Local Hero

great. I, ah, nobody ever made me a card before.”
    “Really?” Embarrassment faded with surprise. “I make them for Mom all the time. She says she likes them better than the ones you buy.”
    “I like this one a lot better,” Mitch told him. He wasn’t sure boys that were nearly ten tolerated being kissed, but he ran a hand over Radley’s hair and kissed him anyway. “Thanks.”
    “You’re welcome. See ya.”
    “Yeah.” Mitch heard the door slam as he stared down at the little folded piece of construction paper.
    “I didn’t know he’d made it,” Hester said quietly. “I guess he wanted to keep it a secret.”
    “He did a nice job.” At the moment, he didn’t have the capacity to explain what the paper and ribbon meant to him. Rising, he walked to the window with the card in his hands. “I’m crazy about him.”
    “I know.” She moistened her lips. She did know it. If she’d ever doubted the extent of Mitch’s feelings for her son, she’d just seen full proof of it. It only made things more difficult. “In just a few weeks, you’ve done so much for him. I know neither one of us have the right to expect you to be there, but I want you to know it means a lot that you are.”
    He had to clamp down on a surge of fury. He didn’t want her gratitude, but one hell of a lot more. Keep cool, Dempsey, he warned himself. “The best advice I can give you is to get used to it, Hester.”
    “That’s exactly what I can’t do.” Driven, she went to him. “Mitch, I do care for you, but I’m not going to depend on you. I can’t afford to expect or anticipate or rely.”
    “So you’ve said.” He set the card down carefully on the table. “I’m not arguing.”
    “What were you saying before—”
    “What did I say?”
    “About when we were married.”
    “Did I say that?” He smiled at her as he wound her hair around his finger. “I don’t know what I could have been thinking of.”
    “Mitch, I have a feeling you’re trying to throw me off guard.”
    “Is it working?”
    Treat it lightly, she told herself. If he wanted to make a game of it, she’d oblige him. “Only to the point that it confirms what I’ve always thought about you. You’re a very strange man.”
    “In what context?”
    “Okay, to begin with, you talk to your dog.”
    “He talks back, so that doesn’t count. Try again.” With her hair still wound around his finger, he tugged her a bit closer. Whether she realized it or not, they were talking about their relationship, and she was relaxed.
    “You write comic books for a living. And you read them.”
    “Being a woman with banking experience, you should understand the importance of a good investment. Do you know what the double issue of my
Defenders of Perth
is worth to a collector? Modesty prevents me from naming figures.”
    “I bet it does.”
    He acknowledged this with a slight nod. “And, Mrs. Wallace, I’d be happy to debate the value of literature in any form with you. Did I mention that I was captain of the debating team in high school?”
    “No.” She had her hands on his chest, once again drawn to the tough, disciplined body beneath the tattered sweater. “There’s also the fact that you haven’t thrown out a newspaper or magazine in five years.”
    “I’m saving up for the big paper drive of the second millennium. Conservation is my middle name.”
    “You also have an answer for everything.”
    “There’s only one I want from you. Did I mention that I fell for your eyes right after I fell for your legs?”
    “No, you didn’t.” Her lips curved just a little. “I never told you that the first time I saw you, through the peephole, I stared at you for a long time.”
    “I know.” He grinned back at her. “If you look in those things right, you can see a shadow.”
    “Oh,” she said, and could think of nothing else to say.
    “You know, Mrs. Wallace, those kids could come running back in here anytime. Do you mind if we stop talking for a few minutes?”
    “No.” She slipped her arms around him. “I don’t mind at all.”
    She didn’t want to admit even to herself that she felt safe, protected, with his arms around her. But she did. She didn’t want to accept that she’d been afraid of losing him, terrified of the hole he would have left in her life. But the fear had been very real. It faded now as she lifted her lips to his.
    She couldn’t think about tomorrow or the future Mitch sketched so easily with talk of marriage and