Page 119 of Heartbeat

Today had been a collage of emotions, but this was a perfect end to the turmoil. Tomorrow would be about rearranging his schedule and contacting Toby to ready the jet, but tonight he would call Amalie. He wanted to know if she would be willing to be on standby. Just in case her physical presence would tip the scales of the Bullocks’ denial.

Amalie spent all day Friday in a state of anticipation. She was going to spend the night on the mountain with Sean and Shirley so she could go to a family wiener roast withthem, but by the end of the day, the location of the wiener roast had been moved from Ray and Betty Raines’s place to the dining hall in the church, due to warnings of inclement weather. If they couldn’t have it outside, then it had to be in the dining hall or cancel it altogether, and so the church it was.

She was beside herself with excitement. She’d never been to a wiener roast. She was going to meet a whole lot more of Sean’s family. She couldn’t wait for the day to be over and was closing the office until Monday.

When closing time came, she changed clothes in the back room and grabbed her coat and purse before heading out the door. She’d gone from business casual to tennis shoes and jeans, and left her good coat in the office and traded it for a lined windbreaker with a hood.

She’d locked up the office and was on her way down the hall to the back parking lot when her phone rang. She answered without looking at caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Hi, darling, it’s me, Dad. Do you have a minute?”

“For you, always. I’ve already locked up and am on my way out. What’s up?”

“Our DNA results finally came, verifying what we already knew.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful, Dad! Now what?” she asked.

“That’s part of why I’m calling. Within the next couple of days, I’ll be heading to New Orleans to file charges. I don’t know how it’s all going to play out, but I’m certain the Bullocks will deny everything. I haveenough proof on paper to hang them, but it will all take time. Before I commit you to anything, I just need to know that, if the need arose, you would be willing to come to New Orleans and confront them, face-to-face. I’d send a chopper to get you. And if you don’t want to do that on your own, absolutely bring Sean with you for moral support.”

“Yes, Dad, yes. I absolutely will back you one hundred percent. I’m on my way to spend the weekend with the Popes anyway. I’ll talk to Sean about it tonight. I wish you were here. I’m going to a family wiener roast! Can you believe it? I’ve never been to one before.”

The poignancy of that remark within the joy in her voice was gutting. It was all he could do to respond without losing it.

“You are on a journey of many firsts with Sean Pope, and I am forever grateful for his presence in your life. Have so much fun and give my best to the family. I will keep you informed as this unfolds.”

“Thank you, Dad. Love you. Be safe.”

“You be safe, Amalie. You are all that matters to me in this world.”

He disconnected.

Amalie headed for her car, blinking back tears, but by the time she left the city limits of Jubilee and started up the mountain, clouds were gathering, and she was already wondering how the evening would play out.

Sean had their car loaded except for the cookies Shirley was boxing up to take with them. He kept glancing at the time and watching for Amalie’s car to show up in their drive, then missed her arrival. All of a sudden he heard footsteps on the porch and went running.

She was pulling a little suitcase in one hand and wrestling her purse with the other when he came flying out the door.

“I’ll get it! I’ll get it!” he said, and swooped in for a kiss. “I’ve been watching for you forever and then you arrive when I looked away. Come in, sugar. I’ll take your bag.”

He swept her into the house, shouting, “Mom! Amalie’s here!”

Shirley came from the kitchen with her arms open and gave Amalie a big hug. “Here’s my girl, and we’re just about ready to leave. I need to box up the rest of my cookies. Everything else is in Sean’s SUV.”

“I’m so excited, and a little nervous,” Amalie said.

Shirley laughed. “It’s just a wiener roast and a bunch of kinfolks. All you have to do is eat hot dogs and fixings and meet a bunch more people who look like me and mine.”

“I can do that for sure. I’m starving,” Amalie said.

“Then come have an appetizer. I can’t make all those cookies fit in my container, anyway.”

Sean came back in time to overhear her. “Mom. What the heck? If you had overflow, all you had to do was say so. I’m good at leveling things off.”

Shirley shook her head. Thunder rumbled overhead. Shemade a run for the kitchen with them behind her, put the lid on her container of cookies as Sean and Amalie took a couple of extras for themselves, and they were out the door.

The first raindrops splattered on the windshield as Sean was backing up.

---