“Hello baby boy, mama’s so glad to meet you,” she said.
“Aww, he’s adorable,” Sarah said. “What are you going to name him?”
Leeanne smiled up at me. “I know it’s not your real name, but I’ll always remember you as Dalton. Can I call him Dalton?”
“I don’t know, maybe you should ask him,” I said.
“You like the name Dalton?” she asked.
The boy smiled.
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“Yeah. Daddy?” he asked.
He put his arms out toward me. For the first time I could remember, I picked up a human child. He was warm, and wiggly, and he felt exactly like I’d imagined love would feel. I sat on the floor and let him go. He ran back to Leeanne.
Maybe. I thought. Maybe I don’t need to remember who my family is. Maybe I need to decide who my family will be.
Every day is the ending of something. But, it’s also the beginning. It felt like there were a million loose ends to tie up before we could move on. The raid on The Farm was being claimed by the Whippoorwill Anarchists. The evidence they found there, made community service the most likely sentence anyone would receive. All of the guards, except one, survived. One guard was determined shot by friendly fire.
Only two people in the world know any different.
The barn scene had been deemed an accident. They’d found half of Ben’s severed torso; the gators had cleaned up most of the rest. Even Leeanne’s handiwork on the mayor had gone unnoticed, as one of the gators had made it to the platform and consumed her from the waist up.
The only person they never found a sign of was Sheriff Crawford. But, one of the gators gave up a brass sheriff’s badge when they opened it up for autopsy. The first man on the scene had been Al Henry. He’d been called when a neighboring farm reported the sudden deluge of water from the giant tank.
He’d shot the angry gators with a farmer’s rifle.
As for Vern, they never found him. I figured he got tossed to the gator’s as well. And Hal had been shipped to El Reno Federal Corrections Institution. The corruption went so far, it was deemed the only facility safe to put him in.
With The Farm behind us, it was time for us to focus on our ever growing to do list. The first thing on the list was burying Annabelle Murphy. I’d really only known her for a few minutes of a very long life, but it felt like a lifetime.
She had no living relatives. So Leeanne had been nominated to organize her memorial. Fred insisted on paying for everything, since her estate would be tied up until the reading of the will. It was a beautiful ceremony.
The River Grove Community church sanctuary was standing room only. People from all over the state and nation and at least three from out of the country had come to see her off.
At the reception, there was live music and dancing, as she’d requested, and her urn sat at the table of honor, for people to come by and pay their respects. When it was over, little Dalton played on the playground outside with Fred and Sarah watching over him while we cleaned up.
“Dalton,” Leeanne said. “I know it’s way too fast, and I’m not even supposed to be the one to ask, and it’s at a funeral, but I have to ask you something.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Will you please tell me that you might consider marrying me, someday in the not too soon future?” she said. “That is, if it turns out you don’t already have a wife and a million kids stashed somewhere that you can’t remember.”
I laughed. “I would be honored to consider it at some future time, provided I don’t have a million kids and….”
She kissed me again. It was time to take this to the next level.
I carried the trash out to the dumpster and joined Leeanne, where she’d met her sister and Fred with little Dalton.
“Dalton John, in memory of my father,” Leeanne said. “DJ for short, and to avoid confusion, assuming you’ll stick around for a while.”
I sat beside her. “Well, I don’t think I have anywhere else to go, and my job, assuming I still have one, is here. So, for now, I’m all yours.”
“Well, we all have jobs, provided there’s no issues with Ben’s life insurance,” Fred said.
“Well, don’t get too settled in just yet, boys,” Leeanne said. “There is one more little road trip we need to take. I was thinking tomorrow.”
That sounded dangerous. “Where to?” I asked.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Sarah said.
“It’s a surprise for all three of my guys,” Leeanne said. “All will be revealed, but first, take me home.”
“Absolutely,” I said. “Ready little guy?”
“Oh, no, he’s staying with me at Fred’s place tonight,” Sarah said.
“Yes, it’s lonely without Ben, even if he was a super villain,” Fred said.
“Besides, you’re practically engaged, the two of you deserve a night alone,” Sarah said.
“You already told your sister?” I asked. “Well, now the whole thing is off.”
She laughed. “Just don’t forget, I can hunt you down and break your neck in your sleep if I have to.”
I picked her up and carried her to Mayor Skinner’s car. It would be part of the estate soon enough, but since DJ was part of that, we’d commandeered it for the time being.
