the snow off the front walk for his family. The child tried to help by scooping tiny handfuls of snow off the walk while Dad shoveled. The clean pavement wouldn't last long because snowflakes the size of goose down feathers were drifting down from the sky, and the child gave up helping dad and tried to catch snowflakes on his tongue.

Eventually, the woman scooped the baby out of the sleigh, and the small family went inside the house, leaving their baby sleigh on the porch. "Who do you think that was?" asked Harris.

"Read your background notes, that can only be Pastor Jarecki."

"Why do you say that?" asked Harris.

"How many white men in this tiny village do you think are married to a black woman?"

"My husband is white," insisted Harris.

"And you live in Parkside," laughed Mike. Parkside is a beautiful neighborhood next to Delaware Park in downtown Buffalo. Delaware Park is a beautiful park designed and built by Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park in New York City. It's said that his designs in Central Park were first tested in Delaware Park. Harris was married to a rich investment banker who owned a house a block away from the famous park.

"Parkside isn't all that," said Harris, flicking back her braided hair. "My house was bought from Sears."

"Yeah, a hundred fifty years ago," laughed Mike. "There's no more desired building than a kit house from Sears or Mongomery Ward. They are art, and what I was saying was that Parkside is more diversified than a little farm village."

Parkside is a highly diversified part of Buffalo. Although the median income was higher than much of the city, it's not what you'd consider an 'uppity' or 'snooty' neighborhood. Harris loved the old houses in Delaware Park and here in Springville, and she wondered if her husband Roy would be interested in moving here. When she saw that beautiful black woman enter the Hernandez house, she decided to ask the woman what life was like here in Springville for a black woman.

As she and her producer Mike chatted about their plans for the interview, there came a tap at the van window. Mike rolled down the frost-covered window, and there was the dark-haired fellow who shoveled the walk. "Ready to come inside?"

"Yes sir!" said Harris. They followed the fellow to the house. He turned out to be John Jarecki, a local pastor.

"Want to get some background shots?" said John, and he gestured up and down the street. The snow was getting heavier; it was a typical lake effect storm.

"I'll be right with you," said Mike, and he shouldered his camera and shot about a minute's worth of video looking down the street with the swirling snow at his back. "Can we get an intro from the porch?"

"As long as Amelia isn't in the picture."

They stood on the porch with the snow swirling in the background and did several introductions. At some point, the little boy wandered out onto the porch, and Harris scooped him up. They did one last one with Harris holding Cholly. She held her microphone and said, "For WKBW News, this is Harris Lockwood in Springville."

Just as she completed that, Cholly leaned forward and said into the microphone, "Chamonix est également présente ici." Harris started laughing as the lights on the camera dimmed.

"What did he say?" She said, laughing as she handed Cholly to John.

"He said 'Chamonix is here too.'" John gave Cholly a kiss and set the little boy down, and he dashed into the house. "He's been through hell, so it's good to see him loosen up like that."

"What kind of hell?" asked Harris.

"Come in and learn," said John. They followed John into the tiny house, where an old woman and an old man sat at the table. Both appeared to be in their eighties. "This is Captain Amelia Hernandez, and Sergeant Dexter Humboldt. Amelia was a Surgical Nurse at the 93rd Evacuation Hospital, Long Bin Vietnam. Dexter was a field medic with the 44th Medical Brigade at Long Binh also. This is my wife, Doctor Marie-Claude Solange Dagenais-Jarecki, this is our daughter Katarina, and you met Chamonix, we call him Cholly."

Harris sat down at the kitchen table, next to Macy, and she saw Cholly's tiny face appear on the other side of the table as he climbed up on Amelia's lap. "You know I don't like kids," she growled at Cholly. He just squealed and inspected her coffee cup.

"We've heard rumors that you're being harassed by the police department?" asked Harris.

"An illegal police department," said John. "The village of Springville is not supposed to have a law enforcement agency. The Park Patrol is to help people in the park, pick up litter, and report any problems or crimes to the Town of Concord Police Department. When Samael Windecker took over as Mayor he armed the Park Patrol. He declared the entire village of Springville a park so they could patrol anywhere they wanted."

"And when did they start to harass you?" Harris asked Amelia.

"Not long after this runt moved in," said Amelia, "I rented out a room to him and his folks. Only the dad spoke English, and he had a weird New England accent. The cops demanded to be let in to inspect the heater, and said it was a state requirement for renters. All they did was harass Cholly's momma. Then I went to Niagara Falls with some friends... I come back and dad was missing and mom was dead..." Amelia was fighting back the tears. "He had my cereal scattered around the kitchen..." Now she was fighting to get the words out. "He was trying to feed his dead momma." Amelia broke down weeping. She rested her head on Dexter's shoulders and, for the first time in a month, she wept long and loud.

Cholly stood up on Amelia's lap and patted her shoulder, saying, "Graa-mare, don't cry." Graa-mare is how he pronounces the French Grand-mère for Grandmother, but that only made her cry harder. John and Macy had never seen Amelia cry like this before, but Macy warned John that her gruff exterior was to hide these feelings, and having a man to lean on now lets her let her feelings out.

"We were practicing our nativity play at church," said Macy softly. Her French-Canadian accent startled Harris, who was expecting a refined accent from Macy, but not French. "Amelia brought Chamonix to us. He was filthy not having a diaper change in days, so we tried to give him a bath. He had been abused by someone in his past and was terrified of the water and only got in and cleaned up when les jumeaux joined him in the tub."

"Le ghoo-mon?"

"Les jumeaux means 'the twins,'" said John. "My brother and his wife have twin girls, and they saw the problems Chamonix was having, how scared he was, so they stripped down and hopped in the tub with him." He showed photographs he had on his phone of two blond girls in a tub full of bubbles with Cholly sitting between them. His dirty face was streaked with tears, but he was smiling. It was his first time taking a bath with children near his own age.

Cholly saw the picture and began chattering, his language slipping in and out of English and French. "What is he saying?" asked Mike, Harris's producer/cameraman.

Cholly disappeared under the table and reappeared in John's lap. "He's saying that his sister is prettier than the twins," said John.

"His sister?"

"Here, Katarina Roamée Jarecki," said John, showing off the sleeping Katarina. "She's named for the women that meant the most to us in our youth," said John. "She was born just a few weeks before Cholly adopted us."

"Surely Cholly has family that he is related to," said Mike.

"He does. His father's family are either dead or in prison, his mother's family are all in New Caledonia," said John. It looked like he and Macy were both going to cry. "Before Paul was abducted..."

"PAW!" cried Cholly happily.

"Paul and Cholly became close friends." John took a few moments to collect his thoughts.

"Are you ok?" asked Harris.

"Yeah," said John slowly. "My brother is safe and will be coming home soon. Then we..."

"Safe? Doctor Jarecki is safe?"

"Didn't Andi tell you?" asked John.

"Adrianna a conservé l'annonce pour Don Bowerly," said Macy softly.

"Ahh yes," said John with a smile and a nod. "Don Bowerly was very kind to Paul's wife. Other stations were quite rude to her so she saved the announcement that Paul has been found alive for Don Bowerly and told him earlier today."

"So does this have anything to do with the police harassing these veterans?"

"Hell yeah," said Amelia.

"To thank Amelia for turning Cholly over to the pastor and his wife instead of dumping him into the foster system where he would be lost, the church got together and helped fix up this ol' house," said Dexter.

"The Park Patrol has been harassing Amelia ever since," said John. He went on to tell about all the times they were caught trying to dig under the house. "There's some hidden treasure in the house that they want, and they've been trying to get it ever since. I don't believe in armed violence but I've given Dexter and Amelia tasers just in case someone gets in the house."

"These people actually beat the stuffing out of Pastor John," growled Amelia. "Now I ain't the church going kind, but there's something heartless about beating up a pastor."

"Who did that?" gasped Harris as she flipped to a new page in her notebook.

"Derrick Oglethorpe," said Amelia, "Biggest waste of skin that ever put on a uniform. He got his ass handed to him in a game of one on one over at the ice rink."

"Who handed him his ass?" asked Harris as she scribbled fiercely.

"No one knows."

"Educated guess?" asked Harris.

"Pastor Macy is the best skater in town. She is also in better condition than the police force."

"Stop," said Macy, but you could see her coal-black cheeks turn red in embarrassment. "It was not me, I am not violent, but someone must stop them. They are out of control."

"R.J. Reynolds plowed a new patrol car into the back of a parked truck this morning," said Dexter.

"How do you do that?" asked Mike with a laugh.

"Our neighbor Josh said he and his wife Veronica were jogging this morning and Reynolds was watching Veronica's tail instead of the road," said John.

Dexter pointed to a recliner in the living room area. "Until Andi Jarecki takes over as mayor, I sleep right there. I can watch both doors, and can hit both with a taser without getting up."

That's when John looked at his watch. "We have to go! Miss Lockwood, if you'd like a scoop, you'll come with us."

<><><><><>

The WKBW News truck pulled into the driveway that John had suggested. It was getting hard to find the exact location as the snow was falling heavier. The house was a huge Victorian house, and the details of the exterior were outlined with gold lights. They pulled into the driveway and set up their microwave feed to 7 Broadcast Plaza in Buffalo. Then Mike McFee knocked on the back door. The door opened a bit, and two tiny blond girls glared up at them. "Who are you?"

"We're here to see your Uncle John and Aunt Macy."

"They don't live here," said Sandy, and she slammed the door closed.

Mike looked at Harris. "We were warned this would happen," she said, and Mike knocked again. The door opened, and two blond girls looked up at them.

"Your Uncle John asked us to meet him here."

"You look like a robber," said Madeline, and she pushed the door closed.

"Third time's the charm," said Mike as he prepared to knock again.

"Let me try," said Harris as the door opened. "Hi, I'm here to see Aunt Macy."

"I don't think so. You look like a robber too," said Sandy, and just as she was about to slam the door closed, Yi grabbed the door. "Ok, enough fun, now git!" and the twins ran off giggling. "I'm Yi-jin Carlson; head cook and bottle washer."

"Harris Lockwood and this is my producer Mike McFee," said Harris as Yi took their coats.

"Please kick your boots off. Our head barista is in Florida so you'll have to put up with Mister Coffee."

"That's fine," said Mike, and Yi poured them each a cup of java. "They're setting up in the library. I'll show you where it is in a moment. Missus Jarecki wants the attention on the adults in attendance, but she knows the twins and Cholly will steal the spotlight, so minimize their reactions as much as you can. Mister Jarecki is in rough shape, she doesn't want his image on tv other than enough to show he's alive. She doesn't want those that did this to him to get the idea they won. And don't be surprised at the twin's reaction, they don't have filters and get carried away."

"We got Jolie!" cried Sandy as she carried her huge black puppy into the kitchen. She was followed by Cholly, who was also carrying a huge black puppy. The little boy grunted under the weight of his dog, yet both puppies appeared to love being carried. They hung limp in the children's arms, tongues peeking out, tails wagging.

"Chiot!" grunted Cholly, and he held the puppy so Harris could see it. He tried to lift the puppy higher, but he lost his balance and dropped to the floor with Chiot on his lap. Chiot gave Cholly's face a lick and then dashed off. Jolie squirmed out of Sandy's arms and dashed off after Chiot, and all three kids ran after the puppies.

"Those are Newfoundland dogs, they're going to grow to be huge, a hundred and fifty pounds, and they're going to be trained to guard the children," said Yi, then she smiled. "Cholly named his dog Chiot. That means puppy."

"I'm sure their dad being kidnapped is quite a terrifying experience..." started Harris, but Yi stopped her.

"Before Paul was kidnapped, a Village cop forced his way in the house and pistol whipped Paul and dragged him off at gunpoint, for no reason. Then someone kidnapped Paul and shot his dog. When the FBI was setting up, the mayor came in the house and made an ass of himself, attracting attention to himself while a village park cop came in the back door and got into Paul's attic office and tried to steal his laptop and other documents. Last week three men came in the school and tried to kidnap the twins and myself and several Village cops beat the living crap out of Paul's brother John. Terrifying doesn't cover it," Yi almost shouted.

"Dear God!" gasped Mike. "Why didn't any of this make the news?"

"Because someone squashed it. Missus Jarecki is very protective of her family, but she wanted people to know what was going on down here. And when she found out that her ex-husband was behind some of this she went ape. We don't want them thinking they are winning. We want them to know that we're on to them."

"Her ex-husband?" gasped Harris.

"This is all new, there were rumors but I'm sure if you ask Missus Jarecki she'll talk off the record. It's a matter of public record that he's in Upstate Correctional Facility for a series of offenses that frankly turn my stomach. Ok what's your plans?"

Harris looked around and said, "We want to shoot a little B-roll here in the house, that snow fall outside is beautiful, it will look good on TV. We want to get as much of the video reunion as possible, and maybe set up a video link with network. And I'd like to talk to both Doctor's Jarecki's off the record whenever possible."

"This is the woman to talk to," said Yi, as a beautiful blond woman entered the kitchen from outside.

"Not a flake in Buffalo!" said Veronica as she took off her coat. "It's only snowing here in Springville."

"No school tomorrow!" Came a cry from the dining room.

"Ronnie, this is Harris Lockwood from WKBW, Harris, this is Mayor Jarecki's communications specialist, Veronica Gravely-von Köster," said Yi.

"Oh yes," said Veronica as she shook hands with Harris coldly. "WKBW. You turned down our request to respond to false accusations raised by the Windecker campaign on multiple occasions. Your station manager called our side of the story nothing but buffoonery and lies."

"I... I didn't know anything like that was happening," said Harris. "We were told that Springville was a non-story, and nothing was happening up here." She thought about everything that had been said to her by station management in the past. "I thought that Missus Jarecki was blocking media access to the story."

"No, she was blocking media access to her children," said Veronica as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "You are the people that chose not to talk to law enforcement. Nobody stopped you from coming to the daily press briefings. The only person from the major media that showed up was Don Bowerly which is why he got the news this morning that Paul was found yesterday."

"Is there any chance I can talk to Doctor Jarecki?" asked Harris.

"Let's see what you can put on the news and we'll talk," said Veronica.

Harris turned to Mike. "Get the second camera."

The cameraman grinned, "yes ma'am."

"Second camera?"

"It's something that we have in the field," said Harris. "It's a video camera that occasionally goes slightly out of focus. The tripod kind of wobbles and changes positions but it stays focused on the primary object, even if the object moves."

"It simulates someone shooting video with their phone?" asked Veronica.

"Exactly. If they don't run with this story, second camera will go to social media and it will look like they were there when I was shooting."

"I like your style," said Veronica with a grim smile.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

"I don't know if I want to do this," said Paul.

"What do you want to do?" asked Andi.

"This is fine." He was lying in a hospital bed cuddling with Andi, Wonka, and Danny, and that's all he wanted. Paul had been treated with Brixadi, a drug used to help with opioid addiction. The cravings he had felt were gone now, but in its place was nothing. There was no actual pain or desire to do anything.

"Veronica says they have a houseful of people that just want to see you say hi to the girls."

"You're not helping," groaned Paul. "I look like hell."

"You look great with a beard," said Andi. "I think you should keep it."

"Good, then you can't force me to wear my uniform."

"Josh has a beard and he wears his uniform when his wife asks."

"That's because his ribbons outweigh his beard... wait... wife?"

"Things have changed with those two. He's even got a new quartet. He says it's named for a railroad."

"The Southern? CSX? Atlantic Shore Line?" asked Paul, trying to think of railroads that ran through Georgia.

"Pennsy," said Andi.

That made sense to Paul, since Veronica is from Pennsylvania. "He's got it bad for that girl," groaned Paul as he turned in bed. His back was killing him; he wanted to get up and go for a ride on a tractor or a snowmobile. Something where he could feel the wind on his face and he could hop off anytime he wanted.

"What do you want?" asked Andi softly.

"I want to go home," said Paul. Andi wrapped her arms around her husband, and they cried from the pain they had been subjected to over the past two months.

<><><><><>

Josh had returned from lunch to find a cop sitting outside of Paul's room. "Password?" asked the policeman. Josh responded with the one thing that nobody from the Jacksonville area would ever say unless under extreme duress.

"Go Bills."

"That'll do," said the bored policeman.

Josh sat down on a chair on the other side of the doorway and opened up his laptop and got back to work. He was down here because he promised Ant he would work on the documentation for the new call center. He started reviewing the calls they were taking in and he saw something... someone was purposely calling, asking troublesome questions that were not related to the Sisters of Mercy hospital at all. The call time average was bogged down by the complexity of the call, and when the call center technician in Minot had the source of the trouble pinned down, the caller would hang up.

"Rivers Enterprises," came the answer to the number Josh called.

"This is Ephraim Gravely; I need the floor super for the Andalon Account."

"Stand by..." there was a moment and the floor super came on. He recognized that voice. On her first day, she was a nervous young mom looking to make a few extra bucks. When she discovered that callers to a call center could be as bad as a four-year-old, she became one of Josh's superstars. "Linda Travis," she said as she came on the line.

"Hey Linda, how's it going?"

"We're doing fine, you must be busy, this is the second time you called me today."

"I did?" asked a stunned Josh.

"Yeah, about... hmmm... ten fifteen your time?"

Josh was cruising on a private jet setting up call interviews when someone called Linda and identified himself as Josh. "My head is so messed up lately," said Josh, letting his southern accent pour over every word like warm honey. "New medication for this bad back a mine. What did ah call about?"

"You called about cutting back on the number of techs to take calls from Sisters of Saint Mary's."

Josh shook his head. Obviously, someone called the call center to ruin morale and used his name. There was no push to cut back on the personnel in the call center; in fact, Anthony wanted the call center contract to expand. He wanted to get all hospitals to use it. That meant a lot of work for Josh getting the hospital data set for the call center, but that was in the future. "Ah'm sorry, Linda. Ah'm so screwed up with that medicine that call was for someone else. Tell you what, whenever ah call, just ask me what the weather is like in Buffalo. If mah haid is clear, ah'll say, 'It's football weather.' If ah say anything else, y'all just tell me to take my medicine and call back when it kicks in, ok?"

Linda was quiet for a moment, then she softly said, "This isn't about medication, is it." Damn, that girl was smart!

"No ma'am, you just go ahead and do it, mark the time you got the call and keep that time for me. Kay? How about them nuisance calls coming in from Sisters Hospital, they still coming in?"

"Hot and heavy, at least three a day. We had a repeat question this morning."

"Treat it like training, full documentation and flag those calls for me," said Josh.

"Yes sir!"

"Catcha later." He finished his call, and the cop on the other side of the door said, "Someone is making calls using your name?"

"Oh yeah. He's even spoofing my phone number. I don't think he knows how good my telephony people are though... speak of the devil..."

He looked up and saw that the blond nurse was coming toward them, and she had a tray in her hands. Josh put on a pair of black nitrile gloves. "Mah southern belle! How ya doing Lacy?"

"Fine as frog hair! I have to administer a shot to Doctor Jarecki."

"He and Missus Jarecki are reuniting, if ya know what ah mean," said Josh with a waggle of his eyebrow. "Why don't choo let me take care of that lil' ol' tray and when Doctor Reyes comes we'll let him get a proficiency jab in." He took hold of the tray and wouldn't let go.

"If you please sir, I need to give him this injection, it's important," she started to look nervous.

"Officer, please ask this fine young nurse to identify herself properly."

The Duval County Sheriff rose and said, "Password."

The moment he said that, she let go of the tray and ran away down the hallway with the Duval County cop on her tail. Josh placed the tray under his chair, sat down and went back to work on his laptop. A Southern girl from the Georgia/Florida line that didn't know about Steve's restaurant out on US 17? Steve's was a Camden County icon; everyone knew Steve's. That girl had to be up to no good.

<><><><><>

Mike set up both cameras in the library, an enormous room that was lined with bookshelves but was mostly empty. Quite a crowd had gathered, and Harris was having fun interviewing them. Even Amelia and Dexter were there, and Cholly kept trying to hoist his huge puppy up onto Amelia's lap. The snow was still falling, but this was Springville. The snow is part of life there. Folding chairs were brought from the church and set up for the people who gathered, and a huge coffee urn was bubbling away, preparing hot coffee for the masses. Trays of cookies and sweets were set out as people gathered.

"What brings you here?" asked Harris of an older couple.

"We're the new mayor's parents and we just moved here from Denver," said Heather. "We couldn't be prouder of Andi, and we couldn't be happier for Paul."

"And you, what brings you here?" Harris asked an Asian man with extremely thick glasses.

"I'm Doctor Jarecki's bartender. I come to see why business has fallen off so drastically."

"Would you stop!" said Julissa as she gave Ayato a hip-check. "I'm Detective Tanaka, and we've been friends with Doctor Jarecki for years, and I worked on this case so I'm so glad to see it come to a happy conclusion."

"That's wonderful, and you, why are you here?" she asked a nervous-looking woman.

"I'm Doctor Jarecki's personal assistant at work... I'm sorry, I'm much better behind a keyboard," said Melissa Kraft. It was clear that she was fighting back the tears.

"Mom! Relax," said her son Jacob. "My mom is a concert pianist but when my dad passed away she was left with nothing but bills, and she couldn't pay them on what she made playing the piano. Doctor Jarecki had an opening and took in mom and trained her up as his personal assistant."

Melissa began weeping, and Veronica came up behind and gently hugged the crying woman. "He's done so much for all of us," said Veronica. "That ice rink across the street, he put that up for the village. The Heritage Brothers that saved so many buildings in town..."

"That was mostly your husband Missus Gravely," said a familiar voice.

"And you are?" asked Harris.

"Shane Gibson, but everyone around here calls me the Cosmic Cowboy for some odd reason."

"Shane!" gasped Veronica.

"The Heritage Brothers is mostly Josh Gravely's idea, and he's the driving force behind it but Paul is the one that made it happen," said Shane.

"Is that right?" asked Harris, and she put her microphone up to Veronica. For the first time since she was thirteen, Veronica was stuck for a word; she only stared up at Shane.

"He..."

Shane rescued Veronica. "Paul Jarecki has a bunch of friends with classic cars who invite me to join them in a cruise to the past on Thursday evenings during the summer so I kick off the weekly cruise with... well it used to be Born to be Wild, but the new mayor of Springville asked me to change to I Get Around by the Beach Boys," chuckled the big guy. "One of these day's I'm going to do a remote from the back of this pretty lady's 1948 Willys Jeep."

"Is that right?" asked Harris. "You have a vintage Jeep?"

"My..." But Veronica couldn't complete the sentence; she was star-struck by Shane Brother Shane, the top 40 oldies DJ that she listened to every night like a faithful teenager. She was rescued by Paul and Andi's dearest friends.

"I've been trying to convince her to buy some American Muscle," said Evangeline Didomissio.

Gus chuckled and said, "Her husband used that jeep like a farm tractor and a logging skid until she showed up and made him take care of it."

Harris continued to do on-the-spot interviews as John Jarecki and Kenny Johnson set up a TV that everyone could see. Veronica disappeared into the kitchen, where Yi prepared that evening's dinner. "What's up?" asked Yi.

"I'm going to call Andi and let her know how out of hand these people are getting."

"Oh, they love Paul and Andi."

"I know, but this may be too much for Paul, so I have to give her a heads up."

"Put it on speaker, I want to hear the boss."

"Ok..."

"Hello?" asked Andi.

"Hello Madam Mayor. The victory party has started," said Veronica.

"Oh no, what's going on?"

"The library is full, they want to see you and celebrate, and if they can, they want to say a prayer with Paul."

"How many people are there?"

"Remember last Christmas, the Christmas dinner in the Library?" asked Veronica.

"That many?"

"Oh, no. Many more."

"Ok, let's do a zoom at the top of the hour and I'll talk to the folks and let Paul peek, and if he wants to say hi I'll share him for a few moments. We'll do a family call later when it's just family."

Then Andi heard a strangely familiar voice ask Veronica, "May I say hello to the mayor?"

"Uh... ah..."

Then Andi heard Yi say, "She said yes."

"I just want to say that I moved to Springville recently, and it was my great honor and privilege to vote for you in the mayoral election. I hope to cruise with the Thursday Cruisers sometime this summer."

"Oh, that would be fun! Where did you move to?"

"I bought a little house on Third street. There's a little stream in the back with a pretty white bridge, and I'm told on the other side of the bridge is a beauty pageant winner and a war hero."

That's when she heard Veronica scream and drop her phone.

<><><><><>

Melissa had her Casio keyboard in the back of her car, so Kenny Johnson ran out to get it, and they set it up in the library. She began playing familiar old hymns, and to kill time until the top of the hour; they had a sing-along. John Jarecki held his two-month-old daughter as he sang and led the folks in song. Katarina waved her chubby hands happily as her daddy sang, as if conducting the song. Cholly stood with Macy and sang with her, and Harris Lockwood watched happily as everyone sang along. She even did a couple of outros (the opposite of intros) in front of the singing congregation. "In Springville with the happiest people in Western New York, this is Harris Lockwood, WKBW News."

"Ok," said her cameraman and producer, Mike. "Let's do it one more time, but drop the WKBW News, just Harris Lockwood, reporting. Ok?"

"Sure, let's do it." They waited for another hymn to start up, and this one was up-tempo and happy. "Some glad morning when this life is over, I'll fly away..."

"In Springville with the happiest people in Western New York, this is Harris Lockwood, reporting."

"Perfect. When we piece together the report, if the local station doesn't want to use it, we can send it to network. It may be your ticket out of here."

The pretty black news reporter watched the crowd singing as they waited for their mayor. "I don't want to leave," she finally said.

Over in the library, it was getting near time to see Andi and Paul. "I don't think I can do this," said John to his wife in French. "I know I'm going to lose it."

"That would be perfectly acceptable, considering," said Macy. "Hold on to me, and we will prop each other up."

Suddenly, Andi's image appeared on the big TV, and the twins squealed, "MOMMY!"

A cheer went up in the library, which eventually evolved into chanting "Ann-Dee! Ann-Dee! Ann-Dee!"

Andi was shocked. The library at their house was packed. It was like the entire church was there, and everyone brought a friend. The chanting devolved into applause.

"Thank you," said Andi several times, hoping the crowd would settle down. Her daughters took care of that for her.

"HEY! QUIET! MY MOMMY IS ON TV!" which caused most of the people to start laughing.

"Thank you Sandy, but use your indoor voice," said Andi, which caused Sandy to whirl around in shock.

"You can see me?" gasped Sandy.

"Yes, I can see you, just like when we face time with Nana Olson."

The twins looked at each other and gasped. They could FaceTime Nana Olson on a seventy-two inch Samsung! "We should do that now!" cried Sandy.

"Yeah, call Nana Olson!"

"These people here don't want to talk to Nana Olson, now hush! I want to thank so many people, I have to start with my sister Macy Jarecki, who was there for me every step of the way, Veronica Gravely-von Köster who snuck off, got married, then came back and spent her honeymoon running my campaign. I have to thank Min Zhong Sun and Melissa Kraft for keeping things running straight and true at the family business, but most of all I have to thank my friend, my roommate, and my fishing partner, Yi-jin Carlson for keeping things running smooth here while I was emotionally melting down at night. She did so much to help me pull myself together... she listened to me tell her my nightmares... she protected my babies..."

Andi had been doing so well up to that point, but that was when the tears started to flow, and Yi could only stand there with the twins clinging to her. "We're ok mommy!" cried Madeline. That didn't help; even Cholly holding Chiot up to the TV screen didn't help. But as Andi's tears flowed, a pair of arms circled her from behind, and everyone could see Paul whispering into her ear, and the applause started. People rose to their feet, clapping when they saw their friend comforting his wife, their mayor. Kenny and Ming were both hugging Yi, who suddenly realized the horror that overwhelmed her.

<><><><><>

Josh sat in the hallway trying not to listen. Finally, the Duval cop came back and said, "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"Know that she wasn't a hospital employee. The FBI is questioning her now."

Josh shrugged and said, "Ah had lunch with her."

"You knew that she was not a hospital employee by having lunch with her?" asked the cop. "What did you have for lunch?"

"Roast beef sandwich. Kinda tasty but not real filling far as I'm concerned. Two women in scrubs asked me if they could join me. Veronica was from Cleveland. Her I won't never forget."

"Why not?" asked the cop.

"My wife's name is Veronica also, and she was Miss Ohio a few years back. Why she's hanging with this ugly mug of mine I'll never know. Now Lacy told me she's from Kings Ferry, which got me curious, ya know?"

"Why?"

"Cause King's Ferry is a street. It looks like a town on a map because of the boat landing ramp at the end of the street. And if you lived on Kings Ferry, you'd say you were from Hilliard. Everyone knows that."

"So you knew she was not a legitimate employee from that?"

"No. I was complaining about the food and I asked if Steve's out on US 17 was still open."

"Sure is," said the cop.

"She didn't know about Steves. She was raised just a couple of miles as the crow flies from Steves and she didn't know about the best southern cookin'? She's definitely not from around here at all. So, when she showed up with that tray and a needle I figured she already lied to me twice, she was probably stretching the truth about that injection."

"Well, your hunch saved the doctor's life, that was full of ketamine. With that Brixadi in his system it would have killed him."

Josh frowned and shook his head. "Y'all better check up on Veronica Davis. She approached me with Lacy. I'm pretty sure she's legit, but you never know... tryin' to kill the doc here in a hospital..." Josh sighed and closed up his laptop. "Ah always hated this place." And he left.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Doctor Lucero Reyes stepped into room number 425 without looking up from his clipboard. "Congratulations! Your DNA test came back and the federal database says that you are Lieutenant Colonel Paul L. Jarecki United States Air Force, retired." Lucero finally looked up from the clipboard and saw Wonka lying on the bed with Paul. Wonka was panting happily as Paul gently petted the chocolate lab. "Uh, where did the dog come from?"

Paul hugged Wonka tighter to his side and said, "Him? He's a real son of a bitch. We've been pals for a long time, haven't we, buddy?" Paul rubbed Wonka's head, but Wonka glared at Doctor Reyes. Wonka decided that nobody was going to separate him from Paul again, and he glared at the young resident like he was a threatening porterhouse, and if he made the wrong move, Doctor Reyes was going to find out what Wonka can do to a porterhouse.

"Well, he can't..."

"Wonka is a trained, registered support animal and he's my protector. This dog took a bullet for me," said Paul with stern authority. "He stays, or I go. That is your choice, doctor."

"What is going on out here?" demanded Andi as she stepped out of Paul's bathroom. She was wearing her VA lab coat with Doctor Adrianna Roberts embroidered over her pocket, which contained pens, a thermometer, and an otoscope (that small flashlight/magnifier for inspecting ears, nose, mouth). She had her stethoscope around her neck, but she also was carrying Danny, who was now wearing a fresh diaper. She handed Danny to Paul and whirled on the young doctor. "I asked you a question, doctor." Andi's years of teaching students, interns, and residents were kicking in.

"I was telling Mister Jarecki that the dog..."

"That's DOCTOR Jarecki, if you don't mind. He and I have earned the title. And you? I'll try to keep an open mind." She snatched the clipboard out of Doctor Reyes's hands and reviewed it. It was Paul's DNA report from the FBI. It took 26 hours to get to the University of Florida. She took her pen and, after several loud clicks, she circled where it said in his military profile "Doctor of Cardiological Sciences," and handed the clipboard back. "The dog stays."

"But hospital policy..."

"If he was blind, would you force him to tie up his service dog outside of the hospital?"

"No, but..."

"Then why can't a soldier with PTSD keep his service dog?"

"Ma'am, it's hospital policy..." started Doctor Reyes.

"That is: 'DOCTOR, it's hospital policy,'" snapped Andi. "Or aren't my achievements as a pulmonologist equal to your vast experience? Or is it because I'm just a woman?"

Just then, an older doctor in a lab coat that covered his three-piece suit entered. "Doctor Roberts, I see you met our resident Doctor Reyes. Your opinion?"

"Doctor Armondo!" said Andi in shock. It truly was Doctor Sinclair Armondo, her administrator at Colorado University! He's the man who gave her so much time off until she resigned her position to marry Paul. "So good to see you again, sir. This is a bit of a shock!"

Doctor Armondo shrugged and said, "Last May, we had three feet of wet, heavy snow in Denver, and my snowblower wouldn't start. I said 'Enough!' and I took the offered position down here." His name tag read Hospital Administrator. "So, what do you think of our newest resident, Doctor Reyes?"

"Doctor Reyes and I were just becoming acquainted. I'll work up a professional opinion for you if you'd like, Doctor," said Andi.

Doctor Sinclair Armondo stepped up to Paul's bed and gently petted Wonka's head. Wonka lowered his head and rested; he obviously realized that Doctor Armondo was on his side. Doctor Armondo took a flashlight and checked Paul's pupil reaction and muttered, "much better. How are we doing with the Brixadi, Doctor Jarecki?"

"Oh... I still want to bite a hole in the wall but I got some actual sleep last night."

"That's a good sign. When sleep comes naturally it will be just about time to go home." When he said that, Paul's eyes closed, and he pretended to snore. "That's the spirit. When you can move around better I suggest taking your guardian for a walk."

When Doctor Armondo said guardian, Andi immediately thought of Josh. She heard about how he caught that fake nurse who was going to kill Paul, but for some reason Josh won't come into the room and talk to Paul. He just sits in the hallway typing on his laptop.

"That's quite a dog you have here, Doctor Jarecki," said Doctor Armondo. He ran a finger over Wonka's support animal vest. It came from the Save-A-Vet Foundation, a nonprofit that retrains military and police dogs to be support dogs for veterans. "You're a veteran too, boy?"

"He was a drug dog for the Buffalo PD, whose handler died. Doctor Jarecki's sister-in-law heard about Wonka and paired them together, and now Wonka is Doctor Jarecki's assistant," said Andi.

"I still don't know if I will forgive Doctor Jarecki for stealing one of my best doctors in Colorado," Doctor Armondo said with a playful smile at Andi. Then, turning back to Paul, he held his stethoscope up. "May I, doctor?"

"By all means, sir."

Doctor Armondo listened to Paul's heart. "Good! So much better than the night we first met." Then he listened to Danny's heart. The tiny boy actually smiled as the stethoscope touched his chest. "When was he born?"

"November eighth, at the height of a blizzard," said Paul. "He's the first baby I ever delivered," he added with pride.

"Ah... you never forget your first... and you get to keep him, that's a tremendous bonus! You and Doctor Roberts do good work together." Then he turned back to Andi and said, "Doctor Jarecki is looking much better. But what about Doctor Reyes? Forget professional opinion, Doctor Roberts. What is your personal impression of Doctor Reyes?"

"Brash, cock sure, arrogant. He'd make a good surgeon with that attitude. As for a medical resident, he could use work on patient relationships, especially with veterans with PTSD," said Andi.

"Sadly, we could all use that, Doctor Roberts. Doctor Jarecki, Wonka, thank you both for your service." As Dr. Armondo left, he patted Dr. Reyes on the shoulder and quietly said, "The dog stays."

Paul was gazing fondly at his son, who lay cradled in his arms. Wonka leaned across Paul and licked Danny's foot, causing the tiny boy to squeal and kick. "When did Wonka start tasting children and when did Danny start squeaking?" asked Paul.

"Just now," said Andi, "I've never seen this before. Wonka has done nothing since he was shot. He barely ate most days. He waited all day for Josh to come and sit on the floor with him."

"My poor old buddy," said Paul, and he patted a cheerful dog. "It's time for me to take care of you from now on, buddy. Maybe let you chase a chicken or two."

"You let him chase chickens?"

"It keeps the chickens on their toes." Paul looked around to see if anyone was listening, then whispered, "He just chases them. He doesn't know what to do when he catches one. One peck and he's done." Then Paul whispered, "I didn't see Josh on the call." He didn't look or sound angry; he appeared to Andi to be heartbroken.

"He is here, sitting outside your door. He's the one that's been walking Wonka.

"Excuse me, Doctor Jarecki, Doctor Roberts," said Doctor Reyes as he reentered the room. "I should apologize. I was not aware of your situation and I failed to gather the correct information to prepare a method of treatment. Do you want to tell me what happened?" asked Doctor Reyes.

Paul sighed deeply. The problem is that Paul doesn't clearly remember what happened. He remembered that nasty old minivan. It was so decrepit that he felt unclean just being in it. Just the thought of being in that wreck made him want to walk into his dealership and lock himself in a new car and let the scent of a new car purge the memories of that old piece of shit Mopar.

"We had just come back from a party, and I helped Andi and Danny get in the house. I went back outside to put the van in the garage when I was jumped. I remember seeing four guys. Three jumped me and one just stood in my garage watching while the other three pulled a canvas bag over my head, then someone shot Wonka and they stuffed me in a minivan. I remember thinking that the one that was just watching was Oliver Linwood, but he's been in prison since the fifteenth."

"Then what happened?"

Paul pondered for a moment. The room was silent, but Paul was sure he heard someone in the hall sniffing and trying to stifle a groan. Finally, he said, "I tried to escape. I almost choked a man to death, but a guy with a Russian accent stuck a needle into my neck and it knocked me out. When I recovered, I found that I was in the sleeper cab of a semi."

"Then what?"

"They would let me out to relieve myself, eat, drink, then we'd go back, and I'd get drugged again. I remember I couldn't breathe. I..." All he could remember of that was Melony yelling at him to fight, then it got easier to breathe, "...I woke up here." Paul was sure he had heard stifled weeping from the hallway.

"How are you feeling right now?" asked Doctor Reyes.

"Awful. Nausea, stomach cramps, tremors, chills... I'm restless and agitated. I'm in withdrawal, aren't I?"

Reyes nodded and said, "Yes, you are." There was no way to word this to make it any prettier than it was, and being a doctor, Paul knew. He merely wanted confirmation.

Paul winced. After two weeks of being shot up with different substances, his body wanted more. Paul knew he was getting different concoctions of drugs. He could tell the difference from the way it made him feel. He remembered one that felt almost like a burning sensation. He was sure that was morphine because he's heard that description from patients. Another made him warm and dreamy. That must be heroin. Paul felt like he had become a walking encyclopedia of opiates. "How long is this going to last?" he asked.

"That is hard to say, but since you weren't a long-term addict, we don't expect it to go past three days."

"Thanks," moaned Paul.

"The Brixadi we gave you should help with the cravings."

"I don't have cravings for heroin," said Paul. "If anything, I'm craving steak, a nice big baked potato with butter and sour cream. I want a taco salad in a crunchy bowl, and a cake, that green pistachio cake Andi makes for the girls."

"Have-Summore Cake," said Andi. Nana Olsen taught her to make that years ago. It's made with pistachio pudding and has whipped cream frosting. If she didn't keep an eye on Paul and the twins, they'd eat the whole thing in one sitting.

"Yeah, that stuff," said Paul. "I'm hangry."

"Sadly, your sleep schedule is going to be disrupted also," said Dr. Reyes. "The best thing I can suggest is something like Tylenol PM to help restore the sleep cycle." He turned to Andi and said, "Did I miss anything, Doctor Roberts?"

"I would suggest a pulmonary workup. He inhaled half a swamp. I'm worried about damage to his vascular system and a potential for infection from the swamp water."

"Will do," said Dr. Reyes, and he went to the small computer terminal in the room and ordered a full cardiovascular workup. "You're going to be busy tomorrow."

"He's going to be busy today, too. The girls will be out of school soon and we're going to do a family zoom call," said Andi.

"Ok, I want you to get some rest. I've scheduled a physical therapy to come by and we'll try to get you back on your feet.

Josh sat out in the hallway staring into nothing. Yesterday he sat out here and listened to Paul and Andi on their Zoom call with Springville. He heard the twins weeping, begging Paul to heal up and come home. For some reason, their weeping over Paul shot daggers into Josh's heart. He looked down at his hands, which were poised over a keyboard... but instead he saw an infant cradled in his arms. Tiny. Innocent of all sin. Josh even knew his name; it was Mateo Ezequiel.

Josh wanted to talk to Mateo Ezequiel, but he could never call Yesenia. So he did the next best thing. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed. "Andalon Data Systems."

"I need to talk to Mateo Buran."

"Speaking."

"Hey Mateo, this is Josh. How's the call center holding up?"

Mateo suddenly sounded like a teenager in love. "The one they made supervisor, Linda? She called yesterday." In the background, Josh could hear Lois cry out, "Dream on."

"Don't listen to her, Linda is a sweet girl, Lois probably wants her for herself. Any problems?"

"Yeah nuisance calls that hang on the line forever. She claims that they're coming from one number... Josh, it's coming back to your desk phone."

"We both know it's not me. I've been working remotely for several days," said Josh. "Call Linda back and ask her to call you as soon as one of those annoying calls starts. When she calls, you call me on your cell phone, set up a video call and we'll go over to my office to see what's going on."

Mateo chattered in Spanish a little bit and then said, "Just like spies."

"Yup, that's us, double aught agents serving king and country."

"Catch you later boss."

"Take it easy Mateo."

Josh frowned and looked at his phone. He copped out. His Mateo should be about the same age as the twins now... had he bit his tongue and ignored everything, he could have a seven-year-old boy right now. They could sit out on the dock and go fishing... they could go outside and have a catch and practice up for little league... Josh wondered if Mateo's father was doing all of that for him or if that was left to Señor Ochoa, abuelo. He was about to dial his former father-in-law's number when he looked up and there was Andi glaring at him. "Paul wants you."

"I'm working, when I..."

Andi reached forward and slammed his laptop closed and snatched it off his lap. "If you want this back you talk to your best friend first." And she disappeared into Paul's room. Josh looked up at the Duval County cop who was standing across the hall from him.

"Guess she told you!" said the cop with a chuckle.

"Guess you're right," said Josh as he got up and walked into the hospital room. All that came to Josh's mind was failure after failure that he had committed. He was here to protect these people, and he failed. He still loses sleep when he found out what happened to the twins.

Swallowing hard, he stood in front of Paul's bed at attention, like he would stand in front of his commanders. This is where their friendship ended. Paul was going to demand to know why he had failed, and his family was only alive by the grace of God. All Josh could say in his own defense was, "Ah dun fucked up."

Paul was sitting up in bed, and a laptop was on the bed tray in front of him. Andi sat next to him, and they were engrossed in something on the laptop. Both would laugh together, and occasionally Paul would shake his head and say, "Damn, they were so good together."

"I just want to say I'm sorry..." started Josh, fighting to hold the tears back. "I have no excuse for my lack of..."

"SHHH!" Andi hushed him. "We're getting to the good part."

Then Josh heard his own voice on the laptop say, "Ah ain't never practiced with these boys but... Sally, everyone's checks for their tickets cleared, right? Well, it's paid for, so enjoy." Then Josh heard a pitch pipe.

Almost heaven, West Virginia

Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River...

Paul's jaw dropped. "Holy crap are they good!"

"I told ya!" said Andi as she rocked Danny at her breast.

"Damn!" gushed Paul again. He stared at the screen transfixed, savoring every note from Pennsy. A nurse came in to take his vital signs and smiled as she listened. "Who are we listening to?" she asked.

"HIM!" said Paul and Andi, and they pointed at Josh, who was still standing at attention. They were watching a recording of his New Year's Eve performance with The Gentleman's Disagreement and Pennsy.

"Wow," said the nurse as she put the cuff on Paul's arm. "You really got the audience rocking."

"This was recorded in West Virginia," said Andi. "Wait until you hear this..." The two quartets gathered into one and sang Auld Lang Syne. "Our hero here is the only one singing lead so he's got to carry the other six guys with him."

When the music was over and the nurse left, Paul said, "Andi had a great idea. She thinks Pennsy had the sound to do it. We want to put together a jingle for Jarecki Motors, a rat pack kind of sound to it."

"Barbershop isn't exactly rat pack music," a stunned Josh said.

"Put a big enough band in the background with enough brass and it's rat pack," said Paul. He looked at Josh, and there were tears in his eyes. "I owe you so much, I have no idea how I'll ever repay what I owe."

"Ah weren't there when you needed me," said a stunned Josh. "Ah was in a Buffalo hotel room sinnin' up a storm while you were being kidnapped."

"And if you were there you would have been shot like Wonka."

"Ah weren't there when the girls were almost kidnapped," said a stunned Josh.

"You saved my life twice in here," said Paul. "Two women pretending to be nurses were hired to kill me, and you identified them by name to the Duval County Sheriff's Office."

"Whoever hired them should get his money back, they sucked," said Josh.

"Why do you say that?" asked Andi.

"One was pretending to be a North Florida cracker but she didn't know the best restaurant on the Saint Mary's. The other one was acting so friendly I was lucky to get out of that restaurant with my pants on."

"Are you going to international?" asked Paul suddenly stern.

Josh hadn't thought of it; he had been so wrapped up in Paul, and Veronica and work. "We haven't practiced on lick but we want to."

"I want to sponsor your quartet," said Paul. "Costumes, travel, hotels, expenses. Four singers, two coaches, spouses."

Josh stood there with his jaw moving up and down.

"This isn't free," said Paul. "I want advertising out of it, jingles, grand openings, the works. When the people of the northeast hear a perfectly hit chord in four part harmony, I want them to think about Jarecki Motors."

"I have to check with the guys," said Josh.

Andi looked at her phone and scrolled through a series of texts. "Veronica says the Pennsy Girls are all for it, and she has agreements from Julissa and Ayato."

"Ah guess ah'm in also," said a stunned Josh.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

The next morning, Paul was wheeled back from the pulmonology lab, where he had been given test after test, and he was exhausted. He hated sleeping alone, but Andi took Danny and Wonka back to her room in the hotel next door last night. Even the handful of Tylenol PM he took didn't help.

It was a tough day for Paul. As soon as he was back in his room, an FBI agent entered Paul's room to ask questions. "I'm FBI Special Agent in Charge Corbin Vaughan Cavanaugh."

Josh looked up from his laptop, gave a snort of derision, and went back to typing. "Ain't he just a peach," said Josh, his accent coming on like a plate of buttermilk fried chicken and a side of cornbread.

"Do you mean something by that?" demanded the agent.

Josh didn't look up, but he said, "Shh! I'm trying to get some work done for Doctor Jarecki."

"You and I are going to go round and round," snarled the agent as he pulled up a chair.

Josh looked up and said, "Thanks for the offer, but I like girls."

"Agent Cavanaugh, we've been around and around. I'm tired, I've had a rough day. Come back tomorrow and we'll try again."

"I need answers to these questions now, it's for the D.O.J." and Special Agent in Charge Corbin Vaughan Cavanaugh began asking question after question. They were all the same questions that the uniformed cops had asked, but they all had something to do with Andi. The uniformed cops were smart enough to know that people have their limits. The FBI agent in charge acted as if he wasn't aware of that fact and continued to ask the same question time and time again. "Mister Jarecki, how did you escape your captors?"

"It's DOCTOR Jarecki," Josh snarled at the agent. "MISTER Jarecki is his father and he's no longer with us."

"I apologize," said the FBI agent in a world-weary tone of voice. "Doctor Jarecki, how did you escape your captors."

"I don't," said Paul for the fourth time. "They drugged me and threw me into the swamp."

"Don't you think that's a little too convenient? Tossing you out where friends were waiting to pick you up?"

"I went to sleep in a truck and woke up in a helicopter, that's it! No more questions." Paul was getting angry with this agent.

"Ah don't remember you none," said Josh, putting his Georgia accent into overdrive. "Ah don met a passel of agents that were involved with this here investigation. You weren't part of the investigation, not like the real agents anyhow."

Special Agent Cavanaugh gave Josh a condescending look that Josh wanted to slap off of his face with a well-swung hockey stick, but Josh continued with the "Gomer Pyle" act. "I was very active behind the scenes," Agent Cavanaugh said with an air of superiority.

"Oh, you wuz in the back... lak a dingle berry on the south end of a long hair goat."

"What's the last thing you remember before waking up in a helicopter?" asked Special Agent Cavanaugh. He clearly didn't notice that Josh had just called him a piece of shit.

"Going to sleep, not in a helicopter," said Paul.

"That's about all Doctor Jarecki knows," said Josh. "Let's take a break. Why don't-cha head on down to the cafeteria and git yourself some sweet tea and a coupla world famous frogs legs?" The southern boy act was starting to crack up Paul.

"Mister Jarecki, we're just trying to get to the truth," said Special Agent Cavanaugh. His tone of voice was suddenly sweet and reassuring.

"Mister Jarecki?" demanded Josh, but Paul just waved the agent away with a tired expression on his face.

"I think I'm done talking to you," said Paul. "I've had it up to here with your veiled threats and your disrespect. You may leave now."

"I'm not done asking questions," fumed FBI Special Agent Corbin Vaughan Cavanaugh. "The only one going to leave is Mister Redneck here." Josh was about to say something, but FBI Special Agent Corbin Vaughan Cavanaugh said, "Listen, farm boy, you're this close to being arrested for hampering an official investigation. I want your southern fried ass out of here."

"Ah really should give you a few lessons in manners and respect," snarled Josh.

"Don't waste your time on this one," groaned Paul. "Just go."

"A little wall to wall counseling would fix this arrogant cow pie right up," said Josh as he slammed his laptop closed and left. He opened the door to step out, and Wonka dashed into the room and hopped up on the bed, facing FBI Special Agent Corbin Vaughan Cavanaugh. Out in the hallway, a table was set up, and Josh set his laptop on the table and opened it up. The camera he had placed in the hospital room got a clear picture of Paul and FBI Special Agent Corbin Vaughan Cavanaugh.

"This guy is such a pain in the ass," groaned Josh. "And he's stupid too."

"Why do you say that?"

"When he entered the room he looked everywhere for an FBI make and model secret camera. He paid no attention to a twenty dollar webcam set up over by the window. It's not hidden; in fact it's clipped to a stuffed alligator that Andi bought for the girls."

Without Josh in the room, Cavanaugh got nasty. "I find it hard to believe that you did not realize that you were no longer in New York."

"On advice of counsel, I decline to answer any more questions until a member of my staff is present," said Paul.

"Mister Jarecki, when did you come to the realization that your wife was involved with this plot."

"Wonka, guard," said Paul. Wonka sprang to his feet and stood over Paul's prone body and eyed FBI Special Agent Corbin Vaughan Cavanaugh with evil intent. One word from Paul and Wonka gets payback.

"Don't make me shoot your dog," said Cavanaugh, reaching under his blazer jacket.

"That escalated quickly," said Josh as he and several others watched on his laptop, then he saw the pistol come out from under Cavanaugh's jacket. "GUN!" shouted Josh.

Julissa Tanaka looked up at the blond woman, who seemed to be in charge of everything. "I'm going in there," said Julissa.

FBI Divisional Supervisor Grace Hollingsworth simply nodded and said, "Colella, back her up."

"Roger."

Julissa and FBI Special Agent Frank Colella burst into Paul's room. "What the fuck is going on in here?" demanded Julissa.

"I tried to ask a question and he ordered his dog to attack me."

"If he had ordered Wonka to attack you, you'd be missing an arm now," said Julissa as she hauled Special Agent Corbin Vaughan Cavanaugh out of the chair and put him in an arm lock. "I will be conducting the questioning," said Julissa. "You have been relieved."

Cavanaugh glared over his shoulder at her and said, "Let's see how Washington feels about this."

"We know how Washington feels, which is why you are not on this case," said Julissa as two FBI agents stepped into the room and motioned to Cavanaugh to follow them out.

Julissa pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed facing Paul, and she scratched Wonka's ears as the dog smiled and sighed over the attention. "This is big, bigger than anyone realized," said Julissa. "The details are just beginning to come clear, but from now on the only cops you speak to are me, Charlie Klafka, and Special Agent Colella. Charlie Klafka will be keeping an eye on Andi, and I'll be your protection detail, along with Special Agents Colella and Wonka."

"Why, what is going on?" demanded Paul.

"There was a drug and slave smuggling deal going on that a car salesman busted up," said Julissa. "It was a lot bigger than anyone expected, even involving FBI agents."

"Like Cavanaugh?" asked Paul.

"Ask yourself, why would the director of the North-East region of the FBI be in a swamp on the Florida Georgia state line asking questions that his agents should be asking?"

"He never presented his bonafides to me, so I didn't know who he was, I assumed he was legit," said Paul. "Then he started hammering me with question after question, over and over..."

"He wasn't trying to find out the truth, he was trying to replace it," said Julissa. "Did he talk about Andi at all?"

"Yeah, a lot of his questions were so weird and they involved Andi. Last night he asked when Andi demanded I buy her a boat. I would tell him something that happened to me and he would say, 'while your wife was comfortable in the house you built,' or something like that," said Paul.

"He was planting suspicion because he was going to arrest Andi."

"What?" shouted Paul.

"Wonka, comfort," ordered Julissa, and Wonka snuggled up close to Paul, resting his head on Paul's chest. If he could purr, he would be the perfect comfort animal. She's seen Andi order Wonka to comfort Paul before dropping bad news on him, and Julissa decided to see if it would work. "Ok, there's no pretty way to say this, but Agent Cavanaugh was getting ready to blame it all on Andi and then let the press do his dirty work."

"That's ridiculous. How would anyone believe that?"

"There's a lot you haven't been told," said Julissa as Frank Colella pulled up a seat next to Julissa. "A lot of things have happened and none of them have been directed at Andi except for a political smearing by Windecker."

"What things have happened?"

"Ok, I just want you to know that everyone was eventually caught and is in prison," said Frank Colella.

Confused and anxious, Paul turned to Josh and said, "What happened?"

His friend patted his shoulder and softly said, "Everyone is ok, that's the most important thing ol' buddy."

"What fucking happened?" Paul demanded firmly, which raised a protesting groan from Wonka.

<><><><><>

Out in the hallway, Josh was watching the whole thing on his laptop. "What is going on?"

"They're telling Paul about the plot," said FBI Divisional Supervisor Grace Hollingsworth. "It's pretty ugly."

"I should be in there with him," said Josh.

"Let Detective Tanaka and Agent Colella do their job."

Just then a warm pair of arms wrapped around Josh. "You will get too hot," whispered Veronica in Josh's ear.

Josh turned, and it was Veronica! "What are you doing here?"

"Andi wants us to do a few things for her. Let her be there for Paul, it's her job, not yours," said Veronica with a kiss as Andi slipped into Paul's room. Veronica slipped Danny into Josh's arms. "You have someone to watch, Uncle Josh."

<><><><><>

Julissa decided on a way of telling Paul about the huge plot against him and his family that she hoped would keep his anger to a minimum. She had a series of eight by ten photographs, and she held up the first picture. It was of two guys slumped over a table in a diner. They looked like any two drunks who had passed out after a long night at the bar. "This is Sal Carboni and Theodoro Viola. They're two of the scumbags that kidnapped you. We believe that it was Sal Carboni who shot Wonka."

"Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber," muttered Paul.

"That's them," said Andi as she slipped into bed with Paul and put her arms around him.

"What?" asked a confused Julissa.

"Oh, that's Andi's nicknames for those two jackasses... She's told me about them," said Paul.

"They were constantly coming over and demanding that I make them dinner when I was married to Frank," said Andi.

"Well, you won't have to deal with them again," said Julissa and held up a photo of the two on a coroner's slab. "They've had their last meal. Fentanyl and coffee. We believe that Aleksei Markov gave them a little something to calm their nerves. It's his MO."

"What else?" said Paul as Andi hid her face in his arm.

Julissa held up a photo of three men being taken away by cops from Gus's wood shop. Two were sitting up on stretchers; the third one was lying flat and his head bandaged as he was being wheeled through the snow on a stretcher. "The upright assholes are Nicola Bianco and Val Brunetti..."

"Josh got 'em with BB shot in the legs," said Agent Colella. "Amazing shot, ricochetted off a concrete sidewalk under the snow."

"They were the world's worse lookouts," said Julissa. "The one laid out flat is Fredo Berti. He was in the workshop to shoot John when Gus took a practice swing with his shalaylee Billy Baroo and convinced Fredo to lie down."

"They were going to kill John?" Andi gasped as Paul's eyes teared up. He almost lost his brother!

"He never noticed," said Josh. "John was so worried about you that he didn't believe us when we told him he was a target."

Julissa held up another photo. It was two men being led away by cops, a big, burly-looking white guy and a small black man. "This is Issac Tennison and Adam Stein. The white guy is Adam. They're a pair of professional snipers, and it appears they suck. They took two shots at John coming out of Didomissio's workshop and missed with both shots. One shot went through the wall and hit Lucy's chair, which really pissed Gus off."

"How did you catch them?" asked a stunned Paul.

"Lucky break. Someone called in to report two guys with a rifle set up across the street from John's house. They were trying to kill Missus Jarecki that time," said Frank.

"My Macy?" Andi almost screamed.

"I wouldn't put it past these assholes to kill the babies, too."

"Katarina? Cholly?" What color there was drained from Paul's face. The thought of Cholly being killed by a sniper after suffering so much, then finding a loving family, was unfathomable. "Does John and Macy know?"

"John knows that he was the first target," said Julissa. "He knows nothing about Macy being targeted. We briefed him that we caught the guys waiting for him to come home, which was also true." Julissa looked at Andi, hoping she would say, 'that's enough,' but she didn't. Julissa produced another large photograph. This involved two men being led out of Zoar Academy in handcuffs. "This is Yarik Melnik and Lazar Markov, a cousin of the man who kidnapped Paul, Aleksei Markov. They were apprehended, trying to get to the twins at the Zoar Academy. I had the pleasure of tazing the shit out of them."

"Thank you for that," said Paul. He was now shaking... was it the withdrawal from the drugs or the anger burning in his soul that was making him shake?

The last picture was a picture of the front of the Zoar Academy. Lights flashed as cop cars and ambulances clustered around. Paul and Andi could see Kenny and Yi kissing, each one held one of the twins, and Andi thought that was a perfect picture of the couple. Behind Yi and Kenny, the cops were shoving one man into a cop car as two stretchers were being loaded into ambulances. In the background, there were more lights and an ambulance at St. Aloysius Church. The scene was horrific to Paul and Andi.

Agent Colella said, "This is when we realized we had a big problem. This was the first attempt to get the twins."

"First?" asked Paul, his mouth dry.

Agent Colella nodded and said, "Three operatives worked their way into Zoar Academy and if it wasn't for Yi-jin Carlson, we probably wouldn't be sitting here today."

Paul's gut felt like it was going to expel everything he had eaten for the past day. "What happened?"

"At the same time that Nicola Bianco, Val Brunetti and Fredo Berti tried to kill John, the twins had a bad day at school and Miss Carlson went there to pick them up. As she was getting them, three jamokes went into the school and claimed that Andi sent them to get the girls. They tried to break into the office where Yi and the vice principal and the girls were, so Yi opened a window and put the girls outside. As she was getting out, this guy," and Julissa held up a picture of someone who had a blank, almost lobotomized look on his face. "This is Flip Roosa. Yi had a handheld taser and stuck it under his jaw and gave his brain a fifty thousand volt enema."

Despite his terror and horror, Paul felt some pride in giving her that taser for her birthday. He pulled Andi closer to him as she quietly wept. "Then what?"

"As Yi carried the twins across a snow-covered field, the brains of the outfit," and she held up a picture of someone that Paul would expect in a police uniform. Clean-shaven, hair in regulation length, with a flash of intelligence in his eyes. "This is Darcy Garfield. He realized that their rental Toyota sedan wasn't going to do the job, so he ran next door and yanked Father Juan out of the church van. Then he and Dino Pesce hopped in the van and grabbed the girls and Yi and stuffed them in the van." Julissa held up a picture of a greasy-looking thug. Dino Pesce.

"Then what?"

"Dino shot Father Juan, and they took off across the field behind St. Aloysius, but they hit a ditch and stopped. That's where Yi pulled out her taser and put Dino and Darcy into a vegetative state. Concord PD and Kenny Johnson were able to get the girls back safe and sound."

A million things went through Paul's mind as he digested the horror story. Father Juan! Paul loved Father Juan. If Paul hadn't converted, Father Juan would have been his parish priest. "Wait, you said that this was when you realized that you had a problem? Wasn't my kidnapping enough?"

Special Agent Frank Colella turned red in anger. "At the time of this event, Dino Pesce was an FBI agent."

"What the fuck!" demanded Paul.

"Frank Rosetti told them to make Andi suffer. The plan was to kill your brother and his family, the twins, and maybe some close friends, then blame it on Andi saying that she wanted all the money," said Agent Colella.

"She already has all the money. All our accounts are joint accounts. She's even an officer in the company."

"You know that, and she knows that," said Julissa. "Nobody else does. The press would go crazy with the implications, and a lazy press is a dangerous press."

"Relax, it gets worse," said Julissa.

"Worse? How much worse?" asked Paul.

"I don't know. From what I can tell, is that there're multiple interests involved. From what I dug up was that Oliver Linwood's son Oliver the third kicked it all off. The little fucker wanted revenge; I can dig that. He's worth tens of millions of dollars; you take over, and he's worth ten dollars. He comes up with a hair brain plan and contacts Frank Rosetti and suddenly he's got funding and bodies to carry this off. Not from Frank, someone else. And the money man behind this was looking for something. We don't know what, but they put the only man in Springville they owned on the job of recovering it."

"Samael Windecker," said Paul.

"Bingo," said Frank Colella.

"Who is the financer?" asked Paul.

"That name... even I didn't get the name," said the FBI agent.

Paul sat in his bed, his head spinning. John, Macy, Sandy, Madeline... they could all be dead now if it weren't for Gus, Julissa, Josh and Yi... why? Why did this happen? The spinning became a hurricane of pain and sorrow. "Can we have a few minutes?" asked Paul. Julissa and Frank nodded, then stepped out of his hospital room.

Josh closed the laptop and sighed. Veronica was worried about Andi, so she peered into the room to check on her, and she saw Paul and Andi clutching each other and weeping uncontrollably.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

The next day, Paul slept until nearly 10:00 AM. Tired of having a ravaged sleep cycle, he took a small handful of Benadryl-fortified Tylenol tablets. Liver be damned! Paul was tired of sitting up at night waiting for the next needle to come along and knock him out with a potent cocktail of opiates and... He woke up with such a start that it terrified Danny and Wonka. It was a start driven by a memory.

Andi was sitting in the recliner next to him, Danny at her breast and laptop open, looking at her schedule for her first weeks of mayoral duties. "Are you ok?" she gasped.

"That toxicology report. I need to see it."

"Most of the drugs have cleared your system by now," said Andi, as she looked in her folder. She produced a copy of the report that the lab generated from several samples of Paul's blood.

The list was a list of the substances found in his blood, starting with heroin, but that wasn't what he was looking for. "There! Look at the bottom four," said Paul, and he handed the report to Andi.

"Sodium thiopental, midazolam, flunitrazepam, amobarbital, scopolamine... it's a cocktail from hell and I'm sure that's why your sleep cycle is so messed up."

"No, it's not a cocktail. I remember each injection feeling completely different. Most made me sleepy and loopy," said Paul.

"Well yeah. The first three, sodium thiopental, midazolam, flunitrazepam, they're all used as anesthesia," said Andi. "That's how they kept you under control."

"It wasn't for control, it was an interrogation," insisted Paul. "When you go under anesthesia, you really have no control over what you say, so anesthesia can act like a truth serum, and I remember that damn Russian asking questions. He was looking for something. Look at the last two, amobarbital, and scopolamine. Amobarbital, also known as sodium amytal... if you got your pharmacological education from pop culture, what is sodium amytal?"

Andi racked her brain trying to remember references on TV for sodium amytal... She remembered it clearly from the Schwarzenegger movie True Lies... it was also in Law & Order SVU and several spy novels. "A... a truth serum?" asked Andi.

"Yes, and scopolamine has long been considered a truth serum," said Paul.

"They ain't no such thing as a truth serum," said Josh as he walked into the room with two garment bags and a shoe box tucked under his arm.

"We know that, and you know that, but that moron rooskie that was pumping me full of drugs didn't know that" said Paul, and he thumped his forehead with the heel of his hand. "What were they asking me? I can remember him asking over and over, but I can't remember what he was saying."

"Don't sweat it, big daddy," said Josh. "It will come back when you least want it to." He hung the garment bags up on the bathroom door and opened them. Inside were USAF uniforms.

"Oh no, last time I wore one of those, I was taken prisoner," said Paul.

"Me too," said Josh. "Ah got my ass married."

"Honey, the folks that found you were airmen," said Andi. "Colonel Jarecki should show some decorum when he says thank you. Right Sergeant Gravely?"

"Yes ma'am," said the gunner as he pulled his ribbon and badge-covered blues out of his bag. "Gotta show them what a fighting' man is all about, right, doc? Let's put a sparkle in the young boy's eyes." Josh was clearly under the impression that the rescuers were a couple of young airmen in their late teens. "Ronnie says we have a military award ceremony? Is that right?"

"Yes you do. The Governors Medal of Freedom is a big thing here in Florida and they want to present it in a military award ceremony. You get to fulfill the position of first sergeant," said Andi.

"Yes ma'am. Easy peasy chicken squeasy," and he stepped into the bathroom to change. Ten minutes later, Josh came out of the bathroom fully dressed in his blues. He studied Paul's jacket as Andi trimmed Paul's beard. "Who put this together for you?"

"I don't know. I faxed his DD Form 214 to Moody AFB uniform sales, and they set up his uniform and overnighted it down here," said Andi. "Chicken squeasy?"

"Moody? They should know better than this," said Josh as he removed the ribbon rack from Paul's uniform and put the ribbons in the correct order, then centered the rack properly over the left pocket and attached it properly. "Three ribbons out of order and they were nearly a quarter inch off," grumbled Josh.

Andi shook her head. They looked perfect to her, but if Josh says they're a quarter inch off, they're probably exactly a quarter inch off. She helped Paul out of the chair he was in, and they put his jacket on him and adjusted his tie. "You have a thousand ropes hanging off you, but we'll get you inspection ready," said Josh as he started picking 'ropes' from Paul's uniform. Some 'ropes' he had to trim with a huge, razor-sharp knife that he always carried. The 'ropes' he was talking about were tiny bits of thread hanging out from each seam from the sewing process. Ropes seem to infest every new uniform and are the Drill Instructor's favorite prey.

"Let's get this over with," sighed Paul.

"You don't want to meet the kids that saved your life?" asked Andi.

"I don't want to put them out... one of them is supposed to return to Colorado but is stuck down here because of me," groaned Paul.

"I've been stuck in worse places," said Josh.

"Name two," grumbled Paul, who really wasn't sure where he was. He's never spent any time in the extreme north of Florida.

"Bummfuk Africa, Innyarbuty, Saudi Arabia, Bhuttwype, Pakistan..."

"It's not that funny," Paul scolded the laughing mayor-elect.

"I like this area," said Andi. "People are nice."

"Of course we're nice. Ain't no Yankees here like down in Orlando or Cocoa Beach," said Josh, who was born and raised 40 miles north, just across the Georgia border. "We call that area 'round Orlando 'South Jersey.' Up here, this is still God's country."

"You can give me a tour when I get set loose," said Paul as Andi pushed a wheelchair up behind him. "I can walk," he insisted.

"You can walk in the Physical Therapy room where there are pads and undergrads to catch you," scolded Andi. "Sit!"

"Yes Doctor," said Paul as he and Wonka sat at her command. There was a tap on the door, and Veronica poked her nose in.

"Is everybody decent?"

"Hell no," said Josh, out of habit. Only then did he realize who it was that had said that... "Hell no, ma'am!" he grinned, and he pulled his wife into his arms. Then he whispered, "Ah'm sorry 'bout last night Nica." Josh was in worse shape than Paul and Andi after he heard the details of the plot. He spent their first night together in Florida shaking, reliving the horror with dreams interrupted by what might have been.

"Effie, it's ok," Veronica whispered as they kissed. "I wasn't much better." Her proximity to the horror terrified her too. After a long, loving kiss, she said, "I have orders from the boss. Anthony wants pictures to prove you're not passed out on a beach with a dozen empty Corona bottles lying around."

"He knows me so well," grinned Josh as Veronica ran her fingers over his enormous collection of ribbons and badges. That is one positive thing to say about the Air Force: they recognize the efforts their fliers put in.

"You're going to wear this when we get our vows sanctified, right Effy?" asked Veronica. They rarely use these nicknames within earshot of other people. It's their private way of saying, "I love you."

"I don't know, I was thinking..."

"Let me rephrase that," said Veronica. "Effy, you're going to wear this when we get our wedding vows sanctified," she demanded with a sweet smile.

"Yes ma'am. Happy wife, happy life."

Doctor Armondo tapped on the door and said, "they're ready for you in lecture room 1." Then he noticed the uniforms, especially Josh. "I did not expect a room full of heroes."

"Hero? More like targets," groused Josh.

"Doctor Armondo," said Andi, "This is my campaign manager, Veronica Gravely von Köster. Ronnie, this is my old boss from back in Colorado, Doctor Sinclair Armondo. He's now the administrator here." They shook hands, and then everyone prepared to go.

"Wonka, come," said Paul, and Wonka dove off the bed where he was sleeping next to Danny, and stood at Paul's side as Paul put the leash on the dog's service dog harness. Veronica scooped Danny up from the bed, and they were ready to go.

"We are off," said Josh, and he pushed the wheelchair through the hallways with Wonka walking proudly at Paul's side. They were led by Dr. Armondo, Andi and Veronica. They took the elevator down to the first floor and followed a corridor back into the academic area of the building.

They entered a lecture hall used for lecturing interns and residents and were greeted with the murmur of dozens of voices. As Paul was rolled onto the stage, the room was filled with applause. There were newsmen and cameras, and cops from all jurisdictions that were involved. A policeman with four stars on his collar was the master of ceremonies. His look of shock and awe told Paul that he was impressed by Josh's awards.

Paul looked around at the crowd and noticed a military officer there. He was wearing a midnight blue uniform with Space Force collar brass. Being the only person seated on stage, Paul felt self-conscious and rose to his feet with the aid of a cane that Andi insisted he use. They were introduced to the crowd, and applause followed. "Where's my heroes?" whispered Paul.

"They're here. They'll be out in a few minutes," said Veronica.

On stage, the chief of the Duval County Sheriff's Department introduced Detectives Charlie Klafka and Julissa Tanaka, Trooper Sandra Lusher representing the New York State Troopers, FBI Agent Frank Colella and so many others that worked in the manhunt. "Are they ready?" asked the top cop.

"This is why I'm down here," Veronica whispered to Andi as she raised her phone to record the next few moments on video.

"May I introduce the men who saved Doctor Jarecki and brought a happy conclusion to this man hunt, United States Air Force Staff Sergeant retired, Phillip Budreau and United States Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Michael Donovan and their families." The two uniformed men stepped out on stage. The staff sergeant was of average size, but the Senior Master Sergeant was a big guy, about six foot four and solidly built. Josh didn't notice because he was concerned about Paul, who was a bit wobbly.

The heroes' wives stepped out on stage. One was a pretty Southern girl in a Sunday frock; the other was a beautiful black woman wearing a Space Force uniform with Chief Master Sergeant stripes. They were followed by their five children, who nervously stepped on stage. As they did, the lovely black woman in the Space Force uniform looked at Josh and shrieked, "REDNECK!" and raced across the stage and threw her arms around Josh.

"Roxie? Wedge? Oh, my God!" Josh was completely stunned, as was Roxie. The three friends hugged tightly. For Wedge and Roxie, their last memory of Redneck was of a broken man being loaded on a bus he didn't want to ride, as his career ended years before he wanted it to. Josh's diagnosis of cancer shocked the 80th Fighter Squadron, and he was sent off as a saddened, heartbroken hero unsure if he had a future.

"I didn't hear from you, I thought you were dead," said Roxie, her eyes filled with tears.

"Ah wanted to be daid, then ah dun got something to live for." To the side, Veronica watched and smiled, tears of joy collecting as her husband was reunited with friends he talked about constantly. "You got married; you really did it! I'm so happy! Who are these little people following you?" gasped Josh.

"These are our boys, Wayne and Patrick, and daddy's little angel Vanessa," said Roxanne as Josh scooped the tiny girl out of her arms. Vanessa reached out and grabbed Josh's Medal of Honor and tugged at the ribbon.

"Don't worry, Josh is our baby whisperer," said Paul as he strolled up and shook hands with Michael, Phil, Roxie, and Wendy. "This is my wife, the mayor of Springville, New York, Doctor Andi Jarecki, and this is her campaign manager..."

"Thank you, colonel, but ah kin introduce my own wife," said Josh with mock anger.

"Wife?" gasped Roxie, who was still clinging to Josh.

"Wedge, Roxie, this is the woman of my dreams, Veronica von Köster."

Roxie shook hands with everyone, and when she got to Veronica, she peered at the baby Veronica was holding and tickled Danny's chin. "Redneck, is there something you're not telling us?"

"Well, we only been married three weeks, we kinda eloped."

"NO, I mean this cutie," said Roxie as Danny happily grabbed her finger.

"He's ours," said Paul quickly, as Veronica blushed and plotted revenge on Josh for inferring that Danny was theirs. As the eight shook hands, Paul and Andi said tear-filled thank you's.

"Phil, are you ok?" asked Andi.

"It's just... I get winded... have to relax..." said Phil, panting.

"He got a breath of hydrazine in the Persian Gulf and is down to 40% lung function," said Wendy.

"After this, you and me. I want to do a full workup on you," said Andi in her 'doctor voice.'

"Ma'am, I appreciate the gesture, but I can't get Wendy's hopes up," said Phil. He knows they don't have the money for a lung transplant and full aftercare, and he doesn't want to break Wendy's heart again. She's been through too much hell.

"We will be proud to talk after, Mrs. Mayor," said Wendy firmly. Then she whispered to Phil, "Didn't Grandma Noah tell you to listen to people today?"

"I thought she was talking about Roxie," whispered Phil.

The crowds of people and news cameras were forgotten as the veterans and their families huddled and talked. Julissa went over to the group to get them back on track, but she was drawn into the conversation and ended up laughing and chatting with everyone in the small crowd. Eventually, the Space Force officer came up to Paul, who was introducing Wonka to the children. "Colonel, we want to have a military award ceremony. Would you do us the honor of being part of the presentation?"

Paul was never a commander in the USAF. He ran several surgical units, but award ceremonies were always conducted by the Hospital Commander, so he never got to present a subordinate with anything more than a letter of appreciation. "It would be my honor... general." Damn! At first, he thought those stars were part of the glitter of the new Space Force uniform. "Have you met my friend, Master Sergeant Gravely?"

"Gravely? No, I haven't," said the general. He was wondering what the reunion on stage was all about. "Sergeant Gravely?" asked the General.

Josh turned to the general, still holding Roxie and Wedge's daughter Vanessa. He handed Vanessa over to Wedge and turned to the general. "General Purdy?" he asked as Veronica straightened out his medal. The general snapped to attention and saluted Josh, who returned his salute and shook his hand.

"I've never had the honor of meeting a medal of honor recipient," said the general.

"Thank you sir," said Josh as he shook hands with the general. "The honor on this stage is meeting these two, Wedge and Roxie. I love them dearly. We met in the 80th at Kunsan..." He looked and Roxie was tapping on his shoulder. He turned and Roxie, Wedge, and Phil were holding a salute. Josh returned the salute and said, "You don't have to."

"You are one of the few people I'm proud to salute," said Wedge with a hearty slap on Josh's shoulder.

It took Veronica to straighten everyone out and get them in line. Finally, the general stepped forward and said to the assembled onlookers, "Good Afternoon, I'm Major General Stephen Purdy, commander of Launch Delta 45, Patrick Space Force Garrison. A few days ago, I received a call from the governor of our fair state and he asked for my advice, then he invited me to Jacksonville. I met the people involved only too briefly. This is one of those stories that makes you wish you came in during the opening credits and not after the hero puts his gun back in his holster. For those of you that don't know, Senior Master Sergeant Michael Donovan is the first sergeant in the three twenty second airlift squadron at Buckley Space Force Base where his wife, Chief Master Sergeant Roxanne Donovan is the senior enlisted advisor for Space Base Delta 2. Chief Donovan and her family came home for a vacation with her mom in Saint Felix, and they went to visit Chief Dawson's best friend from school. Is that right?"

"Yes it is, sir," said Roxanne.

"While Roxanne and Wendy caught up, the guys took their boys fishing in the Okefenokee Swamp. Did you catch anything, boys?"

"A whole bucket of catfish!" cried Noah, who was with Patrick, Wayne and Vanessa petting a happy but obedient Wonka.

Chuckling, General Purdy said, "It is my honor to introduce the nation's most recent Medal of Honor recipient, Master Sergeant Ephraim Gravely." The general stepped next to Paul, and they faced Wedge and Phil. Josh stood at the lectern as the audience politely applauded, and he read the document in front of him.

"Citation to Accompany the Award... On January sixteenth, while on leave with his family, Senior Master Sergeant Michael A. Donovan was navigating the headwaters of the St. Mary's River with Staff Sergeant Retired, Phillip Budreau. As they approached Tompkins Landing, they observed two men throwing what they thought was a rolled carpet into the waterway. When they got to the object, they saw it was moving, and both sergeants jumped into the water to rescue the victim. After pulling the victim to shore, Senior Master Sergeant Donovan started CPR and got the victim breathing. Staff Sergeant Budreau examined the victim, and he was showing signs of a drug overdose, so Staff Sergeant Budreau administered NARCAN, then at the risk of his own life Staff Sergeant Budreau administered his own oxygen to the victim which saved the life of Lieutenant Colonel Retired Paul Jarecki."

"They contacted emergency services and assisted the rescue helicopter with a difficult and dangerous landing on a tiny nearby island, then ferried the emergency responders to the location of the victim, and then helped the responders get the victim back to the helicopter, all the time not knowing that they just saved the victim of a kidnapping that started a nationwide manhunt. The actions of Sergeants Donovan and Budreau reflect credit upon themselves and the United States Air Force and they are hereby awarded the Governor's Medal of Freedom."

When Josh finished reading, the General turned to Paul and said, "Colonel, would you do the honors?" He whispered the instructions in Paul's ear, and for the first time that day, Paul smiled.

"I would be proud to, sir," and the general handed Paul a medal on a ribbon that Paul placed over Wedge's head. As he adjusted the medal to hang properly, he whispered to Wedge, "I know this isn't worth any points toward promotion, but I'm sure your commander will scare up a Meritorious Service Medal soon." Paul handed Wedge a framed copy of the citation, and they shook hands, then saluted.

"Yes, sir!" said Wedge softly. He discovered just now that Paul, the man he rescued, was a kidnapping victim. All this time, they figured he was a homeless junkie with connections. Maybe even wanted for a murder or something.

Then Paul stepped up to Phil and whispered, "Sergeant, you and I need to talk. How about dinner after this?"

"I... uh..."

"My treat."

"Yes, sir!"

After they saluted and stepped back from each other, Andi stepped up to Phil and then Wedge and handed each a nine by twelve inch envelope and gave each man a kiss and said, "Thank you for saving the man I love's life."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Dinner was at Lobster Todd's, an intimate restaurant on the St. Johns River. It wasn't a fancy place, but it was welcoming, and they set up a triclinium table large enough for all the participants of the ceremony. The couples were trading stories of how they met. "Wendy and Phil have been together since the third grade," said Roxie. "They're the most normal of us."

"Ain't nothing normal about our engagement," said Phil.

"What do you mean?"

"We went camping on Halloween and came out of Trader's Hill engaged," said Wendy.

"What's unusual about that?" demanded Roxie. Trader's Hill was a common spot for lovers to go camping on the soft riverbank sand. There's something about camping on a warm night among the cypress trees, with a warm river right there to skinny dip in under a full moon... often the girls came out of Trader's Hill pregnant.

Phil and Wendy looked at each other and smiled. Something happened that they weren't talking about. "Guess you're right Roxie."

"I found Andi in a snowdrift," said Paul. "She made the wrong turn in the middle of a Buffalo blizzard and got stuck in a ditch. I brought her to my place and we got to spend four wonderful days in my cabin with her girls. When we got out we went straight to the pastor and asked him to marry us."

"And he did?" asked General Purdy.

"Well, he's my brother," which brought gales of laughter.

"I found Ronnie sitting in a parking lot," said Josh. "Her car wouldn't start in a Buffalo blizzard. I brought her indoors and we haven't been apart since."

"You got married when the blizzard cleared?" asked Roxie.

"No, we lived in sin for a year and got married on New Years Eve three weeks ago."

"I found Roxie standing in my bedroom," said Wedge.

"WHAT?" laughed Wendy Budreau, Roxie's best friend from childhood and high school.

"She was just standing there staring at me, like she's never seen a naked bomb loader before," said Wedge with a shrug.

His cute black wife screamed, then slugged him and added, "Well... he used my shampoo!" insisted Roxie. "Our dorm rooms shared a bathroom and he went in there and used my product."

"So you snuck into his room to check out the new guy?" asked Wendy.

Roxie gave a sheepish smile and said, "Wouldn't you?"

"Calm down, spaceman," chuckled Wedge as he kissed Roxie.

"Wingnut," she responded.

"Guardian!" insisted General Purdy, who was listening. Space Force members don't like being called spacemen; they want to be called Guardians.

"Oh, you guys are playing for Cleveland?" asked Paul, causing General Purdy to groan.

"Y'all ain't gonna git a break," chuckled Josh. "Ah'd jus suck it up and accept Spaceman. Cowboy used to be an insult, and now it's a badge of courage."

As the staff laid out a buffet for them at a side table, Andi whispered to General Purdy, who nodded and stood. "Before we have lunch, Colonel Jarecki, could you lead us in saying grace?"

Paul slowly stood. So many things roared through his head... he didn't know if he could do it properly. He turned to Andi, who had Danny in her arms, and she recognized that look; he wanted to hold his son. She stood and transferred Danny into his arms, and handed him a bottle. "You need to do it," she whispered and kissed her husband, then sat down. She was right. He felt abandoned by God and everyone else, and then at the darkest moment his eyes opened and there was Phil Budreau.

Danny began nursing at his bottle when Noah Budreau cried, "Hey! We haven't said grace, and he's eating!"

That gave Paul everything he needed. A realization filled his heart. "Noah, babies don't say grace... they are grace."

"Huh?"

"Fourteen months ago, I had nothing. I had a big six bedroom mansion that I spent over half a million dollars rebuilding and modernizing, and it was empty. I had ten automobile dealerships and the sweetest mustang you'll ever see. I had millions in the bank... and I had nobody. Fourteen months ago, I said goodbye to Josh as he drove off to work, leaving me in my cabin. I couldn't take the loneliness anymore and I prayed that God would end it all in the coming storm, and he did. Three miles up the road, a young doctor and her twin daughters were stuck in a snowstorm and they prayed to God for salvation, but instead He sent me."

Noah had never seen snow except on Christmas specials on TV, so he was immediately interested, and Paul continued. "When Andi and I needed salvation again, he sent us all these law enforcement officers, and good people like you and your daddy Phil and Patrick and Wayne's daddy Wedge. God gave me so much stuff, but none of it is worth one more moment with Danny in my arms. I can now hold my little boy and my life is complete. I can't thank any of you enough, so I'll thank God for this wonderful meal and my new friends. Can I get an Amen?"

"AMEN!" shouted Wayne and Patrick. The AMEN! was their favorite part of Sunday school.

"Let's dig in," said General Purdy, whose wife Marilyn had joined him, and she found it refreshing to have lunch with a room full of people that were not stuffy officers looking for an excuse to be offended.

Josh stood and said, "It wouldn't be rat if we didn't thank these fine folk here for our meal, so it's only rat that we sing for our supper."

"Lead us off, Josh," called Paul.

"Oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain..."

The gang happily sang America the Beautiful as Josh sang lead and directed. "All rat y'all, go git yer vittles!" and the men and women that worked so hard to save Paul Jarecki got up to get their food from the buffet. As they ate, Paul introduced the general to the detectives, Charlie Klafka and Julissa Tanaka. "Julissa, is there anything that Ayato needs for the bar?"

"What do you mean?" she asked as she tried the lobster bisque.

"Glassware that says Worzil's Bar and Grille, or something like that."

"People will just steal them."

"Then sell them," said Paul. "How about five bucks a glass, and only three bucks a refill."

"Our pints are two fifty. What we need more than anything is the beer cooler tuned up. That's all we need."

"Let me take care of that for Ayato. He's been a good friend throughout all this. Do not get weepy," Paul scolded. "I've been friends with Ayato for a long time, and you're right, the beer is getting a bit warm."

"Oh, fuck you," said Julissa, and she leaned over and gave Paul a kiss.

"What was that all about?" asked General Purdy.

Andi quietly said, "Julissa is a retired Air Force OSI investigator, and a retired town detective. Her husband Ayato is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and their bar is their dream job. She came back from retirement to help find Paul. We can't give her a reward, but her husband, our favorite bartender, could probably use some help with their business. I can't help as mayor, but Paul can as a friend."

"Wait until the twins tell you about my phaser," Julissa told Paul.

"Phaser?"

"I was terrified that these kids would be shattered for life if I shot someone with my taser, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I dropped two perps that were trying to get into the kindergarten class and the kids loved it! I turn around and they're all shaking and dancing like the twins taught them."

"Perp? Kindergarten? Taser?" asked Marilyn Purdy.

"It got ugly while Paul was gone," said Julissa.

"Best thing my Ronnie did was help Miss Andi run for mayor," said Josh. "It helped keep her mind off the insanity."

"Not when my girls were almost kidnapped twice," said Andi.

That's when Phil started wheezing and gasping for breath. "It's ok..." he gasped. "Just need oxygen..." and he unraveled his cannula and opened the valve on his tank. As he did that, Andi and Paul moved their chairs to either side of Phil, and Andi started digging in Danny's diaper bag and she drew out her stethoscope.

"You, take the blouse off," said Paul, and Phil took off his uniform jacket while Wendy and their daughter Katy looked on with their faces painted with worry. Andi had Phil breathe as deeply as he could, one deep breath after another as she listened to his lungs with her stethoscope on his back. When she was done, she began looking up something on her phone. "You can put your blouse on," said Paul.

"What was that?" asked Wendy.

"Andi is an excellent pulmonologist, and she has a VA clinic back in New York," said Paul. "She studied under Doctor Armondo; the fellow that's in charge at the University hospital where we were just at."

"We can't afford to go to New York for treatment," whined Phil. "That guy in the Gainesville hospital is a dork, but at least we get mileage." Wendy and their nine-year-old daughter, Katy, remained silent, but they looked terrified.

"You can afford the travel, you just don't know it yet," said Paul as Andi began a conversation with someone on the phone. "Come here, Katy," and Paul collected Katy close to him. "You know that you will probably find someone and fall in love and get married someday, right?" Katy nodded nervously, and Paul continued. "I got two little girls too, I know what they want, wouldn't you like your daddy there to dance with you at your wedding?"

"Uh huh," she said softly.

"Well, if your daddy listens to Danny's mommy, you'll have the finest wedding any young lady in St. Felix ever had," said Paul. "And your daddy will dance at your wedding and maybe even your daughter's wedding."

"Ok," said Andi into her phone as she wrote some information on a notepad. "Thanks, Kathia." She hung up her phone and handed the page she had written to Wendy. "You have an appointment for ten AM Thursday at Fernandina Beach Respiratory and Sleep Medicine. I want Phil on oxygen 24/7 until then, and Doctor Cantillo will give a more thorough examination and a sleep study. She will also write you a referral to the Mayo Clinic here in Jacksonville for a full vascular evaluation."

"I... we can't afford that. We're on Medicare," said Phil.

"Show me your id card and your Medicare card," said Paul. Phil pulled out his cards and handed them to Paul. "This one pays almost everything," said Paul, holding up Phil's Medicare card. "Usually about eighty percent." Then he held up Phil's military ID. "You are retired and fully disabled. This covers everything else, including medications. You just pay a delivery fee." He held the Medicare card up again. "Now, if Medicare doesn't cover a procedure," he lifted the military ID card. "This one will cover it. Your military benefits are called Tricare for Life."

Phil and Wendy looked at each other in shock, then Andi said, "You didn't get much of a briefing when you were discharged."

"I wasn't conscious," said Phil.

"They never said anything to me," said Wendy, so relieved she could cry. "Will they cover a lung transplant?"

"Oh yes, You get it at the Mayo, actually there's better hospitals, Doctor Kathia will talk to you about that," said a smiling Paul.

"I don't know," said Phil. "We don't have life insurance. If something happens to me, you lose everything. There's nothing for you and Katy and Noah. If I just take it easy, I have ten years left." He took his wife in his arms, and she burst into tears. The thought of life without the man who had been part of her life since she was eight years old was too much to bear.

Their sorrow was too much for Andi as well. She hated getting patients who were never briefed properly, or just didn't understand what they were briefed on when they were released from service and didn't know enough to ask questions. "We can help," she whispered to Paul. "Right?" but Paul was confused. He felt that there was something missing.

Meanwhile, Josh and Veronica weren't paying attention. They were talking with Roxie and Wedge and making plans for a future get-together. Maybe at Wedge's retirement ceremony. They were looking at the Governor's Medal of Freedom and reading the fancy citation along with the hand-written letter from the governor apologizing for not being able to free up the time and be at the ceremony, but said, "If I know Paul, you will be at one of his house parties in Jupiter in the near future, I'll see you there!"

"House parties on Jupiter? I didn't think anyone could get that high," said Wedge.

"Y'all just silly. Personally, we held out for the yacht cruise," said Josh as Veronica leaned on his shoulder. She dreamed of relaxing in the warm sun and taking a dip in the turquoise water of the 'Obamas' as the twins informed her. Josh dreamed of her doing the same thing... topless. "That reminds me, guess who we're going on a cruise with next month!"

"The president?" asked Wedge. He was totally befuddled by everything that had happened since meeting Phil and Wendy.

"Squeaky!" He was greeted with confused looks. "Don and Lanh Campbell? From Kunsan?"

"Oh, my god! How are they doing?" cried Roxie.

"You remember squeaky and her Mach 3 vocabulary. I think they're doing well. They've got a dairy farm, and they're both doctors. She's a speech pathologist and is hoping to land a job at the university in Bemidji. He's a doctor of education and makes his money writing books."

"How did you guys hook up?" asked Roxie. Don used to work for Roxie, and she loved them, even though Lanh was living in the dorm with Don illegally.

"In Colorado, Don was Andi's patient and they still keep in touch. I was at their house when Squeaky called just before Christmas. Andi invited them on their boat and I blackmailed Paul to invite us along."

"How long have you two been married?" asked Roxie.

"Officially, nineteen days," said Josh.

"It seems so long ago," said Veronica. "Show them!"

"Thanks to you and Andi it's all over the internet," grumbled Josh, and he scrolled on his phone until he found the video that John took of him dancing with Veronica and finally proposing.

"The Redneck is a romantic," sighed Roxanne.

"I'm just surprised that the redneck can dance," said Wedge.

"And sing," said Veronica, and she found a video on her phone of Josh's first night with Pennsy. "They're going to the international championship this autumn." Roxie and Wedge watched in awe as they saw Josh leading a quartet he had never sung with before.

"Paul asked if we'd record jingles for his dealerships," said Josh.

"He sings, he dances, he load bombs," chuckled Wedge. "Ol' Redneck is a triple threat artist."

"Hey hey, enough with that redneck stuff. I come from exactly twenty-five miles north of y'all."

Veronica noticed the envelope that Andi gave to Wedge. It was still unopened. She whispered that fact into Josh's ear, and he noticed that Phil's envelope was unopened too. "What did the world's shortest mayor give you fellers?" asked Josh.

"I don't know, a happy-gram or something like that," said Wedge as Roxie folded the metal 'bunny ears' up and opened the envelope.

She pulled out a hand-written letter from Andi thanking Wedge for his quick thinking and skill at CPR. The next was a certificate from the office of the Mayor of Springville, NY thanking him officially. A handwritten Post-it note said, "This certificate is a draft. I will send you an official certificate after my inauguration. The attachments are real."

"What attachments?" asked Wedge. There were two documents held behind the certificate by a paperclip. One promised 'name your price' on a lease of any Ford vehicle from Jarecki Motors. "So, ten bucks a month on a new F-150 with all the bells and whistles?" asked Wedge.

"No," said Veronica, who helped Andi draft the deal. "The fine print says a minimum of $25 per month and you have to carry full coverage."

After Wedge got over his shock, he turned to Roxie to show her the certificate. "Honey? What do you think? An F-250? Maybe we can get it in... honey?" But Roxie was looking at the other attachment. Her big brown eyes were wide, and her jaw was moving up and down, but nothing was coming out. But soon it finally came out as a piercing scream that startled everyone in the restaurant.

"What?" asked Wedge. He knew his wife well enough to know this was a scream of joy. With shaking hands, she showed him the bank certificate that showed an account open in their name with a balance of five hundred thousand dollars. "This can't be right," he gasped.

"I never lie on a banana-gram," said Andi, as she paused from trying to comfort Wendy. Wedge and Roxie showed the gifts that Andi and Paul gave them to the assembled crowd. The house that Roxie and Wedge agreed on was now theirs. They might even get themselves a boat because they have a relative out in the Okefenokee to visit.

While Roxie and Wedge made their plans, Andi realized Phil had never opened her letter. She handed Wendy the envelope and said, "Open it, it's for the both of you." Moments later, Wendy's tears of fear turned to tears of joy as she saw the bank account with the money that Andi had promised. She threw herself at Phil and peppered his face with kisses.

"You two are going to be ok," said Paul.

"You didn't have to," said Phil. He looked angry. It was the old Southern independence rising to the surface. Help when it's not called for is an insult to a Southern man. "We can't accept something like this..."

"This is not a gift," said Paul sternly. "My wife made a promise that she would pay one million dollars for my return, and we don't go back on promises."

"You've done so much for us," wept Wendy, covering Phil's mouth with her hand. "You gave us hope."

"Your husband gave me my life back," said Andi. "I want to return the favor. We want to help you, so don't be afraid to call. Even if it's just for a box of diapers." The shocked look on Wendy's face told Andi she had just let the cat out of the bag.

"How did you know?"

"It's a mom thing," said Andi, as she hugged Wendy. "You and all the kids are coming to visit us in Springville as soon as possible."

"What about me?" asked Phil.

"I said all the kids," said Andi with a laugh. It felt so good to laugh. This hellscape she had been stuck in since December twenty-ninth was over. Andi hugged Wendy, who had been worried sick about telling Phil about the baby, and now she knows it's going to be ok. Everything will be okay.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

"What y'all got planned for tomorrow, heading back to Colorado?" asked Josh as the event at Lobster Todd's drew to a close. He couldn't wait to get back to the hotel room and take off his uniform.

"Heading back on Monday, so we have got the rest of the week to spend in beautiful Saint Felix," said Wedge. "Roxie will probably want to talk to a realtor. We want to move to the Florida side of town."

"Grandma Noah," said Roxie. "She wants us to come out and visit tomorrow. I'm supposed to bring her some catfish filets."

"She wants us to bring the woman that was almost Miss America," added Wedge.

Josh and Veronica looked at each other, then Roxie asked, "What?"

"She really said that? Who is Grandma Noah?" asked Josh.

"She's my aunt, she lives out in the Okefenokee, and yes. I went out to get the dress she made for Vanessa and she said, 'y'all come back before you leave and bring the pretty lady who was almost Miss America and her troubadour.'"

Josh went pale and almost dropped Vanessa. He had only referred to himself as a troubadour once, and before that he had never thought of the term. When he was finishing lunch with the fake nurses, Veronica and Lacy, the word just popped into his head, and he did not know why. But Veronica gave Roxie a little smile of excitement and said, "What time are we going?"

"You were Miss America?" asked Wedge.

"No, she was in the top ten finishers," said a shaken Josh.

Roxanne broke into a huge, radiant smile. "You should come out with us, even if she's thinking of someone else."

"She's a sweet old bird," said Wedge. "I was a little concerned about meeting her but after Paul, she's all right."

"Grandma Noah is cool!" cried her son Wayne.

"Oh yeah?" asked Veronica. "Why is Grandma Noah so cool?"

"Because her catfish are so easy to catch," the little boy said cheerfully.

"You just dip your hook in the water and pull out a fish!" said Wayne's older brother Patrick.

"You don't need a worm!" said Phil and Wendy's tiny son Noah.

"What do you mean 'but after Paul?'" asked Josh.

"The first time I met Grandma Noah I was afraid," said the big white Pennsylvanian, Wedge. "I heard tales of witchcraft and the evil eye and I thought they were all fairy tales, but then I met her and she scared the daylights out of me."

"Grandma Noah? She's sweet!" cried Roxie, and she slugged her husband, who looked to be twice her size.

Wedge grabbed Roxie's wrists, crossed her arms and stood behind her, hugging her and keeping her arms immobile. while he finished his story. "Grandma Noah asked us to go out to Tomkins landing and pick up something for her. She never said what to pick up, she just said, "Y'all will know it when you see it." We went to Tomkins landing and a semi was stopped there and two guy tossed what looked like a rolled up carpet in the water. It turned out to be Paul, but we didn't learn who it was until this morning."

"She knew," said Roxie.

"Grandma Noah knows EVERYTHING!" said Wayne. "I can't wait to get my own boat when we move here so I can go visit her."

"Do you like Grandma Noah?" Josh asked Vanessa, who was still in his arms, and the sleepy little girl nodded her head. She mumbled something Josh didn't understand. "What did you say honey?"

"She said she likes Grandma Noah's jambalaya. When we got Paul on the helicopter and answered a million questions from the cops we went back to Grandma Noah's cabin and she had cooked us up a pot of jambalaya that was a work of art," said Wedge.

"What do you have planned for this evening?" asked Roxie.

Josh shrugged. "Newlywed stuff."

"Nothing," said Veronica after driving her elbow into Josh's ribs. "Paul and Andi are going to spend the rest of the day explaining medical insurance to Phil and Wendy, Wendy asked us to take the boys back to their grandparents in Saint Felix."

Roxie and Wedge looked at each other and smiled. It was the smile of a couple who had been in love for a decade and were falling more in love with each other every day. "What are you thinking?" asked Veronica.

"The VFW!" said Roxie with a smile. "It's like the village pub, it's where we hang out."

Josh turned to Veronica and asked, "Wanna go?"

"You never take me to the legion hall in Springville, why here?"

"It's like... think Worzil's without the beef on weck."

"Ok," said Veronica. "Let's take Julissa with."

In the end, they talked General Purdy and his wife, Marilyn, into coming with them, and they followed Roxie and Wedge and a van full of children on a road that went through a thick forest of slim pine trees with an occasional "Cabbage Palm" mixed in until they reached St. Felix, Florida. It was a tiny hamlet with about three businesses. Homes were single and doublewide trailers along with some very nice-looking permanent structure homes. A big, ugly cinderblock building with an attached Quonset hut had several cars parked out front, and it looked like a hopping party was in full swing. "What's happening Merl?" shouted Roxie when they entered.

The hall went silent. "Roxie?" asked the bartender, "Is that you dressed up like a spaceman?"

"Hey Merle," called Noah Budreau as if he were old enough to hang out here. He climbed up onto a bar stool next to his sister Katy.

"Hoe-lee smokes! We ain't had this many uniforms in here since Cletus brought in that calf he stole from Dale Langley and the whole county sheriff's department showed up," said Merle, laughing.

"A round for everyone in uniform," called Josh. "The rest of y'all got time to run home an' git dressed."

"Looks like our redneck found himself a home away from home," said Wedge as Josh bought everyone in uniform drinks. They sat at a large table and looked over the calendar on the wall nearby. "Karoke night!" said Roxie. "You going to sing for us Katy?"

"Not if Noah sings, he always ruins my songs," pouted the seven-year-old.

They sat at a long folding table, and Roxie reached across the table and grabbed Josh's hand. "It's so good to see you happy again!" Then to Veronica she said, "After Valentines Day he looked so sad, he avoided everyone. We only saw him at work."

"I didn't have too much to be happy about. It's like after Hani left and Lanh went home, my world evaporated. They were friends, nothing more, so it was the timing of their departure. I knew something was wrong but I was terrified to face it. I finally got Lieutenant Kenosha straightened out, so I guess my work was done and I went to see a doctor."

"What do you mean?" asked Julissa, who was in her police dress blue uniform.

"When Josh was diagnosed with cancer he was so sad. They didn't know how bad it was and he had to go back stateside and his career was over."

"Aww, how sad," said Marilyn Purdy.

"No!" Veronica almost shouted. "The sad part was that he had to endure it alone. He sat in that big empty room night after night wondering if he should just end in all like Roop and save everyone there the job of ignoring him. I'm sorry, but when Lanh told me this I cried for a week."

"Stop," said Josh, as he hugged Veronica. "When Wedge and Roxie finally admitted they loved each other they both got promoted and the assignment of their dreams, they didn't need some old, sick cracker to bring them down."

"We tried to include him," said Roxie. "But he kept saying things like, "I'll catch up with you at the club."

"But all those people!" cried Veronica. "Somebody could have checked on him!"

"It's over, Ronnie. It's what was best for all of us. Now if it were a fatal condition, then ah'd be angry. Ah'd be haunting the hell outta alla them."

"You're so weird," she said, and Josh kissed her tears away.

"I'll be right back," and he went over to the jukebox and selected a couple of songs and then came back. "Could I have this dance?" asked Josh with a bow.

"What did you select?" asked Veronica as Josh led her to a small open area in the club that would serve as a dance floor.

"The usual," said Josh as Frank Sinatra began singing Fly Me to the Moon.

Veronica sighed with joy as they danced. It felt so good to be in his powerful arms being whisked around the dance floor, his light blue eyes full of romance and mischief. "Did I ever tell you that these medals and badges turn me on?" asked Veronica.

"Ah hope it'll last, cause ah ain't gittin no more."

"You have more than enough sergeant. It's time to relax and enjoy life."

"Ah do enjoy life, long as you're in it," said Josh.

When the song ended, they stood in the middle of their private little world, kissing. Their dancing was so elegant that they drew applause from the crowd at the bar. Veronica didn't try to move back to their seats because Josh never plays just one song worth dancing to. She smiled as the music started; it was a waltz. It's always a waltz. Could I Have This Dance by Anne Murray, the song they were dancing to when he proposed to her.

When it came to the last stanza of the song, they kissed, long and sweetly as other couples danced around them. They were alone in a world of love and joy, and nothing could burst that bubble. When the song ended, they looked around, and Roxie and Wedge had joined them dancing, and there was an immense crowd of guys standing near their table. "What's that all about?" asked Veronica.

"It's the Jaguars reception committee. They done found out I'm wearing a Buffalo Bills t-shirt under this monkey suit." But when they went over to the table, it was all veterans who wanted the honor of saluting a Medal of Honor winner.

Josh was about to ask them to leave them alone, but Veronica said, "They're never going to get the chance to see that medal again. Give them something to talk about."

"You're always right," sighed Josh, and he went up and shook hands and exchanged salutes with the veterans of Southern Nassau County and Western Duval County. When Josh sat down, he found that Julissa was laughing at him. "What? What's so funny?"

"You're not nearly as nice in your own legion post," she said.

"What do you mean? Ah'm a sweetheart..."

"You and Amelia Hernandez sit at the bar and bitch about the price of beer even though Paul Jarecki buys all your beers."

"As well he should, he's a rich colonel that just sits around selling cars and getting richer, I have to work for a living and put up with Amelia. It's like I'm her landlord." Julissa and Veronica hacked on Josh, teasing him about "His" American Legion post and playing hockey against crooked cops. "Oh, you figured that out?"

"Who else is going to learn to play hockey just to beat up a cop?"

"You figured that out too?"

"What?" laughed General Purdy.

"A cop named Derrick "Ogie" Oglethorpe beat up John Jarecki, Paul's brother," said Julissa. "Someone in Springville New York, not mentioning any names, invited Ogie to a little one on one hockey saying, 'I'm just a country boy from the deep south, I ain't never seen ice outside a snow cone..."

"Up until I got orders to Minot that was true!" insisted Josh.

"Anyhow, it was a really rough game and Ogie showed up the next day with two black eyes and a broken nose."

"Hey, I called every penalty on myself!" insisted Josh.

"BEFORE you committed them!" shouted Julissa as the hall roared with laughter.

"Fair warning" said Josh as he shrugged.

"You were assigned to Minot?" asked Wedge.

"That was my first assignment, I was hoping for Shreveport," said Josh. "I was just up there a week ago setting up a call center for my company."

"I really liked it there," said Wedge. "The hunting and fishing were amazing. I've never seen walleye bigger than that anywhere else."

"We are as close as we are going to get to Minot!" insisted Roxie, causing the entire table to laugh. She and Wedge were living east of Denver, and that's as far north as she wanted to go.

"There was a pause in the conversation then Josh said, "Come on, Officer Tanaka, let's go sing." The Karaoke DJ was setting up and Josh said, "I have an idea for Pennsy, let's give it a shot."

"What do you have in mind."

"Something southern, something we can have fun with. I want to get them out of their comfort zone."

"Let's do it..." They searched the catalogue and found the song they were looking for.

"Where you from?" asked the DJ.

"Saint Mary's," said Josh.

"And you, where are you from?"

"Brooklyn."

"And you picked this... ok, good luck."

The deep bayou bluegrass sound filled the air -- rhythm guitar, bass fiddle, fiddle and banjo, and for the first time ever, Josh and Julissa sang a duet together.

Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and a filé gumbo

'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma chère amie, oh

Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh

Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou

Julissa and Josh had fun picking out harmony lines and looked for ways to fill in the instrumental sections with vocal notes. Several girls performed Cajun clogging as Josh and Julissa sang, and they got a rousing round of applause at the end of the song. They were talking barbershop all the way back to the table. "I don't know," said Julissa. "The melody is just too simple for a contest. I like the idea but I don't think a Hank Williams song is complex enough, not in the time we have left. Maybe we can get something together next year."

<><><><><>

It was still early when they shoved off from St. Felix Landing and headed out into the Okefenokee Swamp. They were in the Katy B, Phil and Wendy's Jon boat with a little fifteen horsepower motor. They moved at a stately pace with Wedge on the motor and Josh standing on the fishing platform on the bow of the flat-nosed boat. "It's been ages since I did this," said Josh.

"You never lose the knack of it," said Roxie as she and Veronica sat in the middle of the boat chatting.

"What's he doing up there?" asked Ronnie.

"He's helping to steer and looking out for lazy gators."

"He's looking for alligators?" gasped Veronica.

"Yeah, you don't want to run over one and hurt him with the propeller on the motor," said Roxie.

"Oh," said Veronica, nodding at the wisdom of Roxie's statement.

"You don't want to injure the skin, you might make a nice purse out of him," said Roxie.

"What?" gasped Veronica.

"Oh, tell me you didn't pull people's legs back home in Ohio."

"She's from Pennsylvania," said Josh as he poked a log to make sure it was a log. "It's nice out here today," said Josh as they putted along.

"Is it?" asked Wedge.

"It's usually really hot down here, so when you look for a house, make sure it has a new AC unit, at least five tons."

Wedge looked at Roxie, who was nodding at him. "Yeah, it can get hot. We'd just go jump in the river up by Traders Hill, or go to the ocean."

"Ronnie, watch this," said Josh, and he reached out with his pole and tapped a log, which twitched and swam away. "There goes lunch," he said sadly.

As they moved deeper into the swamp, Veronica saw some people behind a stand of cypress trees. "Are they naked?"

"Oh, that's Hidden River," said Roxie. "It's a clothing optional campground."

"Is that still open? Didn't the Camden County supervisor try to close that years ago?" asked Josh.

"That's only because his wife went camping with the county treasurer and they were caught," said Roxie. She looked at Veronica with a smile. "Son of a gun we have big fun on the bayou."

"I shouldn't make any remarks, we're going to a clothing optional island in a few weeks," said Ronnie.

"We are?" asked Josh.

"That's what Andi says. Nicoletta Atherton said, 'Anything you want.' There's one beach that Andi says is women-only, and no clothes allowed, just wine coolers and catty talk. There are sailboats you can sail around the island, and because the reef is so shallow at one end of the island, the boats can't get close to the women's beach. I just want to take my new husband to a private beach and relax."

"That sounds like fun," said Roxie with a longing sigh. "You're not afraid of being caught naked?"

"When I was modeling and in the pageants I was terrified of it, if I was with a fellow I wouldn't let him turn the light on. Then I found Josh and we're out there in woods working on the cabins getting all sweaty and I'll think nothing of stripping down and jumping in the pond."

"Wait, you got cabins, plural?"

"Seven total, one is ours, one is her dad's and the rest are for guests," said Josh.

"Your farm fund?" asked Wedge. He remembered back in Korea when Josh was talking about his savings for a farm when he retired.

"I bought an overgrown, vandalized scout camp and I've been rebuilding it. My boss and his family comes and stays in cabin number seven and they help. I get lots of help from Paul Jarecki and his brother John, they have cabins right across the road from me."

"You should come up and bring the kids. Camping in a New York Forest about two hours south of Niagara Falls," said Veronica.

"Best minor league baseball on earth," added Josh.

"There's Grandma's cabin," said Wedge as they came around a tree-covered island. They entered an open area in the swamp filled with tufts of sea grass that looked like small islands with waterways around them. The area was surrounded by dense forests and cypress trees whose "knees" sticking up from under the surface of the water prevented most boats from entering.

To the side of the area was a small cabin, half the size of the cabin that Josh had finished rebuilding and selected for Mike, Veronica's father. It was a ramshackle cabin made of wooden flotsam and jetsam; debris found floating in the swamp over the years. It had a roof made of shingles of different types and walls covered with tar paper tacked into place with wooden one by two battens. It had a wide porch with a wooden walkway that extended out from the edge of the island, making a dock. On the porch were all forms of different scraps from life on the swamp, fishing poles, oars, crab traps, fishing nets, and several rocking chairs to sit on. One of those chairs was filled by the oldest woman that Veronica had ever seen. Her skin was coffee black, but her hair was shock white, and her smile was broad and welcoming.

"Grandma!" cried Roxie.

"Lawd ahmighty!" said the ancient woman with a laugh. "Roxie honey, you look more beautiful every time I see you!"

Josh and Wedge tied off the boat, then they helped their wives up onto the dock, and Roxie led them to the porch. "Josh and Veronica, this is my great, great-aunt, everyone calls her Grandma Noah."

Josh carefully shook her fragile hand. "It's so good to meet you. You were instrumental in saving my best friend's life, and for that, I'm eternally grateful. Is there anything you want or need I will get it for you."

"It's been a powerful long time since we had a preacher through these parts, I would love to hear the word from your friend's sister-in-law."

Josh was shocked; he was expecting her to say Paul's brother John. "You want a visit from Pastor Macy?"

"Oh oui! Je veux entendre le mot en français!" (Oh, yes! I want to hear the word in French.)

Josh translated what she said in his head and then said, "John speaks French also,"

"I hear he has a funny accent," said Grandma Noah with a knowing nod.

With a chuckle, Josh slaughtered the French language when he said, "Pas aussi drôle que mon accent." (Not as funny as my accent)

Grandma Noah whooped and laughed and said, "I'll agree with that! Why don't you go inside and light the fire in the stove so I can make us a proper catfish lunch."

"Yes ma'am."

"And you follow him and learn Michael. I'm going to be depending on you soon enough."

"Yes ma'am," said Wedge. He wasn't a bit surprised that she called him by his birth name of Michael. It's rare that someone outside of the DMV will call him Michael; even the squadron commander back at Buckley calls him Wedge. As soon as he entered the cabin, Grandma Noah broke into a whisper.

"Now that we got the men folk outta here, we wimmin kin talk proper. Come up and let me see you Missus Gravely."

"Yes Grandma Noah."

"Let me see here... Oh, you've had such an emotional roller coaster, and it's not over yet. You need to learn two words: 'God Bless.' When your father ends his decades of loneliness, just say 'God Bless.'"

"What do you mean?" asked Veronica.

"The human heart," said Grandma Noah. "It was given to us to confound us. Who would have guessed that you would fall in love with a divorced shrimp fisherman? Hmm? Could you have pictured yourself living in sin with a man that makes a third of the money you make? When you were on top of the modeling world, did you ever dream you would make love in the mud and enjoy every moment?"

"I've never made love in the mud..." sputtered Veronica. But then the thought of the clay mud in the hills west of Springville, the gray clay on the edge of the pond... so slippery, so gooey in a summer rain, and it's so much fun to squeeze between your toes. The thought of Josh taking a handful of that mud and rubbing it all over like a slippery, sexy, muddy massage.

"You're thinking of it now, aren't ya?" said Grandma Noah with a wink. "When Mike moves into your house, three lives will be forever joined by love. God bless!"

Thinking that the old woman was talking about Mike, Josh, and herself, Veronica added, "God bless!"

"Concentrate on finding homes for orphans and loving your husband. Life will become very difficult for him, only your love, understanding and support will make life bearable for your entire family."

"What do you mean?" said Veronica. She looked over at Roxie, who was looking out over the swamp from the edge of the porch.

"My words are for you dear; they wouldn't make sense to her. Now let me see what those boys are up to." Grandma Noah slowly rose with the help of her cane and slowly shuffled into the cabin where Josh and Wedge were talking about their days at Kunsan. "Do we have a fire?" Grandma Noah asked.

"Yes ma'am, she's getting nice and warm," said Wedge.

She put her hand over the stove and smiled. "That's a fine fire, we'll have us some fine, fine corn bread and catfish. Michael, you go see that those girls don't get into no trouble. Ephraim, I'll need you to give me a hand."

"Yes ma'am," said Josh.

"Ah have a feelin' that you do most of the cookin' in your house. Is that right Ephraim?"

"Well, we both work some god-awful hours so we eat out too often, but when there's time ah do a fair share of the cookin'," said Josh.

"Quick, what's your favorite dish that Miss Veronica makes," said Grandma Noah as she slowly gathered bowls and pans onto the kitchen table. "If ya gotta think that hard about it..."

"Pot roast," said Josh. "She works long hours for two bosses, and spends a lot of time helping couples adopt babies."

"That's a right honorable profession, hand me that sack of cornmeal will you Ephraim? You know what else is honorable? The sanctity of marriage. Both of you need to dedicate more time to each other." She turned to Josh and shook her head sadly. "Ephraim, you raised so much money for charity last year, more than the richest kings in Babylon... you need to rest."

"I've got an important job to do..."

"P-shaw! Your important work is done. You put on a uniform and served your country, you're better than 90% of the men in this nation. It's time to relax. Put your feet up. Raise some children."

"Gotta have children first, then we'll worry about raising them."

"The children are coming; the lord isn't going to miss that blessing. Hand me that sack of flour, would you Ephraim?" she handed him the cornmeal to put back on the shelf. "You can concentrate on your singing, even after the contest. You're going to do good but there's always better."

"How did you know about my quartet?

Grandma Noah measured the flour and poured it onto the cornmeal in the mixing bowl and handed back the flour to Josh. "Ah always like to use brown sugar and an extra touch-a butter to my cornbread. Gives it that special sweetness." She went on talking about cooking and how good old-fashioned Southern cooking is disappearing from the world. "When you have young-ins you need to teach them the proper way to cook," insisted Grandma Noah. "I like to use a duck egg instead of a chicken egg in my cornbread. Now Ephraim, if you'd whisk this up for me we'll be ready to cook."

"What do you think my year ahead will be like," asked Josh as he whisked the cornbread batter smooth.

"Most of it is going to be pretty nice. You're going to have a lot of joy with your new wife," said Grandma Noah as she melted butter in a small iron skillet. "Come Thanksgiving comes your trial," she said as she poured the batter into the frying pan. "You have a good heart, Ephraim. Follow your heart and when you meet my God Daughter, you'll know you passed your trials. Now go! Get them girls in here so they can learn to cook."

"Yes ma'am," said Josh as he slid the skillet into the oven for Grandma Noah.

"Oh and Ephraim, I'm terrified to fly also... you won't get me on one of those flyin' machines. There's no shame in admitting that... especially to your wife... as soon as possible."