Intersection (70 page)

“I win,” he laughed running into his room.

Alex shrugged and smiled at the group below before following Dylan into his room. Kate looked at her husband in awe. “I told you,” he said.

Rose broke the moment. “Ahh, still the honeymoon. Give it time. When she finds out how awful Cassie really is at yard work, it’ll wear off…summer’s coming.”

Cassidy shook her head and Fallon laughed. “Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome dear.”

“Who’s coming?” Dylan asked while making bunny ears with his laces.

“Well… Mom and me…”

“Doesn’t count. You live here,” he said.

“What?” Alex pretended to be hurt. He laughed. “So it’s like that, huh?” He laughed again. “Well, Grandma and Aunt Barb and Uncle Nick….Cat and Cat’s friend Bobby.” Dylan looked at Alex and smiled. “And, Mr. Fallon and his family… he has three kids…”

“I know.” Dylan said.

Alex laughed. She watched him finish his laces and thought silently how much she loved him. “You ready now?” He nodded.

“Alex? Will you be here when I am eight?”

Alex smiled. “I hope, Dylan…that I will be here when you are eighteen.”

“That’s old,” he said.

“I guess it is, Speed.”

John Merrow looked out the window and then down at his notes. “Mr. President,” a young man in a suit approached. The president looked up from his papers. “We’ll be on the ground in about twenty minutes. Is there anything you need before?”

“No, Rick. Thank you.” The president returned his gaze out of the small window and then rested his head against the back of the seat he was in. He liked to watch the clouds when he was afforded the time. As a boy he dreamed of being a pilot. His father would take him to the air shows and his uncle, an
Air Force pilot, would sometimes take him flying. It was not to be. There were other plans ahead for John Merrow. When he told his father, an Army General, that he wanted to attend the Naval Academy and become an aviator, the idea was immediately stamped out. John Merrow’s path had been carved out long before he gazed into the clouds and dreamed of soaring through them.

Most people saw President John Merrow’s life as charmed. He was a decorated Army officer, married a beautiful woman who had briefly had a career on film. He had two beautiful daughters and was widely considered one of the most intelligent and trustworthy people in Washington. It was not the life he would have chosen. It was the life he was given. It was not the woman that he fell in love with; though he had learned a great deal about that emotion from watching her with his children. Looking at the clouds he often wondered whose life he was leading. So many choices. So many directions. He was responsible for them all. Another day, another bridge that needed to be built. It seemed to him, looking into the clouds, that long standing bridges were crumbling now. Perhaps it was the foundation, he mused to himself. Perhaps the engineering was just outdated. He sighed and closed his eyes. It was no matter. Build the bridge. Mend the fence. That was the expectation. Failure was never an option.

Cat was leading a small contingent of eager climbers to master the small tree in the front yard. Cassidy had stepped out on the front porch to check on them and stayed to watch the scene unfold. Fallon’s son, James, was eleven and he was helping the younger children reach the first branch. He looked a great deal like Brian, Cassidy thought, and he shared his father’s kindness. “No…it’s Dylan’s birthday. He should go first,” James said.

Cassidy stood smiling. So many nights she had wished that Dylan could have a life like this. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist. “Watcha’ doing?” Alex whispered in her ear.

“Just watching.”

“Ummm….that tree might end up being the best investment,” Alex acknowledged.

“Maybe,” Cassidy agreed leaning back into the agent and soaking in her warmth.

“Come back in,” Alex said. “I promise he’ll climb the tree again.”

“I know.”

“Hummm,” Alex pulled Cassidy a little closer. “You’re happy?” Cassidy didn’t answer, instead placing her hands over the two that came to a point in front of her. “Me too,” Alex said. “Come on.”

“They won’t miss us that much,” Cassidy answered. The agent was more than happy to comply with the teacher’s unspoken request. Standing here with this beautiful woman in her arms watching Dylan, the emotion Alex felt was almost more than she could fathom.

Rose reached the door to call the pair in and stopped. She pressed her lips together and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. The tall, commanding agent was gently holding her daughter and placing small kisses on her head. She wasn’t certain if Alex was saying anything, but the look in her daughter’s eyes was unmistakable. Rose McCollum had one great love in her life, her daughter. She had never shared all the truths of her own struggles with love with Cassidy. Cassidy’s father died when she was only ten and Rose never tainted her daughter’s memories of the man that she had worshipped as a child. The older woman had always hoped her daughter would find what had alluded her in her own life: love. She kept silent watch now in the distance as Dylan made it to the first set of branches and she studied the expression of pride
on both Alex and Cassidy as they watched. “MOM!” Dylan yelled “Look!”

“I see!” Cassidy called back.

“Hey…Alex is watching too,” Cat waved to his aunt and Cassidy.

“I know!” ALEX LOOK!” Dylan yelled.

“Good job, Speed. Be careful,” Alex praised and instructed. He nodded. “I think your son is having fun,” Alex said. Cassidy turned in the agent’s arms and looked into her eyes. She lost herself for a moment. “What?” Alex asked.

Rose took a deep breath as she witnessed her daughter’s hand tenderly stroke the taller woman’s cheek. Cassidy’s smile grew and her voice carried with a confidence that completely astounded her mother. “I think,” Cassidy said, “that our son is lucky to have you.”

Alex closed her eyes as Cassidy’s lips met hers. “Cass…”

Cassidy turned back in the agent’s arms and held them around her firmly. “Talk to your son, Alex. He
chose
you; he got me.”

Rose smiled and began to turn on her heels slowly. This was their moment. No jokes. No banter. No advice. “Oh Cassie, I love you,” the words slipped from her at the same time as another tear fell.

“Mom?” Cassidy heard her mother’s voice in the distance.

“How do you do that?” Rose waved innocently.

“Welcome to the family,” Cassidy laughed taking Alex’s hand to walk toward her mother.

“I’ll take it,” Alex said with a smile.

“I’ll remember you said that.”

“I know,” the agent laughed as they walked back through the door of the house.

“I’m not sure,” Brady faltered.

“Best guess?” Taylor demanded. There was an almost audible pause, the breath of both men heavy and strained. “Brady… Best guess… credible or not credible?”

Through a heavy release of air the younger man spoke into the phone, “I would not dismiss it.”

Michael Taylor froze. It was the call no one ever wanted to receive and no one wanted to make. If he was wrong the fall out would be brutal. If he was right the consequence of not calling would be unforgivable. He steadied his breathing and laid his forehead on a closed fist. “I’ll make the call.”

“Sir…”

“Brady….I hope to God that you are wrong.”

“Alex!” Cat and Dylan burst through the front door.

“What’s wrong?” Alex immediately envisioned someone toppling from the tree.

“There’s a big truck here,” Cat said with Dylan nodding wide eyed.

Cassidy tried to fake a curious expression when Alex looked at her. She shrugged and the agent caught the corner of her mouth curling into a smile. “Cassidy?” Cassidy shrugged again and tried not to look at Barb as Alex made her way to the door. “Can I help you?” Alex asked the man now on the porch.

“I have a delivery for Toles?”

“I’m not expecting anything,” Alex combed through her recent purchases in her mind. “No. I think…”

The agent felt Cassidy’s hand on her back as the teacher pushed in alongside of her. “Downstairs,” Cassidy directed.

“Cass? What the….”

“Oh so you think you’re the only one who can keep a secret, huh?”

Alex turned to see the man unloading a large box and recognized the name Olhausen. “Cassidy…what did you…”

“What is it?” Dylan asked. “Is it a birthday present?”

Cassidy smiled. “It looks like your mom bought us a pool table, Speed,” Alex observed. He looked at his mother hopefully and she nodded. After an energetic high five with Cat the boys followed the delivery team downstairs into the finished basement. Alex looked at her lover. “I can’t believe you…”

Cassidy raised an eyebrow. “I expect you to teach me.”

Alex raised an eyebrow of her own remembering their first attempt at that endeavor. “I think that could be arranged,” she smiled and kissed the woman before her. “I love you, Cass.”

“Yeah? As much as that pool table?”

“I’ll let you know after the next lesson,” Alex chuckled.

“I’m sure you will,” Cassidy answered leading the agent off to the basement.