Intersection
Sequel to Crossroads
By CJ
Email: ardethsgal@comcast.net
Rating: PG
Author’s Note: I do not own Frank Donovan. No infringement intended.
The first couple of days were a bit awkward. Frank and Laney spoke rarely and when they did, it was usually Laney insisting it was just for a few days and Frank insisting right back that she needn’t hurry. After all, there was an innocent baby involved. A baby, strangely enough, that Frank felt entirely responsible for.
Her name was Jane. Jane Louise Marks. Laney had explained briefly that after all that had happened, she had dropped her husband’s last name and just wanted she and her daughter to be able to make a clean start…whenever or wherever that might be.
Frank put them up in the second bedroom which served as an office. They had a private bathroom, a large window overlooking the grassy complex courtyard and plenty of room. For a while, Frank and Laney did a good job of avoiding one another.
There were the nights, however, when little Jane wouldn’t sleep. Of course her cries would awaken Frank and though Laney, walking her restless daughter endlessly through the living room, would tell Frank to go to sleep, he wouldn’t. Instead, he would take the infant in his arms, seeing the exhaustion and desperation in Laney’s blue eyes and walk with her, talking about nothing in particular. It always seemed to work, for both mother and daughter, for as soon as the baby was out, Laney was right behind her, sound asleep on the couch. Those nights he would take Jane into his room, place her in the cradle they had somehow acquired, and she would sleep wonderfully.
The “guys” at work began to ask him questions. Why was he so tired? Were those bags under his eyes? And why had they seen him picking up diapers at the store after work?
Not one to usually talk about his private life, Frank mostly ignored them. He was fiercely protective of his life outside of work. The FBI consumed so much of it that what was left, he didn’t want to share with anyone. And as the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, his private life was growing more and more fulfilling.
He wasn’t sure how the situation had gone from a few days to six months. But it did. Along with that, the few women he had been seeing on occasion socially suddenly disappeared from his life without his notice and his home office somehow transformed entirely into a bedroom/nursery for Laney and Jane. His once neat and minimally furnished apartment turned into a play-zone with plastic keys on the floor and baskets full of stuffed animals and squeaky toys. He’d been the one responsible for bringing most of that home. Whenever he was away for a long time on assignment, he always picked something up for the baby as if he should feel guilty for being away.
On days off, he would give Laney a break, send her out to take time for herself. Heaven knew she needed it. In order to feel she was contributing and saving up money for her future, she took in legal transcription work. All day she was up with the baby and during the night, she would type away, transcribing records. She worked hard and when she wasn’t busy, Frank would heard her sobbing softly, talking in a whisper to her dead husband and asking over and over again why he had gone off and left them alone.
It was then that Frank felt it was time for her to know exactly what the investigation had uncovered. As long as she still blamed him for her circumstances, the two of them would always be ghosts passing each other in the apartment. And for Jane’s sake, for the child he had grown to love as his own, he didn’t want that. He admired Laney for how she worked and took care of her daughter. He was also grateful for how she was starting to take care of him. Meals were cooked and house chores done without him even knowing how or when she did it. She even began doing his laundry and kept track of his personal affects. But above all, he wanted Laney to know the truth about her husband because Frank was falling for her. And as long as she was still hung up on what had happened so many months before, she would never be ready to move on with her life.
So he simply brought home what he could of the case file and placed it on her bed when she wasn’t looking. And for several nights, she stayed up and read it. She didn’t type her work, she just sat and read. He heard her crying at times and saying words to herself in anger at other times. And when she was through with it, the case file turned up on his bed when he wasn’t looking.
Six months turned in to nearly a year. His car now had a child’s seat in the back so he could drive Jane to the zoo or parks on the weekend. A darling picture of a brown-haired, blue-eyed angel sat on his desk at work and he found himself thinking about what to get Jane for her first birthday.
She was already walking and babbling on. She said “ma-ma” and “da-da” and a few other choice words. Though Frank wasn’t her father, she still called him “da-da” and Laney never corrected her. Slowly, Laney was warming up to him and her hurt and anger seemed to dissipate as time wore on. She was more carefree, she laughed, she smiled, she trusted again. They would talk casually over dinner and marvel together at the new skills Jane was acquiring. And during all this time, Frank barely noticed how much he himself had changed.
He’d always been a man with a streak of coolness. Now, he was warmer and more affable. He spoke more about his private life with the “guys” at work and they would exchange stories about their kids. Everything just changed so naturally and felt so normal to him, that he began planning for a real future with Laney and Jane. However, the news that was awaiting him on the day of Jane’s first birthday threatened to ruin all his plans.
**
Laney wasn’t sure how it had happened. How had this…thing…gone from a few days until she got on her feet, to a year? It was mind boggling. It was unusual. It was downright insane.
And yet, when she was at home with Jane and Frank, nothing felt insane, it all felt strangely right.
Frank Donovan had turned out to be a true gentleman. He had taken her in with no questions asked. He had been patient, not always warm, but patient. He had given her his home and for that she was indebted to him. But what he had given that she loved the most was his time and attention to Jane. Little Jane adored Frank like a father. In fact, she somehow started calling him “da-da” and it sounded so natural, Laney never thought to correct her. Frank never seemed to mind when it came to Jane. Anything she wanted or needed, he got it for her. Jane was going to become spoiled rotten if she lived with Frank much longer.
Trying to move out, however, was too difficult a task to face on her own. She hadn’t realized just how difficult raising a child alone was until she had returned from the hospital nearly a year ago, broke and friendless. She’d been angry, frustrated and scared. Her only recourse had been to come to Frank, the man who had helped her deliver her baby despite the abuse he had received from her. And to this day, Laney had no idea why he had been so good to them when he hadn’t needed to be. She thought it may just be the guilt he felt about how Drew had died. Not that Drew had been an innocent, man. She understood that now. He had been dirty and though he had never been mean to her, he had abandoned her. He had created a situation for her that she had been unable to get out of and after reading the case file Frank had brought home one night, she understood everything. Once she reached that level of understanding, the Laney who was hurt and frustrated disappeared and the old Laney, the real Laney, returned.
And now that the real Laney had her head on straight and her feet beneath her once more, she knew it was time to get on with her life. She had been down and out for too long. She and Jane had to get a place of their own and get back to the business of living.
The doorbell rang and Laney went to answer it. On the other side of the door was her brother, Paul. Tall, lanky, wonderful Paul!
“Paul!” she squealed and jumped into his embrace. They hugged for a long time for it had been too many years since they’d seen one another.
“It’s great to see you, Laney,” Paul said, holding her away from him and looking her over. “You look wonderful. So radiant, so happy. Motherhood must definitely agree with you.”
“Oh, it does. Hey, come in. You haven’t met Jane yet.”
Laney pulled Paul inside. She had written to him several times over the past year. He too had written. Paul had pictures of his niece but had yet to see her. He’d been stationed over in
Jane was dressed in denim overalls and a yellow shirt. Her light-brown hair curled slightly at the ends and was so fine it felt like silk to the touch. She was a charming, outgoing child and as soon as Paul walked in, knelt down and held out a stuffed frog for her, she came running.
“Laney, she’s just precious. I’m so glad I’m back now.” He looked up at his sister from his perch on the floor. “If I had been stateside when all that crap with Drew happened, I would have taken care of you.”
Laney nodded. “I know. But we managed.”
Paul glanced around the apartment. It was large for a two-bedroom and boasted vaulted ceilings and Frank’s fine taste in dark furniture. No one would say the apartment and complex weren’t nice and Paul whistled softly and commented, “Managed indeed. This is nice.”
“It’s my friend’s.”
“Yes, that’s what you said in your letter. That a friend had taken you in. I’m glad she was around.”
Laney had never told Paul that it was a man, Frank Donovan, who had taken she and Jane in and she was about to explain that but Paul kept talking.
“But now that I’m back, you won’t have to worry. I’m going to be stationed in San Diego for my last year in the service. Its shore duty. No shipping out, sis. I’m going to get us all a place to stay and then I’m going to get a job with a fire department down there next year. I have it all planned out. I’ve already applied for some fire academies down there near San Diego and am on the waiting list for their cadet classes next year. I told you, I’m back and I’m going to take care of you two.”
Laney was speechless. How she loved her brother for what he wanted to do for she and Jane. And yet…Frank. What did she do, just pack up and move five-hundred miles away from the man Jane saw as her father? True, it was time for her to get back on her feet and on her own, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to move so far away.
“What is it, Laney?” Paul inquired when Laney failed to respond.
“It’s just that…I…Jane…” She couldn’t finish her sentence for at that very moment, Frank walked in the door.
Like always, Jane’s eyes lit up and she squealed and raced for Frank. He lifted her in his arms and squeezed her in welcome while Jane repeated over and over again, “Da-da, da-da.”
“How is my baby girl?” Frank asked with a smile and Jane babbled something unintelligible.
Then Frank’s eyes landed on Paul. Slowly a frown formed on those wonderful lips of his, lips Laney had fantasized about kissing for the past few months. After her mind had accepted what Drew had been and after her heart had healed, she’d begun to notice just how incredibly attractive a man Frank was. He never showed her affection, however, unless it was a rub on the shoulder here and there or taking her hand to help her from the car. Once or twice he would get the lady next door to baby-sit so he could take Laney out to dinner, but it had always been casual. She’d never felt any pressure from him, any nervousness around him. And yet, despite all that casualness and comfortableness, she’d still felt an incredible amount of attraction.
“Who’s this?” Frank asked in what Laney had come to recognize as his “cop voice.” He set Jane down on the floor as Paul stood.
“Frank, this is my brother, Paul. He just got back from
“Pleasure to meet you,” Frank said briskly and shook Paul’s hand.
“Same here,” Paul returned. “Laney’s written to me about a friend who helped her out, she never told me that friend was a man.”
“Does it matter?” Frank questioned.
Paul shrugged. “I suppose not.”
The ice only melted half-way between them as they all sat down to dinner. They chatted casually about their respective jobs and then, after dinner, as Paul sat back in his chair and Laney cleared the table, trouble started.
“So, what are your plans now that you’re back in the States, Paul?” Frank asked.
“I’ll be stationed for my last year down in San Diego. I’m getting a place and plan to stay there. I’m taking Laney and Jane with me. Its time they moved on with their lives.”
Paul said it in the most brotherly of ways, but as Laney picked up Frank’s plate and looked at his face, one would have sworn that Paul had just somehow insulted Frank.
“Is that so?” Frank asked back in a gruff tone.
Paul wrinkled his forehead and looked up at Laney. “Is this somehow a problem, Laney?”
Frank stood quickly and picked up Jane out of her highchair. He held her protectively against his chest and said, “I think Jane and Laney are doing quite well in Lansford.”
“Look, Frank, Laney wrote to me all this year. I know about Drew and how he messed up her chances for ever working in the legal field here again. I know what he did to her and had she asked me, I would have found a way to assist her last year when I was in
“Paul!” Laney chastised.
She watched as Frank’s eyes darkened with anger. She’d seen that look before when she’d slapped him so long ago. He was a man who could certainly control his emotions, but every once in a while if things pushed him too far, that expression of rage would fill his face.
“How dare you insinuate that’s all this is,” Frank said with clenched teeth. Then he very carefully handed Jane over to her mother and added, “I’d ask you to leave if you weren’t Laney’s brother. So, if you will all excuse me, I suppose I will leave.”
“Frank…” Laney called to him, but he was out the door before she could halt him and even if he had heard her, she doubted he would have stopped.
**
Frank drove and drove and drove. He didn’t know for how long or where, but when he halted the car along a pleasant tree-lined street, images of families and middle-class suburbia surrounded him.
It was a neighborhood of older, renovated home. They were the old 1950’s style bungalows with the pitched roofs and wide front porches. All the yards had tall trees and green front yards. Children rode bikes up and down the street and on the sidewalks while parents watered their lawns or gardened. It was a place Frank never would have thought he’d find inviting and yet…
He sighed and forced back the urge to smack his steering wheel. Laney’s brother wanted to take them away! He was furious, he was incensed he was…scared. He was scared as hell to think that Laney and Jane would be five-hundred miles away from him and he was man enough to admit it…at least to himself.
It was almost a year ago that Laney had slapped him and accused him of ruining her life. Then she had come to him, ironically, and he, insanely, had taken her in. If it hadn’t been for that baby, that precious little girl he had watched come into the world and then held in his arms in the hospital, he never would have given Laney Marks a second thought. But that baby had changed everything and united two people who otherwise never would have met.
And now that he’d had Laney and Jane in his life for the past year, he’d be damned if he would simply let them walk away…brother or not.
Something fifty yards away caught his eye. It was a sign, a “For Sale” sign stuck in the yard of a house. Frank slipped out of his car and walked down the sidewalk. He halted in front of the house with the white clapboard exterior, pitched roof and wide front porch. It was something out of a 1950’s sitcom and he shook his head and mumbled, “Hell, all it needs is a white picket fence.”
He mounted the porch and peered inside the windows. It was empty and from what he could see it boasted wood floors, solid plaster walls and a kitchen tiled in the old tiles of decades past. He smiled, it had its charm.
A female voice called up to him from the bottom of the front steps and he turned to see a woman in her early fifties, dressed casually in jeans and a pink T-shirt. She was smiling and looking him over with curiosity.
“Are you interested in seeing this house?” she asked him.
“I was just…looking,” Frank answered, not sure exactly what he was interested in.
The woman walked up the stairs and undid the lockbox on the front door.
“Oh, may as well take a peak. It’s a rather charming home.” She opened the door and when Frank wrinkled his brow and looked down at the key she held in her hand, she quickly explained, “I’m the real estate agent. I live just down the street.”
“How convenient,” Frank drawled.
“It is,” she said with a winning smile. She gestured toward the open door. “Please, take a look. These homes don’t last long. They go quick. This one was just listed today, in fact.”
Frank chuckled with amusement and shook his head at the irony. “It must be my lucky day.”
Though after dinner when Laney’s brother had made his stunning announcement Frank had thought it was the worst day of his life, standing in the home’s foyer, he was beginning to think it was indeed his lucky day. Fate had brought him here, just like Fate had brought him to the Lansford Police Station on the same day Laney was to deliver Jane. And after spending but five minutes in the house he knew what Fate wanted him to do next.
**
Either she was certifiable or Frank was certifiable. She wasn’t sure which as she drove across town following sketchy directions at best. Frank had asked her to leave Jane with Paul and come immediately down to some address and he never said why. She tried to ask, but he had cut her off abruptly in that way of his and hung up. Now, she was not only questioning her sanity for going, but was also going to wring his neck when she found him.
And Laney did find him, eventually. When she pulled up in front of the white clapboard house, it was dark. The summer weather was still warm and the homes all around the neighborhood were alight with signs of families and life. The house she was to meet Frank at, however, had but one light shinning from inside.
She mounted the steps slowly and as she was about to rap on the door, a deep male voice said from her left, “It took you so long, I thought you may not be coming.”
Laney jumped at first, then she swiveled her head and spied Frank sitting in a wooden glider. She hadn’t seen him because, as usual, he was dressed in those dark colors he enjoyed so much.
“Frank,” Laney gasped. “You startled me.”
“Sorry.” He stood and walked toward her. “So, what do you think?”
“Of what? Of your insanity?”
“My insanity? Who’s the one thinking of pulling up her roots and taking off to another city?” he countered.
“I’m not running away on a whim, Frank. It’s my brother I’ll be going with,” Laney tried to reason, knowing that when Paul had made his announcement, Frank had been completely caught off guard. What she had to do now was slowly get Frank used to the idea and reason with him. After all, it only made sense that she move with Paul. After Frank had left, she and Paul had talked further and he’d asked her just where her life in Lansford was going? Was she just going to continue to live in limbo with a man who had gone from enemy, to savior, to…to what? What was Frank to her now and what was she to him?
“And where was your brother a year ago, Laney, when you and Jane were all alone?” he challenged.
“He was in
“Why not?”
“Because it all seemed so…hopeless. I was ashamed and…scared. I’m the big sister, I’m not supposed to go crying to my little brother,” Laney insisted.
“So instead you come knocking on the door of the man you hated? Makes sense.”
Why where they standing on the doorstep of this house arguing about something that had happened a year ago? Laney didn’t understand.
“It wouldn’t have made any sense if you hadn’t been there when Jane was born. But because you were there…it just seemed so logical at the time. Weird, I know,” Laney said then asked quietly, “Why did you let us stay?”
“Because I had been there when Jane was born. If it hadn’t been for her…” He shrugged his wide shoulders and looked away.
Their lives had both been at a crossroads a year ago. Each had seemingly been traveling in different directions and then they met under the strangest of circumstances and had somehow chosen to take the same path together. Now that path was at an intersection, a wide intersection in which there were several choices, several ways their lives could now go. They could choose to go them together, or alone.
Laney sighed. “She loves you like a father, Frank. I don’t want to take her away from you but…”
Frank moved forward and took Laney’s hands in his. He ran restless thumbs over the backs of her hands and it was the first time he had held her hands so.
“Then don’t, Laney. Stay here, with me.” Frank nodded toward the house. “I put a bid in on this house. I wanted you to see it.”
Laney’s eyes widened in shock as she took in Frank’s words.
“You did?” she asked very slowly, wondering if she’d heard him correctly.
“I just met with the realtor. She lives down the street. We can go see her tonight to do more paperwork after she calls the owners with my bid. That is, if you like the house.”
Frank began tugging Laney in the front door, but before she would cross that threshold she needed to know more.
“Frank, this doesn’t make sense. I can’t…we…can’t….” She shook her head at the craziness of it all.
“We can’t what, Laney?” Frank urged. His large, warm hand landed on her face and Laney closed her eyes as she relished the feel of that touch. Oh how she had wanted him to touch her like this, like a woman, for the past few months! Her heart had mended over Drew and opened up to love Frank. Now, it could very well be that he was expressing something similar, but there was no way to read him, no way to know for sure until he said it.
“We can’t go on living in this strange…limbo. It’s not right, it’s not fair to either of us and sooner or later Jane will start asking questions,” Laney explained.
A rather charming smile filled Frank’s handsome face and he said lightly, “Then marry me.”
“Marry…you?”
Frank looked around, showing that dry sense of humor he sometimes possessed. “Is there someone else asking?”
“No, I…we…you’ve never even expressed interest or…I thought it was all for Jane, that’s why you let me stay.” Laney stumbled on her words, completely shocked and utterly stunned.
“In the beginning it was. But now…Laney, I have grown to love you. I was just afraid to say it. I was satisfied with the status quo, but thank God for your brother, or I’d never have been kicked into action.” Frank titled his head and studied her face intently. “What, don’t you even care for me?”
“I…care, of course. And…I love you.” Laney smiled shyly then. She’d wanted to say that for a while now and it felt right, but it also made her face heat with embarrassment over expressing something so profound and meaningful.
“Does that mean you’ll marry me?” Frank asked.
“I don’t know,” she said with a teasing smile. “I mean, you haven’t even kissed me. This entire year and you never…”
Her words were cut short as Frank bent his head and kissed her. It was wonderful, it was exciting and it felt oh so right. Laney smiled as Frank slowly pulled back and their eyes met in the semi-dark. Where there was once hate in her heart now there was only love and she smiled again, touched his face and answered, “I will.”
The End