“I’m not a cop anymore. I don’t do casework. If you even knew anything about my life then you would know I only do protection.”

“You’re not protecting a witness if you’re sleeping with them! When your emotions are involved, it compromises your work. You know this Dante.”

“Look, I didn’t mean for this to happen. But it did, and I’m glad. I wouldn’t take it back for anything in the world. I care about her.” Dante knew he was shouting, but he couldn’t control it.

“Then you shouldn’t have taken this kind of risk. What happens when the agency finds out? They won’t let you protect her. What happens when someone else has to ensure her safety from Kaimi?”

Dante fumed silently. His father hit a mark, a mark he hadn’t even thought of before. He knew his father was right, but he couldn’t give him the satisfaction of admitting it.

“You were supposed to be the best man for this job, Dante. You were supposed to protect her. You might as well have tied her up and delivered her to Kaimi yourself. Now you’ve destroyed your career as well. Everything you’ve worked for!”

“You didn’t take that risk, Albert?” Emma appeared at the hallway entrance. “You didn’t put your career on the line?”

Albert flinched and turned toward her.

His father recovered so quickly Dante thought he might have imagined it.

Albert clenched his fists. He set his jaw a fraction of an inch higher in defiance.

“That was different, Emma.”

“How is it any different? How is it any different at all?” Emma entered the room, crossing in front of her son like a mother bear protecting her cub.

Dante furrowed his brow, his gaze turning from one to the other. Albert’s eyes followed her, his face darkening in anger.

“Tell me, Albert, are you yelling at your son or a younger version of you?”

“This is NOT the same thing.” Albert backed up a step.

“It’s exactly the same. You fell in love with a woman you weren’t supposed to be with. How did that end?”

Albert let out a cry of disgust and began to pace.

“He hardly knows this woman!” Albert gestured to Dante.

“You hardly knew me!” Emma moved toward him.

Emma stood tall, her shoulders thrown back. Her eyes challenged her husband to dare contest her. Her face, lightly wrinkled and tan, held a gaunt tension as she closed on her pacing husband.

“Wait, what’s going on here? What are you two talking about?” Dante folded his arms across his chest.

“Your father and I were working together when we met. It was against agency policy, but it happened anyway, didn’t it Albert?” Emma didn’t even look at Dante when she answered.

“It’s not at all the same!” Albert spoke from the corner of the room opposite them. He had run out of room to retreat. Emma kept closing in.

“No, of course not. Unlike your son, you started an affair with one of your subordinates! Now don’t you think that’s just a tad bit worse?” Emma put her hands on her hips.

“She’s supposed to be under his protection.” Albert stood his ground.

“Wait, wait.” Dante pointed to his mother. “You were a secretary.”

“Yes, for many men who were friends with terrorists. I handled all of their calls, and their contacts. Why do you think I never brought you into work with me?” Emma tossed him a sharp look over her shoulder. “Albert, do you really think you are in any position to chastise him?”

“He lied to us.” Albert pouted. He stood in the corner, defeated. His fists hung meekly uncurled at his sides. His shoulders rounded in toward his chest, as he stared at his wife with a pained expression.

“Oh, he did no such thing. He just didn’t tell us everything. He told us what he thought we needed to know. That’s no more or less than what you would have done.” Emma raised her eyebrows at him. “Besides, all I had to do was take one look at her and I knew. If you were even paying half as much attention to your only child, you would have noticed the way he looks at her a lot sooner.”

“You knew?” Dante shifted on his feet.

“Honey, I’m your mother. Of course I knew.” Emma glanced at him askance.

“He’ll lose his job, Emma.” Albert lifted his shoulders.

“You didn’t lose yours. That will just be a decision the Marshals Service will have to make. Not you. Now apologize to him.” Emma nodded at Dante.

“I will not—” Albert started.

“Apologize to him right now.” Emma enunciated every syllable. Her voice was a low, hissing rumble Dante had never heard before.

Albert stared at his wife.

Emma stared back, not even blinking, her hands on her hips.

Albert sighed.

“I’m sorry.” Albert ran his hand down his face.

Those two tiny words hit Dante like gunfire. His body shuddered from the shock. His father had never apologized to anyone for anything before. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“I accept,” Dante choked out.

“Good.” She pivoted on her heel and moved toward the stove.

Dante didn’t move. He wasn’t sure what had happened. It took him a minute to realize Laurie was hovering outside the doorway. She caught his eye. He walked over to her with halting steps.

“Hey, how long have you been standing there?” He touched her elbow.

“A while. I’m sorry,” she whispered back.

“No. It’s not your fault.” He placed his hands on her shoulders.

Her face contorted with embarrassment. She looked fresh and clean, with her face scrubbed and free of make-up. Her blonde hair was a tawny brown and dripping wet from the shower. In the soft morning light, she looked sweet enough to be his personal piece of heaven. He told his father he was glad that his relationship with Laurie had happened. That he cared about her. While that had been technically true, Dante realized it had been a vast understatement.

“Laurie, honey, you don’t need to hover outside the doorway,” Emma called from the stove. “Don’t you pay either of these men any mind.”

Laurie looked to Dante for help.

He placed his hand on the small of her back to lead her into the room.

Laurie took halting steps toward the coffee maker, and then realized she didn’t have a mug, so she tiptoed toward Emma to grab one from the cupboard.

“Laurie, what do you want for breakfast?” Emma turned toward her with forced cheerfulness.

“Whatever everyone else is having.” Laurie froze mid-way to the cupboard.

“How about some crepes? Do you know how to make them?” Emma gave her a smile.

“I haven’t made it since I was kid.” Laurie gave a nervous smile back.

“Oh, good. I’ll show you.” Emma plucked a bowl from the cabinet.

Dante saw Laurie relax as she breathed a sigh of relief. He sat down at the table. His father sat down across from him, looking weary. Dante almost felt sorry for him—almost. Dante stared into his coffee cup, lost in thought. He had just learned so much about his parents and their marriage. Now so much of his childhood made sense, the constant moving, the aliases, the secrecy, drilling him on what to do if a stranger approached him. His mind turned it over all through breakfast.

After breakfast, his parents asked if he and Laurie would work in the orchard for the day. They said they just weren’t able to handle harvesting apples and pears as well as they did with the berry season. That was the reason they said anyway. His mother gave them the keys to the other farmhouse. A little while later, Dante and Laurie were in the truck driving down the road.

“My mother was a spy.” Dante was trying to wrap his head around it.

“Well, it does make sense, I guess. But you wouldn’t ever identify her as one.” Laurie glanced at him. “I’m sorry I caused that fight with your dad.”

“It wasn’t your fault at all. It was him.”

“I know, but it was about me. I should have pushed you to tell him.”

“Would have been the exact same fight no matter which way it went. To have the nerve to tell me I shouldn’t be involved with you when that’s almost how he met Mom. I can’t believe that either.”