Chapter 15

“Kari, what you are about to hear is a, well, family secret. No one is to ever know about it, hear about it, anything. Got it?” said Carlton.

“Okay,” said Kari. The two adults nodded, but both were wary and Kari clearly picked up on it.

“Mom, Dad, I promise to keep the secret,” said Kari.

“Kari, years ago, before I ever met your Daddy, here, I had some trouble. A man, a good man, came to my rescue and shot two very bad men who were threatening me.

“To keep this story as short as possible, the bottom line was that the courts saw that what that wonderful man did was a crime. That man was your bio-dad. He’s been in prison ever since that bad day. He may be paroled one of these days, and when he is you will meet him. And when you meet him you must, that’s must, treat him as you treat your daddy here. Because he saved me.

“Kari, I promised him that, when you grew up, that you would do so. Kari, I need you to help me keep that promise,” said Lea.

“Your Mom is asking a lot, and so am I, Kari. Over the next while you are going to learn some things. That, so you will know who the man is and what you can expect when you do meet him which may be a long time still. But just so you’ll know. I am doing what I can to get him out of prison as soon as possible,” said Carlton.

“Oh my God,” said Kari. “My bio-dad is a killer!”

“And my savior,” said Lea.

“Okay, Mom, Dad, I understand. I will keep my word,” said Kari. The two adults nodded.

When one has about as much money as God, one can get things done in a hurry. The adoption, all parts of it took, two months, unheard of even in cowboy country, also known as Arizona. The happiest kid in the state was without a doubt Kari Hanson. And the odd thing, though she was but newly legally a Hanson, she had always been referred to as Hanson ever since the marriage of Lea to Carlton Hanson; even though she’d in reality been a Scott. Well, again, money prevents a lot of meaningless questioning.

She’d never been so nervous. She’d broken most of the promises she’d made to the man, and now she’d even been a party to the adoption of the man’s daughter by another man, a man her first man did not even know exists. Wonderful—not!

The guards kind of knew her now. She didn’t get quite the same treatment as less well-known visitors got. She was near the front of the line as she entered the visiting area. She saw him stand up to let her know where he was stationed. The room was not all that crowded, still...

It was late summer, and this visit was considerably later in the season than her usual seasonal visit.

“Wow,” I said. “I was afraid you were not coming, maybe found yourself another fellow.” I smiled my greeting.

“Yes, well you will always be my fellow, well one of them,” she said, and giggled.

“Hmm, well, good,” I said. “So, how’s our baby?”

“Good, and Andrew, she knows about you now. I told her just recently. And yes, including that you are in here,” said Lea.

“Oh shit. And?” I said.

“Thrilled that her dad killed a couple of bad guys, no. Understanding after the fact, the fact that you saved me, yes,” said Lea. “Andrew there is going to be a learning curve when you get out. Please be ready for that. The kid’s eleven, but she’s going to be a bit older when...”

“Yes, I get it. It must have been seriously hard for her to hear all that. I mean she is still so young,” I said.

For some reason, my woman seemed a little off. I mean having to tell our baby what she told her, well ... it made sense, I guess. I just had to hope that our baby would be able to handle it, and not hate me when we did finally meet.

“Honey, are we all right, you and me?” I said.

“Of course, we are,” she said. “Andrew, I worry a lot, big surprise. Just be careful in here. And, well, do your best to get out soonest. Okay?”

“Okay, and of course,” I said.