Chapter Ten, Part Two

Robert took the letter, a ledger and a pencil into the living room, and after making a cup of tea to ward off the chill from the overcast day, he settled in to ponder again his options, this time making notes so he could see everything at a glance.

He was deeply engrossed in his project, trying to quantify such intangibles as safety and happiness, when he heard the kitchen door open and close. A moment later, Amalia came into the room, her hair and lashes beaded with mist. Robert sat up and set his ledger aside. "How are the art lessons going?"

"Pretty well, for someone who hasn't ever held a brush before."

"Art wasn't on the curriculum in our little corner of Kentucky. The local school had a hard enough time keeping the kids cooped up long enough to teach them the basics."

"Maybe if they had taught more than the basics, they would've had more engaged students."

"Hard to say. It's sort of a chicken and egg argument, I guess. I'm glad Sophie is enjoying herself, though."

Amalia gave a little shrug and sat down. "She has her own way of going about it, but the results aren't bad. If you can't be creative in art, where can you be?"

"Indeed."

Amalia leaned forward and peered at Robert's ledger. "Don't tell me you've been sitting here doing accounting all morning."

"No." Robert smiled. "I do have some accounting to do, but I intend to wait until we're in Castaño, since I'll have a better understanding of my total assets once I've had a chance to look over the properties." He picked up the letter. "I'm just doing a little risk analysis. Cost-benefit."

She took the letter from him and read it. "This looks like an excellent opportunity."

"Yes. It wouldn't make up for the years away, but it would put me back in the circles that I was striving for."

"Have you given an answer yet?"

Robert shook his head. "I'm trying to find some way to make that answer a yes, but..." He handed her the ledger and watched her face closely while she read it.

After a few minutes, Amalia handed it back. "I can't find anything to argue with."

"I had been hoping you wouldn't say that."

"I wish I could tell you that Will has gotten over everything that happened, but that just isn't his way. Did Diana ever tell you his story?"

Robert nodded. "Sold by his parents to a man who turned out to be a pedophile, ran away, lived on the streets for a number of years and then charmed his way into a home with you and your sister."

"That was the year before Strecker came," Amalia said. "He had only one year of a truly stable, loving home before he lost it all again. Diana became everything to him. As long as he was protecting her, he didn't have to admit his own weakness. When she ran away, he felt he had no more reason to play by the rules, since the rules had failed him."

"Unitas was grooming him for command," Robert said. "He had a bright future ahead of him. But the way he reacted when Diana left…well, it was clear that he was too unstable to be trusted with his own unit."

"He's doing better now. He's still a mercenary, but the government gives him a lot of leeway, since he's as willing to do their dirty work as anyone else's. He owns a little house in the village where he married Diana, and he visits Lauren and Joseph so often that they keep a room in their house for him."

Robert frowned over the unfamiliar names.

"Macy and Coyote."

"Oh, yes," Robert smiled. "How are they doing? In one of your letters, I believe you said Coyote works for one of the rail companies now. An interesting career choice for a young man who made a name for himself by blowing up trains."

"Life is full of strange turns," Amalia agreed.

Robert gestured toward his ledger, "So you agree, then, that Will is still a danger?"

"I've never told him where Diana went or that you went after her, but he has always suspected the truth. He went looking for you in Castaño a few times, and that's the only other place he figured you would have gone after giving up your position in Unitas."

"Does he know about Diana?"

Amalia shook her head. "I'm afraid to tell him. After the way he reacted to her running away, I don't think it would be wise."

Silently, Robert agreed. Will had been one of the brightest young leaders in Unitas, but when Diana left him, he went on a rampage, attacking peaceful camps and killing refugees. Called on the carpet for it, he quit rather than accept punishment. Several young men of his unit quit with him, and together they became a dangerous, unpredictable maverick group, blazing a path of destruction across the civil war landscape.

"If he knew you were home, you might get off with just a good scare," Amalia went on. "But I wouldn't stake my life on it."

"Or Sophie's?"

Amalia looked away. "I honestly have no idea what he would do about Sophie. She so resembles her mother at that age that there's no way he wouldn't know she’s Diana’s daughter. But would he kill her for being your child too? I've never known Will to intentionally harm a little girl, but I don't know how he'd react to such an obvious proof of Diana's betrayal."

Robert took the letter and grimly slipped it inside the ledger. "It sounds like a government career is out of the question for me, then."

"I'm sorry." Amalia moved closer and tried to take his hand, but he stood up. “When do they need an answer?”

"Soon, I should think. I believe it's lunch time, isn't it? I'll go let Sophie know."