then she leaned over and whispered in his ear "I love you" and smiled up at him.

"Ok, well, I saw this guy, and he was watching Neil & the other boys playing on the jungle gym bars.  At first I thought maybe one them was his son.  But then I remembered I knew all those boys & their dad's and he wasn't one of them.  Then when I looked at him to get his face in my memory, like you said to do Aunt Whitney, he looked at his watch real fast and acted like he had a phone call."  Kaci snickered, "he must have thought i was some dumb little 2 year old"

Ginny put her hand on his arm, "we don't use the word dumb Kaci, remember, we talked about how rude that is."

"Yes Mommy, I'm sorry, I forgot."  Kaci stopped & looked at his mother & Ben & Whitney for permission to continue. Ginny smiled at him & nodded her approval. "Anyway, I know he faked it because I was close enough to hear if his phone would have ringed or chirped or made any of those noises.  And He talked real funny, I know he was faking it.  I looked away like I wasn't paying attention to him any more.  But I kept looking out, um, out, uh, what do you call it? Kaci pointed to the corner of his eye and keeping his head straight looked toward his finger.

Whitney giggled a little, "you mean out of the corner of your eye Kaci?"

"Yea, that's it!  I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw him go right back to watching the boys.  I was pretty sure he was watching Neil mostly.  I remember too he was leaning against a really fancy car, kind of silver with those shapes down the sides, you know like your brothers car Mike.  Oh!  and I saw part of his license thingy on his car.  it was, um,"  he closed his eyes tight together, "it was like the word silver, but spelled funny, S L V R S T.  yea i think that was it, but they weren't from texas, they had, kinda like green mountains on them i think.  anyway, that's all i remember, the recess bell rang and we all went back inside.  oh, except, when the bell rang, then i think he made a phone call for real, at least he was pushing buttons."

Ginny, Whitney and Ben all looked at each other.  This was big, A silver mustang from Colorado,  They just caught their first big break!

Ben broke their stunned silence, "Good job Kaci!  that was super!!  You really helped us a lot there guy.  Do either of you remember what he looked like?"

Neil just shook his head, but Kaci piped up, "Well kind of, He was kind of old, like you Mommy, but not as old as Grammy or Grand Da.  And he had dark curly hair and was kinda skinny.  Oh, and I remember, he seemed mad about something?"

"Kaci, I am so proud of you!  You really were listening to all those things we talked about!  Good job Kaci!  Do you think you could tell someone what the man looked like and they could draw a picture of him?"

Kaci was grinning from ear to ear. "I think so Aunt Whitney, I can sure try!"

Ben smiled and nodded in agreement, "She's right Kaci, you have done a great job!  Thank you for your help.  I'll tell you what, why don't you boys go play and I'll let you know when we need to come and help with that drawing ok?"

"Ok Ben!" Kaci and Neil answered simultaneously and bounded out of the kitchen, back into the bedroom.

"if you ladies will excuse me just a few minutes I'm going to round us up an artist!"  Ben stood up and then bent down to kiss Whitney on her cheek.

After Ben left the room Whitney  and  Ginny sat in silence a few seconds, then Whitney reached across the table and took Ginny's hand.  "Are you ok GinGin?"  It was a name she had used as a child and she only used it now to comfort Ginny.   The last time she'd used that name was a couple weeks after Mike had passed away.  They were sitting on her back porch, watching the boys play with Ben & her brothers in her back yard.  She had looked "out of the corner of her eye" and saw Ginny crying, very quiet, silent, nearly invisible tears, the kind only a sister or best friend would notice.  Since they were both "sisters" and best friends, she'd reached across the little table between them and took her hand.  all she said was "GinGin" and squeezed her hand.   Just now she knew what Ginny was thinking, but Ginny said it out loud before she could say anything else.

"Whitney, WHAT is happening?  My boys were in danger and I didn't even know it!  I wasn't there to protect them!  What if we'd been at home when that man, or those men, broke in?  What if they'd tried to do something to the boys at school?  What are they after?  I don't understand this!"

Whitney got up from her chair and moved around to Ginny's side of the table and put her arm around her, "Ginny, we don't know all the answers yet, but I think we are almost there.  The boys are safe, you're safe, we're all safe.  When we get to the bottom of this and put the guilty party away, we'll get a security system and a great big dog!   We can't watch over the boys all the time, but you know that between you, me, Ben, Ma, Da, Sammy and our brothers, we aren't going to let anyone hurt your boys, OUR boys!"

Ginny sniffled a little, "Kaci really did listen to you didn't he?  You are such a good Aunty!"

They both giggled a little and hugged. 

Just then Ben walked back in the room, "Hey now, there'll be no hugging around here!  Not without me anyway!"  He leaned over, hugged both of them at once and kissed Whitney on the top of her head.  "Ok, I called and got an artist headed our direction, he's going to meet your Dad and Sammy at headquarters when they stop for supplies.  You two doing ok?"

"Yes, we're fine Ben.  Whitney, I'm going to check on the boys and Ma, see if she wants some more tea.  And thank you!" +
 

After Ginny left the kitchen, Whitney looked over at Ben, "Ben?  What are we going to do with all these people tonight?"  It had just dawned on her that most likely her parents were not going to leave, not if she knew her mother at all!

"Hmmm?  What?"

"Well, you know how Ma is, she's NOT going to leave.  Da won't leave without her, then there's Ginny  and the boys, me, you  Sammy, the guard and the artist.  Where are we going to put all these people?"

"Oh, I see what you mean.  Well if we're lucky and the artist get's done with drawing before it's too late when can send him home, Sammy can take him back.  Your parents can sleep in the room I slept in, Ginny can sleep with you, I'll bunk in with the boys.  that leaves Sammy on the couch again.  If the artist stays I guess we can put the boys in one of the bunk beds & he can take the top bunk?"

"Yea, I guess that would work, but that's a lot of people in this little apartment and pretty soon the boys are going to get a little stir crazy.  I know I'm heading that direction."

Ben reached over and pulled her into his arms.  She wrapped her arms around him too and laid her head on his chest. "Listen Whit, I know this is difficult, but I think we are almost there, we have a lot more puzzle pieces then we did before.  There is so much going on, but look at how well things are going in general.  Everyone is cooperating, being helpful, they're calm and peaceful.  It's going to be  ok Whit, really it is."  He kissed her on her forehead again.

"I know, I'm just trying to think ahead, to ward off any problems"

"What does His word say?  Don't borrow tomorrow's trouble?"

"I know, I just, hmmm, you're right, I guess I am just borrowing trouble aren't I?"  She hugged him tighter, "You are so good for me Ben, I knew there was something I liked about you!"  She giggled a little & squeezed him again.

Ben laughed, "I'm glad I'm good for something!"  She looked up at him and he looked down at her and kissed her.  This time, just a little bit longer, getting lost in the moment.  Finally they just stood there hugging each other for a minute or two. 

"You know what we need Whit?"

"Hmmm?"

"Let's get us some tea or soda's and watch some tv until Sammy, your dad and the artist gets here.  Maybe we need to take our mind off things for awhile?"

Whitney looked up at him again and smiled, "Good idea Ben"  she stood up on her tiptoes & kissed his cheek.  They let go of each other, Whitney grabbed 2 clean glasses out of the cupboard and handed them to Ben, "Is there any club soda in there Ben?"

Ben reached in the fridge and found 2 bottles of club soda.  He put ice in his glass and grabbed both bottles and the glasses and followed her to the living room.   They sat down, side by side.  He opened the bottles and poured the liquid into their glasses.  Whitney found the remote and turned on an old black and white movie on the tv.  She was smiling "clean up to her eyes" as her gram would have called it.

Ben looked at her and asked her what she was smiling about.

She just looked at him and said quietly, "you knew not to put ice in mine, I love that!"  then she leaned over and whispered in his ear "I love you"  and smiled up at him.