Tom put down the groceries and the pizza boxes on the kitchen counter and hugged his daughter. “How’s my girl today?” he asked, giving her a kiss on the top of her head.
“I had a great day!”
Tom looked at Emily as she entered the kitchen, holding the cookie jar up for Tom to see. “She won the challenge,” Emily said with a grin.
Tom reached over and gave Emily a kiss. Looking down at his daughter, he asked, “How did that happen?”
Emily and Jamie gave Tom the story as he put away the groceries and got out plates for the pizza. Tom was amazed at Jamie’s triumph, and he gave her another kiss and congratulated her. Jamie’s face was beaming as she sat down at the table.
Emily got glasses for everyone and handed the cookie jar to Tom to put back in its place on top of the cabinets. Tom knew that they’d have to find a new place to keep the cookies now that Jamie had managed to get it down unseen, but that was something he and Emily would discuss later.
After dinner, Jamie went to her room to finish her homework while Tom and Emily cleaned up the kitchen.
“How’s Dad?” Emily asked softly, putting her hand gently on Tom’s arm.
“Not great,” Tom said. “He’s still not used to being alone, but I think that the wedding is helping to keep him distracted.”
Five months earlier, just before Tom’s nephew, Ian Douglas, got married, Tom’s mother, Tracy Anderson, became very ill. She was eighty-eight years old, and her body wasn’t able to fight off the infection. She passed on quietly one evening in the early autumn, and the loss of her love and humor was felt by all who knew her. Tom went over to visit his dad, James Anderson, several times a week – partly to keep him informed about the Order of the Saltire and partly to make sure that he was doing okay. Tom’s father had founded the Order many years earlier, and Tom had been the Grand Master for ten years, but they spoke frequently about what was going on with the Order – both as a way to share information and as a way for father and son to maintain a relationship that they both valued very much.
At the previous Christmas family gathering, held at Tom and Emily’s house rather than at James’ house, which had been the family tradition for decades, Sophie Anderson Douglas’ youngest son, Alex, announced that he, too, was getting married. Now the family was getting ready for another addition to the family, which was helping keep Tom’s dad from dwelling on the loss of his beloved wife.
“Is Alex still planning to move away after the wedding?” Emily asked.
“Yes, his new job starts three weeks after they get back from their honeymoon. He’ll have a new wife and a new career in a new city all at the same time. He’s in for quite an adventure!”
“How’s your sister taking it?”
“Oh, you know Sophie. She’s happy for him and sad all at the same time. Hey, did you hear that Ian is getting transferred, too?”
“No!” Emily exclaimed. “When’s that happening?”
“Next month. They’re moving to Denver.”
“Wow,” Emily said. “Both of Sophie’s boys are leaving within a few months of each other. I’d better get together with her this week and make sure that she’s okay and knows that I’m here for her if she needs me.”
“I think she’d like that,” Tom said.
Changing the subject, Emily asked, “Did you talk to Liam about bringing the boys into the Order?”
“Yes, and we both agree that we’re not going to mention the Order to them. I was hoping that we might eventually bring them in, but their lives and their careers are taking them other places.”
“I kind of figured that’s what you two would decide. It’s too bad, but then again we don’t want the Order to turn into just another family business.”
“True,” Tom said, slipping his arm around Emily’s waist as he turned off the kitchen light. They walked into the living room to relax for a while.
After they sat down next to each other on the couch, Emily asked, “Do you think that we’ll ever tell Jamie about the Order?”
“I don’t know,” Tom said after a moment, reaching forward to brush a couple of silver strands of hair away from Emily’s face and tuck them back behind her ear. He knew that his hair was turning grey, but all in all, he thought that they were both aging quite well. They were still active and still acted young, even though Emily was in her forties and Tom was in his fifties.
“Part of me wants to, and part of me doesn’t,” he continued. “The Order can always use more people, but you and I both know the danger that comes from a commitment like that. It’s nothing we have to decide right now, but I think that we should talk about it from time to time. If we do tell her, though, it shouldn’t be until after she’s eighteen.”
“I agree,” Emily said, putting her head on Tom’s shoulder.
They sat and talked for another couple of hours before getting up and checking on Jamie. After they made sure that her homework was done and she was ready for bed, they retired to their room across the hall.
As Tom undressed and put on his sleep shorts, he thought about the question that Emily had put to him earlier regarding Jamie and the Order. There’s plenty of time to worry about that later.
2
The years seemed to pass too quickly for Tom and Emily as they watched Jamie grow up. Jamie continued trying her hand at new sports, bringing home an impressive collection of trophies, medals, and ribbons. She was an excellent swimmer and diver, a great equestrian, which she did with her Aunt Sophie every week, and an amazing runner. Tom thought several times how glad he was to be retired, since someone had to take Jamie to her seemingly endless lessons, classes, and events. He didn’t mind. It gave him time to be with his daughter, which is one of the reasons he had retired in the first place.
Emily, who worked part time at SignalCorps, overseeing the development and marketing of new surveillance system upgrades, went with Tom to Jamie’s activities as often as she could. She loved being with her family, and it was a joy watching Jamie excel at almost everything she tried.
It wasn’t a conscious choice by Tom or Emily to have only one child. They had tried to have another for several years, but Emily never got pregnant again. Tom and Emily never felt that their family was incomplete, though. More children would have added to their joy, but they were a happy family, and neither Tom nor Emily felt upset that Jamie was an only child. Tom also felt somewhat relieved that he’d never have to endure a parent-child relationship like the one he had with his father when he was younger.
Saturday mornings were when all three of them went to the local martial arts center. While Tom and Emily were upstairs fencing, Jamie was downstairs with her Tae kwon do class. Sometimes, if the class finished early, she’d come upstairs and watch her parents spar with swords and fighting sticks. She was still too young to learn weapons fighting, but she sat and watched, memorizing every move and every “tell” (glance, muscle twitch, stance change, and so on) her parents had that indicated which maneuver they were going to try next. Jamie had an uncanny way of reading people, and she could anticipate their actions easily, which made her such a strong martial arts competitor.
Jamie also spent a lot of time with her friends, either hanging out at the house or going to the local coffee shop. At first, Tom and Emily wondered what kind of influence her friends might have on Jamie, but it quickly became clear that, not only were her friends good people, but Jamie was also the undisputed leader of the group, and she was a positive influence on them. Most of her friends were in at least one of her sports classes, and many were in several classes with her.
Tom’s mother had been gone for almost three years when Tom noticed a change coming