"I wish you didn't have to go," Lawrence said as he and Eileen said goodbye at the front door.
"Me neither, but I offered to watch Stuart for Lucy today and you have to go to work."
"I could go in later. I am the boss, you know."
"That's right, you are, aren't you?" Eileen teased as she leaned into him.
Lawrence turned serious again. "I meant that I wish you didn't have to leave to go home. You should be living here already."
"I know. I wish I was too. I'm starting to feel like this is home already. We're going to be so happy here. I know it."
"I know we will be," Lawrence agreed. When Eileen looked away, with a sudden sadness in her eyes, he asked, "What is it?"
"Nothing. Everything's going so good right now. We're together, almost everything is set for the wedding, we have this house, your job is going well, and Chloe and I have all of these exciting plans for our party planning business. Things couldn't be any better. I'm just afraid it's not going to last."
Lawrence smiled slightly and held her close. "I am too, in a way, but I don't think we have anything to worry about."
"Then I won't," Eileen promised. "I just want to enjoy every second."
Eileen leaned forward and gave Lawrence one more goodbye kiss. "I wish I could stay longer, but I've really got to go. I'll see you tonight?"
"Of course."
"Have a good day at work."
Lawrence was about to follow Eileen out, but before he could step outside, he heard the phone ring. He went back inside to answer it.
"Did you have any idea that this was going to happen?" Zara asked her sister as they sat together on the couch. She had been shocked when their father had been found dead with their mother standing over him, still holding the murder weapon. Now she was struggling to make sense of what had happened. "Did you know she was planning anything?"
Cassandra shook her head. "No. I sensed something was going to happen, but I had no idea it was anything like this."
"Looking back, you didn't notice her saying or doing anything unusual, did you?"
"No, not at all."
"Me neither. I just can't believe she shot our father in cold blood."
"After what he did to her, I can," Cassie replied. "He had her locked up in a mental institution for years. He kept her from us for most of our lives. She completely missed out on us growing up. He took her life away."
"Not really. She's still alive. He's not," Zara said. "I know he's done a lot of terrible, unforgivable things, but he was still our father. I can't just forget how he was when we were growing up. He was always kind to us. He was a decent father, especially those years when it was just the three of us. I don't want to defend him, but we can't forget he was still a human being."
"Don't forget either that he's the reason there were just three of us. He was the reason we didn't have our mother."
"I know, but now, because of what our mother did, we might not have either of them in our lives. Not that we particularly wanted Dad in our lives after all he's done," Zara sighed. "Why do our lives have to be so messed up?"
Vanessa walked into the room just as Zara and Cassie's conversation ended. "I just got off of the phone with Lawrence and I told him about your father. So he knows what happened."
"Thanks for helping us with this. We really appreciate it," Zara said.
"No problem, hon. No matter what, we're still family in my eyes and I'll always do what I can for you. You girls have enough to deal with right now," Vanessa paused as she tried to think of how to broach the next subject matter. "I can call the funeral home for you next, if you girls know what you want to have done in terms of services. The way I see it, the three of us, Serena, and Lawrence are the only people Silas had in his life. Neither Lawrence and I care to have any funeral services, and would just prefer to just let them do the burial. But since he's your father, I think the decision should be up to the two of you."
"I think just burial would be best," Zara said, turning to her sister. Cassie nodded in agreement.
"Ok then. I'll make the call."
A few minutes later, Zara wandered into the dining room where Vanessa was just hanging up the phone.
"It's all taken care of. Is there anything else I can do to help?" Vanessa asked. When Zara just shook her head, she asked, "How are you holding up, hon? I can't imagine how you must be feeling."
"I just keep wondering, is this ever going to stop? Can't we just finally have normal lives?"
Vanessa mustered a sad, but understanding smile. "I've wondered the same thing myself, but all we can do is just try to deal with the lives that we're given."
"I really try to, but sometimes it's just too much. Losing mom the first time was hard, even more so for Cassie than for me, but I adjusted. We always wanted to have her back, but when she did come back . . . something wasn't right, you know? Cassie was happy, but it wasn't so sure. It wasn't how I thought it would be at all," Zara struggled to explain.
Vanessa nodded. "I think I know what you're trying to say. I didn't want to say anything, but I always thought there was something odd about Serena. I wouldn't blame her for being a little different after all she's been through. I'm sure her life has been difficult to cope with, more than we could imagine, but she just seemed so cold, so distant."
"Different isn't even the half of it," Zara muttered. "I'm so scared for what's going to happen to her now."
"It looks like we've got an open and shut case, for once," Lieutenant Kauker stated. "We found the suspect, gun in hand, with the body and she's not trying to deny it. There's not much left for us to do with this one. You were at the courthouse when it happened, Varner. You're familiar with the victim. Do you think there's more to it or is everything as simple as it seems?"
"I think we've got it," Logan replied. "Nothing about it seems fishy to me."
"Alright, we'll leave it to the courts then," Dorian replied. When Logan seemed to relax, he remarked, "You seemed relieved to hear that, Varner."
"I am. Rochester was as shady as they come and I'm glad to wash my hands of him."
"I can't say I blame you," Dorian replied. "Since you don't have anything else to add, I'll finish filing the reports."
Logan smiled to himself as the Leiutenant left the room. He was glad he wasn't going to have to be part of a lingering murder investigation. If he had been asked to stay on and investigate further, he would have been tempted to do something he'd never been tempted to do before, ask to be taken off the case.
His work had always been important to him. Helping keep the community safe by keeping bad guys off the street was his number one priority and he took pride in that fact. But now he could feel his priorities starting to shift and that had everything to do with Silas' ex-wife, Vanessa.
He had never met anyone that he felt so captivated by, but dating her while he was investigating Silas would have been a conflict of interests, so it had to wait. Now that he was free of Silas, he couldn't wait to see what the future held for them.
"Logan Varner?"
Logan looked up to see a man and woman dressed in gray suits and sunglasses walk into the office. "Yes?"
"I'm Agent Davidson and this is Agent Anders. We'd like to talk to you about your recent investigation involving the late Silas Rochester."
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